Apparently there are lots of types of Prednisone out there, PrednisONE, PrednisoLONE, series tablets, eye drops, oral, etc.
I've been wearing compression socks since January, some much tighter than others, and one pair made specially to start right behind the toes to get that puffed area there too.
The thing is, although I had some swelling last year for a few days, ever since they put me on the Prednisone tablet regiment, which lasts a full week, my feet have swelled up and never really went all the way down again.
Yes sir, I'm one of those who ALWAYS has to be doing something, even if it is just working a jigsaw puzzle after dinner, working crosswords and sudoku after I'm in bed waiting to get tired enough to fall asleep. But the two heart attacks really put a damper on what I could do for a long time, and now being in end stages of COPD and Emphysema, just walking to the bathroom, with O2 ON, literally takes my breath away and I have to sit and rest to let it build back up again.
Olde Age is the PITTS, hi hi.
But I plan on being around for a while yet!
Major Announcement
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Re: Major Announcement
Compression stockings come in a variety of styles and strengths. The kind I wear are TED, or anti embolism stockings. Compression stockings are something else. The strength is measured in mmHg and I'm using the medium type, i.e. 15-20 mmHg. I like my tootsies to be covered at all times so that the stockings I wear cover the toes but have no compression at that point. The squeezing starts just behind the toes where the compression is strongest and goes all the way up to just under my knees. I don't need thigh high stockings, thank goodness. Prices for the stockings I use are wildly diverse. The best price I can find is around $14 a pair. There are some for well over $50 a pair. I ordered some of those expensive ones at one point just to see if they are any different, and they are. The material is thicker and they come in colors other than unisex white. The strength, however, is identical to the low priced ones. So, like any other articles of clothing, if you need to look chic, you will pay for it dearly.
Some days at Motorola were extremely tense. I worked well under pressure but that didn't make me feel any better. When I got home I learned how to completely remove my thoughts of Motorola and simply decompress. Basically it was learning how to do nothing and enjoy it. Doing nothing is how I recharged my energies so that I had the strength to go to work the next day and do it all over again. Then, there was a period of time when I was made to wear a pager and essentially was on call 24/7. Only got called off duty a time or two, but still I had to be prepared to go to the plant if it was absolutely necessary. Fortunately I wasn't that vital of a cog in the gears of progress. There was usually somebody on hand who could take my instructions over the phone and save me the trip to the office. So, when I was forced to retire 10 years early, I considered myself in between jobs for that period of time. I went into a permanent do nothing mode to recharge my energies for the next job. 22 years later, today, I'm thinking maybe I really am retired and should do those things old people always dream about doing. I will if I can figure out what it is I always wanted to do.
Some days at Motorola were extremely tense. I worked well under pressure but that didn't make me feel any better. When I got home I learned how to completely remove my thoughts of Motorola and simply decompress. Basically it was learning how to do nothing and enjoy it. Doing nothing is how I recharged my energies so that I had the strength to go to work the next day and do it all over again. Then, there was a period of time when I was made to wear a pager and essentially was on call 24/7. Only got called off duty a time or two, but still I had to be prepared to go to the plant if it was absolutely necessary. Fortunately I wasn't that vital of a cog in the gears of progress. There was usually somebody on hand who could take my instructions over the phone and save me the trip to the office. So, when I was forced to retire 10 years early, I considered myself in between jobs for that period of time. I went into a permanent do nothing mode to recharge my energies for the next job. 22 years later, today, I'm thinking maybe I really am retired and should do those things old people always dream about doing. I will if I can figure out what it is I always wanted to do.
Re: Major Announcement
I have three types of compression socks, and all of them are jet black, hi hi.
The strongest pair has no toes, and the first compression band starts right behind the toes.
All the rest are tall like boot socks, no pressure right behind the toes, so this area of me feet gets puffy.
One pair is so tight at the calf, I can barely get them off once I put them on, but they go on easily enough.
As for me, I didn't start getting my act together until after I was 35 years old. I never figured I would live past that age, so didn't really start planning ahead. After all, I was driving race cars, until I got T-boned and almost didn't make it out, then I did drag racing, up until a couple years after I got married. I was taking flying lessons, in an airplane, and later did some hot air ballooning. Then of course my uncle got me involved with climbing radio and TV towers to replace the lighting on them.
Plus, along with all of that, I was working as a Plumber for James O. Laughlin Plumbing company, doing down in the ditch grunt work at first, then worked my way up the ladder. Also working my way up as an apprentice Electrician, which was really hard work, but a whole lot cleaner than plumbing, hi hi. I also did some brick laying, and flat work for a very short time.
When I finally got all of my licenses, and could break into the General Contracting field on my own, then I started making some real money, finally. But it was fairly short lived. Dad had a heart attack which put me back in the flower shop overnight, and where I spent the next several years, just a year short of when we closed, because I had started Wonder Plants downtown, after dad was able to work again.
Had it not been for a very sickly and costly wife, and then 9/11 pulling the rug out from under me. I would have been doing good by now. Spent all of my nest egg and then some on the late wife taking care of her. And then just as I began to see daylight again, got married again, and then 9/11 was the straw that broke the camels back as they say.
I kept only one small business when I moved south, and that was my AZ-NO3 product, which sold well enough it covered all of my bills with some money left over to start on a house, then sell it and buy Debi's parents house for her.
Such is life my friend!
The strongest pair has no toes, and the first compression band starts right behind the toes.
All the rest are tall like boot socks, no pressure right behind the toes, so this area of me feet gets puffy.
One pair is so tight at the calf, I can barely get them off once I put them on, but they go on easily enough.
As for me, I didn't start getting my act together until after I was 35 years old. I never figured I would live past that age, so didn't really start planning ahead. After all, I was driving race cars, until I got T-boned and almost didn't make it out, then I did drag racing, up until a couple years after I got married. I was taking flying lessons, in an airplane, and later did some hot air ballooning. Then of course my uncle got me involved with climbing radio and TV towers to replace the lighting on them.
Plus, along with all of that, I was working as a Plumber for James O. Laughlin Plumbing company, doing down in the ditch grunt work at first, then worked my way up the ladder. Also working my way up as an apprentice Electrician, which was really hard work, but a whole lot cleaner than plumbing, hi hi. I also did some brick laying, and flat work for a very short time.
When I finally got all of my licenses, and could break into the General Contracting field on my own, then I started making some real money, finally. But it was fairly short lived. Dad had a heart attack which put me back in the flower shop overnight, and where I spent the next several years, just a year short of when we closed, because I had started Wonder Plants downtown, after dad was able to work again.
Had it not been for a very sickly and costly wife, and then 9/11 pulling the rug out from under me. I would have been doing good by now. Spent all of my nest egg and then some on the late wife taking care of her. And then just as I began to see daylight again, got married again, and then 9/11 was the straw that broke the camels back as they say.
I kept only one small business when I moved south, and that was my AZ-NO3 product, which sold well enough it covered all of my bills with some money left over to start on a house, then sell it and buy Debi's parents house for her.
Such is life my friend!
Re: Major Announcement
When I first started with Motorola I argued with them about profit sharing. I didn't want them to take out that deduction until maybe after I worked there twenty years. They told me it was a condition of employment. Either take the benefit or take a hike. I wasn't very concerned about retirement at age 23 but ironically it was that profit sharing fund which I built up over the years that allowed me to live a normal life after being forced to retire ten years early. I drew down the entire fund over those ten years and lived on the same annual income I had when I separated. They even gave me group insurance for which they paid more than half the premium so that I literally had no additional expenses. Perhaps the best move we made was to pay off the mortgage early. That saved us a ton of interest but also insured that we would not default on any mortgage payments. Unfortunately, the county was not as generous and raised our real estate taxes a few hundreds percent. We literally could not afford them by the time I was collecting SSA benefits.
I had a wide variety of interests but most of them were cerebral. That was due to the fact that I couldn't see paying a lot of money for a hobby. It's one of the reasons I took up astrology; it was a hobby that paid me instead of the other way around. We had our fair share of illnesses, both physical and mental, and spent more time than we cared to in hospitals. In retrospect it wasn't anything unusual like I hear about young people experiencing today. A kidney stone here, a gall bladder removal there, and a broken leg that had to be reconstructed. The real devastating sicknesses didn't catch up to us until we were past age 55. Both of us had cancer, and both of us survived that at little cost out of our pockets. Well, maybe those insurance premiums cost a lot more than what I thought, but we never had a long term illness that drained our reserves. Not yet anyway. The odds for that happening, however, increase every day as we get older.
You told me the whole story one time in the distant past, but I can't seem to recall what specifically 9/11 did to put you out of business. I don't think you had any HQ in New York so that it couldn't have been a physical loss. I do recall it was something about the finance market, but am a little curious regarding exactly how your business was related to the events of 9/11.
I had a wide variety of interests but most of them were cerebral. That was due to the fact that I couldn't see paying a lot of money for a hobby. It's one of the reasons I took up astrology; it was a hobby that paid me instead of the other way around. We had our fair share of illnesses, both physical and mental, and spent more time than we cared to in hospitals. In retrospect it wasn't anything unusual like I hear about young people experiencing today. A kidney stone here, a gall bladder removal there, and a broken leg that had to be reconstructed. The real devastating sicknesses didn't catch up to us until we were past age 55. Both of us had cancer, and both of us survived that at little cost out of our pockets. Well, maybe those insurance premiums cost a lot more than what I thought, but we never had a long term illness that drained our reserves. Not yet anyway. The odds for that happening, however, increase every day as we get older.
You told me the whole story one time in the distant past, but I can't seem to recall what specifically 9/11 did to put you out of business. I don't think you had any HQ in New York so that it couldn't have been a physical loss. I do recall it was something about the finance market, but am a little curious regarding exactly how your business was related to the events of 9/11.
Re: Major Announcement
I hear ya. Shortly after I moved down here, the City annexed our area, Doubled our taxes, and cut the benefits we had in half.
Then they have gone up by around 10% per year since then, until Obama got in, then they nearly doubled on us, to pay for improvements, none of which we ever saw in our area at all. In any case, a year ago our taxes went up to 5 or 6 times what they were when I moved down here.
Ruth was only like 54 when she died, long before she was eligible for Medicare. So our personal insurance plans had to foot much of the bill. I had never heard of a Ceiling on how much they would pay out, Until it happened, and they said they would pay no more. That is what drained all of our money and our assets as well. I ended up mortgaging the house for more than it was worth, just to keep her in the hospital when needed. The one time I couldn't pay that month, they shipped her downtown to Firmin Desloge hospital which is state run. Even so, I still got big bills from them too.
But once you are on Medicare, if they don't cover it, and you run out of money, them move you over to Medicaid. Plus we have our Supplemental insurance policies as well. So most of what we will be hit with should be covered, or close to it.
I was in the home renovation business. I would buy homes, renovate, and sell them on B-Paper Mortgages with my taking a 20% carryback. I had 21 homes I had renovated of which I had a carryback on all but the first three, which were finally paid for at my end, but none of the rest were. On 9/11 I still had 6 houses left, 3 were sold the month's prior to 9/11 but each had 35% carrybacks. I was just finishing up 2 of the 3 when 9/11 hit. 9/11 put many folks out of work, so they couldn't pay their mortgages to the bank, and when the bank foreclosed on the property, I lost all that was due to me on those carrybacks.
Plus when I finished the 3rd house, no banks were issuing B-Paper Mortgages anymore, which made it nearly impossible to sell that last house. It sat vacant for over 1-1/2 years before I found a qualified buyer, but their bank still made me take a 30% carryback. They defaulted on their first payment to the bank, and by the time the second payment was due, the bank foreclosed on that house also.
I also owned 6 rental houses, and offered them to the tenants for pennies on the dollar, and they didn't take me up on it. So I ended up selling all 6 of them for only the remaining mortgage on each one, complete with tenants in place. I had to have the bottom line come out to zero, meaning I made no profit, plus I owed nothing.
I chose this option over filing for bankruptcy. In retrospect, I really should have filed bankruptcy! It would have made it easier to get restarted again.
And as you know, to make some money I called an auctioneer and had them auction off everything in my house except for my clothes and some person items like pictures and family keepsakes. This gave me only 3 grand at the end, so I could afford to buy a cargo trailer and move south.
I was supposed to have 30 days to move out of my house after I sold it, but instead I was given only 3 days to vacate the property. Which basically meant, I had to leave a lot of things behind, and move what I could to my mom's garage temporarily.
Most inner city folks cannot get a normal mortgage on a house, and that is where I did most of my renovation work. B-Paper mortgages mean the seller has to assume 1/2 the risk of the loan. But it is based on an official property value appraisal. So since I was selling the homes at usually 25% below Fair Market Value, and around 15% below the banks appraisal, I only had to carryback 25 to 35% myself, which proceeds above that were normally enough to cover my materials, but not so much the labor costs involved. This worked out great for years prior. Usually around the second or third year of home ownership, the buyer would refinance for a lower mortgage percentage rate, which normally meant I got paid what was owed to me.
If it were not for my keeping my AZ-NO3 business, I would not have made it this for. But now, due to my inability to make the product myself anymore, I had to sell the business. And sales have stagnated tremendously, so I only end up with around 120 bucks every quarter from the sale, and that ends fairly soon now too.
Then they have gone up by around 10% per year since then, until Obama got in, then they nearly doubled on us, to pay for improvements, none of which we ever saw in our area at all. In any case, a year ago our taxes went up to 5 or 6 times what they were when I moved down here.
Ruth was only like 54 when she died, long before she was eligible for Medicare. So our personal insurance plans had to foot much of the bill. I had never heard of a Ceiling on how much they would pay out, Until it happened, and they said they would pay no more. That is what drained all of our money and our assets as well. I ended up mortgaging the house for more than it was worth, just to keep her in the hospital when needed. The one time I couldn't pay that month, they shipped her downtown to Firmin Desloge hospital which is state run. Even so, I still got big bills from them too.
But once you are on Medicare, if they don't cover it, and you run out of money, them move you over to Medicaid. Plus we have our Supplemental insurance policies as well. So most of what we will be hit with should be covered, or close to it.
I was in the home renovation business. I would buy homes, renovate, and sell them on B-Paper Mortgages with my taking a 20% carryback. I had 21 homes I had renovated of which I had a carryback on all but the first three, which were finally paid for at my end, but none of the rest were. On 9/11 I still had 6 houses left, 3 were sold the month's prior to 9/11 but each had 35% carrybacks. I was just finishing up 2 of the 3 when 9/11 hit. 9/11 put many folks out of work, so they couldn't pay their mortgages to the bank, and when the bank foreclosed on the property, I lost all that was due to me on those carrybacks.
Plus when I finished the 3rd house, no banks were issuing B-Paper Mortgages anymore, which made it nearly impossible to sell that last house. It sat vacant for over 1-1/2 years before I found a qualified buyer, but their bank still made me take a 30% carryback. They defaulted on their first payment to the bank, and by the time the second payment was due, the bank foreclosed on that house also.
I also owned 6 rental houses, and offered them to the tenants for pennies on the dollar, and they didn't take me up on it. So I ended up selling all 6 of them for only the remaining mortgage on each one, complete with tenants in place. I had to have the bottom line come out to zero, meaning I made no profit, plus I owed nothing.
I chose this option over filing for bankruptcy. In retrospect, I really should have filed bankruptcy! It would have made it easier to get restarted again.
And as you know, to make some money I called an auctioneer and had them auction off everything in my house except for my clothes and some person items like pictures and family keepsakes. This gave me only 3 grand at the end, so I could afford to buy a cargo trailer and move south.
I was supposed to have 30 days to move out of my house after I sold it, but instead I was given only 3 days to vacate the property. Which basically meant, I had to leave a lot of things behind, and move what I could to my mom's garage temporarily.
Most inner city folks cannot get a normal mortgage on a house, and that is where I did most of my renovation work. B-Paper mortgages mean the seller has to assume 1/2 the risk of the loan. But it is based on an official property value appraisal. So since I was selling the homes at usually 25% below Fair Market Value, and around 15% below the banks appraisal, I only had to carryback 25 to 35% myself, which proceeds above that were normally enough to cover my materials, but not so much the labor costs involved. This worked out great for years prior. Usually around the second or third year of home ownership, the buyer would refinance for a lower mortgage percentage rate, which normally meant I got paid what was owed to me.
If it were not for my keeping my AZ-NO3 business, I would not have made it this for. But now, due to my inability to make the product myself anymore, I had to sell the business. And sales have stagnated tremendously, so I only end up with around 120 bucks every quarter from the sale, and that ends fairly soon now too.
Re: Major Announcement
Thank you for the details on B Paper loans in your renovation business. I have a better understanding, but not all the details are perfectly clear. B Paper is a high quality loan with a typical FICO rating between 620-660, which is super good. It's a high quality loan because there are few risks and the borrower has a great finance history. One of the qualifiers is that two delinquencies within a 60 day period are not allowed. That's why the bank foreclosed in your example. The official definition does not include a requirement for a seller financed second mortgage, but obviously doing that makes the bank happier to give out a primary mortgage. Because you did the carrybacks, the banks looked upon you favorably. What I don't get is why the banks did not pre-qualify the borrowers and know that they might default. That seems to be a contradiction of the terms for a B Paper loan. Then, too, you mentioned that all this was done in the inner city where FICO scores are not typically high.
So, it's still a slight mystery why banks stopped lending, especially halting high quality B Paper loans. I don't recall a whole lot about the finance markets back in the 9/11 days, but I can understand why they would have been chaotic . Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, was sure about what was going to happen next after the towers fell. My guess is that all mortgage loans were cut back or eliminated for a while. That translates into you losing all the money associated with the second mortgages you provided. I can see how all this affected your business, but why the banks got skittish in the first place is a little fuzzy to me.
My wife worked for CNA insurance company and we did in fact know about lifetime payout limits. I believe it was $1 million back in those days. Mom spent quite lot of time in hospitals before she was put into hospice. One of her stays amounted to $225,000 retail, and she had a few of those. I didn't keep track of the totals but I'm certain she went over the million dollar limit in claims. She never had to pay because she was on Medicare and they slash the costs down tremendously. So, we never ran into a claim ceiling with mom fortunately. Us old folks are prone to needing long term care which is where the big bucks get spent. Wife and I feel that we would rather die on the floor in the basement than do so in a nursing home. Then, again, if we become that incapacitated we won't be making the decisions. Which is why I try to be nice to my children.
As far as taxes go, they are ruthless. The tax collector is in fact quite impartial. You either pay or he comes after you; young, old, healthy or infirm. That gets to the root of my gripe about how things are run in this country.
So, it's still a slight mystery why banks stopped lending, especially halting high quality B Paper loans. I don't recall a whole lot about the finance markets back in the 9/11 days, but I can understand why they would have been chaotic . Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, was sure about what was going to happen next after the towers fell. My guess is that all mortgage loans were cut back or eliminated for a while. That translates into you losing all the money associated with the second mortgages you provided. I can see how all this affected your business, but why the banks got skittish in the first place is a little fuzzy to me.
My wife worked for CNA insurance company and we did in fact know about lifetime payout limits. I believe it was $1 million back in those days. Mom spent quite lot of time in hospitals before she was put into hospice. One of her stays amounted to $225,000 retail, and she had a few of those. I didn't keep track of the totals but I'm certain she went over the million dollar limit in claims. She never had to pay because she was on Medicare and they slash the costs down tremendously. So, we never ran into a claim ceiling with mom fortunately. Us old folks are prone to needing long term care which is where the big bucks get spent. Wife and I feel that we would rather die on the floor in the basement than do so in a nursing home. Then, again, if we become that incapacitated we won't be making the decisions. Which is why I try to be nice to my children.
As far as taxes go, they are ruthless. The tax collector is in fact quite impartial. You either pay or he comes after you; young, old, healthy or infirm. That gets to the root of my gripe about how things are run in this country.
Re: Major Announcement
Perhaps the term B-Paper Loans have changed a bit in later years. They were called B-Paper because they were HIGH RISK second grade loans to those with lower credit scores, back when I was selling houses I renovated. And it was common practice for the seller to carry back at least 20% of the loan themselves. Thus the Banker always wins, no matter what happens.
As I said, back before 9/11 B-Paper Mortgages were low dollar amounts to high risk individuals with low credit scores.
Seems all that has changed now.
The reason for the B-Paper Mortgages, it was for folks who could not qualify for a Conventional Mortgage.
And back then, it was the seller who was actually taking the biggest risk, because if they default, the seller loses, not the bankers.
If you are broke, you won't last long in a hospital or care center. They will ignore what you need, and just bide their time with you. I've seen that all too often, with so many older relatives, and those not old enough for medicare yet.
Taxes should freeze at the rate they were when you turned 65 so you could stay in your home once on Medicare! Not keep going up and up and up.
As I said, back before 9/11 B-Paper Mortgages were low dollar amounts to high risk individuals with low credit scores.
Seems all that has changed now.
The reason for the B-Paper Mortgages, it was for folks who could not qualify for a Conventional Mortgage.
And back then, it was the seller who was actually taking the biggest risk, because if they default, the seller loses, not the bankers.
If you are broke, you won't last long in a hospital or care center. They will ignore what you need, and just bide their time with you. I've seen that all too often, with so many older relatives, and those not old enough for medicare yet.
Taxes should freeze at the rate they were when you turned 65 so you could stay in your home once on Medicare! Not keep going up and up and up.
Re: Major Announcement
Back in 2008 banks were in a crisis mode. That was due to their offering too many subprime loans. Subprime loans are those you describe for people with poor credit ratings and are high risks. Their risks were indeed mitigated somewhat by the fact that the seller of the property subsidized the mortgage. Too many defaults caused the banks to acquire an inventory of properties that they could not dispose of. Since banks are not in the housing business that was a problem. I don't know where or when the B-Paper loans were given a name. It probably was a result of the 2008 financial crash. Since I was not familiar with the terms I looked them up and quoted what Google claims to be the case today in 2023.
You are correct to note that things have changed. There was little regulation back in 2008 so that the banks went wild with their mortgage policies. The feds stepped in and piled on a whole bunch of rules and regulations which held firm until Donald Trump as president withdrew the regulations. That went well with the banks, but today you see banks failing yet again due to the brilliancy of that former POTUS.
You are correct to note that things have changed. There was little regulation back in 2008 so that the banks went wild with their mortgage policies. The feds stepped in and piled on a whole bunch of rules and regulations which held firm until Donald Trump as president withdrew the regulations. That went well with the banks, but today you see banks failing yet again due to the brilliancy of that former POTUS.
Re: Major Announcement
Well, this I can tell you for certain, the banks NEVER LOSE money on mortgages, not now, not ever!
They actually Profit BIG TIME on most foreclosures.
I've been through that a few times on houses I sold where the buyer defaulted on their mortgage.
In once case, the house was valued at 72k, and only had a 25k mortgage by the bank, and 10k by my carryback.
It sold at auction on the courthouse steps, which is what banks do, for like 45k.
But guess who bought it on the courthouse steps?
It was the bank themselves who bought it!
And this is one of their gimmicks they use.
Despite the fact it sold for 45k at auction, that meant not only was the mortgage they had covered, but my 10k should have been covered also. But NO, Banks don't work like that! They buy the house back at auction in order to skirt paying off any mortgages or liens held my the seller or contractors if any.
Then they turn around and resell the house through a Real Estate Agent who deals with them, and they usually sell for close the 72k valuation.
So if you do the math. The bank had 25k into the house, bought it at auction for 45k, which was to keep other bidders from getting it. Paying 45k for the house, means they recovered their 25k on the mortgage. So that closes that end of the deal.
Even so, they did spend 45k on the house to get it. Then they turn around and sell it for 70k.
All that being said, most of the houses I did buy to renovate, were purchased as REO's. Which means Real Estate Owned by the Bank. REO's are the best way to buy a house because it means there are absolutely No Liens on the house.
Plus most of the houses I did buy that way, I only paid 3,500 to 16,000 for. Basically pennies on the dollar!
The banks did not lose any money on those deals either, and here is why. Insurance on the house is always for an amount greater than the mortgage owed on the house. Plus the banks also have insurance on those houses they hold themselves.
If a house is considered a total loss by the insurance company, the face amount of the insurance is what is paid.
And one other nifty trick banks do, is after the fire, they will quickly foreclose on the house so the owner does not have to pay any further mortgage payments. But by so doing, the proceeds of the insurance payment goes to the bank, the person who paid for the insurance.
As I said, the Banks NEVER LOSE on the mortgages they gave out.
But they do lose big time on many of their bad investments!
They actually Profit BIG TIME on most foreclosures.
I've been through that a few times on houses I sold where the buyer defaulted on their mortgage.
In once case, the house was valued at 72k, and only had a 25k mortgage by the bank, and 10k by my carryback.
It sold at auction on the courthouse steps, which is what banks do, for like 45k.
But guess who bought it on the courthouse steps?
It was the bank themselves who bought it!
And this is one of their gimmicks they use.
Despite the fact it sold for 45k at auction, that meant not only was the mortgage they had covered, but my 10k should have been covered also. But NO, Banks don't work like that! They buy the house back at auction in order to skirt paying off any mortgages or liens held my the seller or contractors if any.
Then they turn around and resell the house through a Real Estate Agent who deals with them, and they usually sell for close the 72k valuation.
So if you do the math. The bank had 25k into the house, bought it at auction for 45k, which was to keep other bidders from getting it. Paying 45k for the house, means they recovered their 25k on the mortgage. So that closes that end of the deal.
Even so, they did spend 45k on the house to get it. Then they turn around and sell it for 70k.
All that being said, most of the houses I did buy to renovate, were purchased as REO's. Which means Real Estate Owned by the Bank. REO's are the best way to buy a house because it means there are absolutely No Liens on the house.
Plus most of the houses I did buy that way, I only paid 3,500 to 16,000 for. Basically pennies on the dollar!
The banks did not lose any money on those deals either, and here is why. Insurance on the house is always for an amount greater than the mortgage owed on the house. Plus the banks also have insurance on those houses they hold themselves.
If a house is considered a total loss by the insurance company, the face amount of the insurance is what is paid.
And one other nifty trick banks do, is after the fire, they will quickly foreclose on the house so the owner does not have to pay any further mortgage payments. But by so doing, the proceeds of the insurance payment goes to the bank, the person who paid for the insurance.
As I said, the Banks NEVER LOSE on the mortgages they gave out.
But they do lose big time on many of their bad investments!
Re: Major Announcement
You could be right that banks never lose on mortgages, although that is a highly suspect notion. If true, then why did so many banks go out of business when people could not pay their mortgages back in 2008? The current SVB fiasco amounts to the same scenario that was played out during the last crisis. As it turns out the high risk mortgages held by SVB were in fact purchased by some other financial institution so that SVB got all that money back, but it wasn't enough to pay the people withdrawing money from their savings/checking after the bad news broke regarding the mortgages. SVB was shut down by California regulators and they then filed for bankruptcy protection. So ... did they really not lose anything?
The concept to keep in mind is that banks make a profit primarily from lending cash. It does them no good to have a huge inventory of property because they can't use that to issue new mortgages. When defaults occur they do indeed get their mortgage money back, but not at a profit. They are not allowed to profit from the sale of real estate. Also, money sitting idle in the bank's vault likewise does not earn them a profit. It's the interest collected on the mortgages that keeps them in business. Thus it makes sense for them to protect their cash loans every which way that is possible.
If you lost money due to not reclaiming the cash you put out for the carrybacks, then you did not protect your assets as do the banks. You too could have mortgage insurance and a lien on the property given that you had such a heavy financial interest in the loan. I admit to not knowing the details of how such loans work, but I can say the banks protected their own financial interests. They have no stake in risks you take by issuing a second mortgage. That was totally your responsibility.
The concept to keep in mind is that banks make a profit primarily from lending cash. It does them no good to have a huge inventory of property because they can't use that to issue new mortgages. When defaults occur they do indeed get their mortgage money back, but not at a profit. They are not allowed to profit from the sale of real estate. Also, money sitting idle in the bank's vault likewise does not earn them a profit. It's the interest collected on the mortgages that keeps them in business. Thus it makes sense for them to protect their cash loans every which way that is possible.
If you lost money due to not reclaiming the cash you put out for the carrybacks, then you did not protect your assets as do the banks. You too could have mortgage insurance and a lien on the property given that you had such a heavy financial interest in the loan. I admit to not knowing the details of how such loans work, but I can say the banks protected their own financial interests. They have no stake in risks you take by issuing a second mortgage. That was totally your responsibility.
Re: Major Announcement
When a small business goes bankrupt, the owner usually goes bankrupt along with it.
This is not true with larger companies. The owners all have their own assets in safe keeping. So when the company goes bankrupt, other than losing the income from the company, they are not out really anything else, except perhaps a pension, and their original investment if they hadn't already got that back previously.
Banks are an entirely different animal than your normal businesses, large or small.
Nearly any bank, no matter how well funded, small or large, can go bankrupt if their is a run on the bank.
There are many ways in which a bank can make a profit on the sale of real estate. One is like I mentioned, they buy the property back on the courthouse steps. This cuts out all the lienholders and pays off the existing mortgage.
Banks often buy property for resale and for a profit too.
The contractor who built a few subdivisions in St. Louis county, my dads, the one across the road, and a few others. Got all their working capital from the bank with interest of course. But when they get down to where they only have 6 or 8 more houses to sell, they often offer them to the bank for a discount, who would then use a realtor to resell them.
Banks may appear to be losing money, but take a look at the Owners of the bank and their assets and see if their assets dwindled or went up after the bankruptcy.
FWIW: I did have mortgage insurance on most of my carrybacks. But it did me no good once the bank foreclosed on the property and took the house, because the insurance is on the house mortgage which ended when the bank foreclosed. After I learned how that works, I never got mortgage insurance ever again.
I could tell you a story that would make your head swim on how I was swindled out of a couple of houses by the banks, who were working in cahoots with the insurance companies. And they do it all legally, using laws written just for the bankers.
This is not true with larger companies. The owners all have their own assets in safe keeping. So when the company goes bankrupt, other than losing the income from the company, they are not out really anything else, except perhaps a pension, and their original investment if they hadn't already got that back previously.
Banks are an entirely different animal than your normal businesses, large or small.
Nearly any bank, no matter how well funded, small or large, can go bankrupt if their is a run on the bank.
There are many ways in which a bank can make a profit on the sale of real estate. One is like I mentioned, they buy the property back on the courthouse steps. This cuts out all the lienholders and pays off the existing mortgage.
Banks often buy property for resale and for a profit too.
The contractor who built a few subdivisions in St. Louis county, my dads, the one across the road, and a few others. Got all their working capital from the bank with interest of course. But when they get down to where they only have 6 or 8 more houses to sell, they often offer them to the bank for a discount, who would then use a realtor to resell them.
Banks may appear to be losing money, but take a look at the Owners of the bank and their assets and see if their assets dwindled or went up after the bankruptcy.
FWIW: I did have mortgage insurance on most of my carrybacks. But it did me no good once the bank foreclosed on the property and took the house, because the insurance is on the house mortgage which ended when the bank foreclosed. After I learned how that works, I never got mortgage insurance ever again.
I could tell you a story that would make your head swim on how I was swindled out of a couple of houses by the banks, who were working in cahoots with the insurance companies. And they do it all legally, using laws written just for the bankers.
Re: Major Announcement
You are right to point out that banks are not like most other businesses. The commodity they deal with is cash, not real estate. Thus the bulk of their income comes from cash transactions, such as business loans and mortgages. Mortgages, of course, involves real property, and all that is made possible by the existence of cash. Since cash is the bloodline of the financial world there are a ton of regulations regarding how it can be manipulated. Profiting from the sale of real estate is good business, but that truly is not the business banks are conducting. The profits from such sales are put into a mortgage pool so that they can lend out more money. Otherwise they would have to borrow cash from the Federal Reserve and pay interest on said loans. I'm sure there are all kinds of tricks in the banking trade, and I'm also sure they are well hidden and beyond comprehension of anybody less than a Harvard Law School graduate. Trading real assets is not a good way for banks to earn money, but they do engage in such things to remain solvent.
Bank ownership is no different than any other business. They are usually public entities but can be privately owned as well. The owners, be they private or public, invest in the business with expectations of earning a profit. All that is pretty normal. Banking executives are like executives from any other company in that they are paid a salary and given bonuses depending on performance. While the executives are responsible for the banks success, it's no skin off their backs if the bank crashes and burns. They might have a vested interest in the banks stock which is a vulnerable asset should the bank not perform well. In fact that is why many companies give their executives stock options as payment. They want the execs to have a stake in the performance and not just play a management role. But, alas, many executives have other assets that are well isolated from their business's performance. That too is normal.
I'm sure you have some interesting tales regarding banks, insurance, and real estate. You made a living dealing with all those things and more. I don't have to tell you that normal business activity involves wins and losses. Hopefully the business operator is knowledgeable enough to generate more wins than losses. Unfortunately, that is not often the case.
Bank ownership is no different than any other business. They are usually public entities but can be privately owned as well. The owners, be they private or public, invest in the business with expectations of earning a profit. All that is pretty normal. Banking executives are like executives from any other company in that they are paid a salary and given bonuses depending on performance. While the executives are responsible for the banks success, it's no skin off their backs if the bank crashes and burns. They might have a vested interest in the banks stock which is a vulnerable asset should the bank not perform well. In fact that is why many companies give their executives stock options as payment. They want the execs to have a stake in the performance and not just play a management role. But, alas, many executives have other assets that are well isolated from their business's performance. That too is normal.
I'm sure you have some interesting tales regarding banks, insurance, and real estate. You made a living dealing with all those things and more. I don't have to tell you that normal business activity involves wins and losses. Hopefully the business operator is knowledgeable enough to generate more wins than losses. Unfortunately, that is not often the case.
Re: Major Announcement
Because I bought mainly REO's, I would get a list about once a month from someone who compiled them for a few banks in the area. But your best deals are at REO private auctions. The downside is you must have CASH in order to bid, and you cannot bid more than the CASH you registered at the sales desk. Most folks don't want to carry that amount of cash on them to the areas these auctions are often held, so you make a deposit into their account, set up for that purpose at a bank. The downside to that is, you don't get your money back from the bank for around 7 to 15 days. But you can move it to other REO sales accounts the day after the auction is over. These are non-interest bearing accounts too, so you don't want to leave it there waiting for the next REO auction to come around.
I forgot my main point, the list of houses up on REO sales is usually quite lengthy, sometimes over 100 houses, and the auctions are not absolute, they have a starting point for most of the houses, which is probably the break even point for the bank, or possibly a bit more than that.
After my uncles box business was booming and he had extra cash to fool around with, he would invest in other box companies who wanted to expand or buy newer better machines. Often the stock he bought was just for the machines, or inventory expansion, or something along those lines. He said it makes sense because he knows that business inside and out. Plus it gives him leverage should he decide to buy them out some day. If they start having problems, he already owns the machines and/or inventory which he could use.
A small business, especially start-ups, may go for years in the red before they finally see daylight.
A few business are just there for the ego trip and may not be making a profit, at least not a real profit.
Sorta like I kept the AZ-NO3 business going when sales were way down. Kept it going until I was not losing money.
There were times when I could not buy the larger bulk sizes of ingredients, those that expire, so ended up paying more than I made on the product to get them. But in the end, the customers got their orders at my normal price, and finally I found someone to sell my company to for pennies on the dollar, just so they could carry it on. I did hope they would do better than they did, but it is a very hard market that is getting harder by the day.
I forgot my main point, the list of houses up on REO sales is usually quite lengthy, sometimes over 100 houses, and the auctions are not absolute, they have a starting point for most of the houses, which is probably the break even point for the bank, or possibly a bit more than that.
After my uncles box business was booming and he had extra cash to fool around with, he would invest in other box companies who wanted to expand or buy newer better machines. Often the stock he bought was just for the machines, or inventory expansion, or something along those lines. He said it makes sense because he knows that business inside and out. Plus it gives him leverage should he decide to buy them out some day. If they start having problems, he already owns the machines and/or inventory which he could use.
A small business, especially start-ups, may go for years in the red before they finally see daylight.
A few business are just there for the ego trip and may not be making a profit, at least not a real profit.
Sorta like I kept the AZ-NO3 business going when sales were way down. Kept it going until I was not losing money.
There were times when I could not buy the larger bulk sizes of ingredients, those that expire, so ended up paying more than I made on the product to get them. But in the end, the customers got their orders at my normal price, and finally I found someone to sell my company to for pennies on the dollar, just so they could carry it on. I did hope they would do better than they did, but it is a very hard market that is getting harder by the day.
Re: Major Announcement
No matter how good you are at running a business, you are typically not in control of its success. You can do all the right things and be innovative, but your success depends on the consumer of your product or service. Most successful businessmen know their market well enough to profit from its whims, but sometimes a weird thing happens. In spite of all indications that your business has passed its prime, or has no chance of ever getting there, a certain need to keep it going no matter what develops. Market conditions change and and you must have the wisdom needed to go with the flow or to cut your losses and run. I never ran a business so that I don't know what happens in those cases, but I do know several people who kept things going in spite of the writing on the wall. They lost a lot, but the good news is that they ran a good rat race, weather permitting.
I know you had your share of successes and made a difference in the lives of many people. You are to be applauded for all that. You can rest comfortably knowing you did your best and made an honest effort.
I know you had your share of successes and made a difference in the lives of many people. You are to be applauded for all that. You can rest comfortably knowing you did your best and made an honest effort.
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I know all to well what it is like to start a business, especially one that is too far ahead of its time to work and become successful. My windshield repair business, although worked perfect, and today is a common repair covered by insurance. At the time I started the business, insurance companies paid for a new window if the stone chip was on the drivers side, they wouldn't cover a repair, and if the customer had insurance, they naturally wouldn't pay us to fix it.
Same thing with repairing restaurant and car seats, anything Naugahyde or Leather. We did it the right way. Even so, places came out with funky cheap kits to do it yourself for 1/3 the cost, and they didn't hold up at all.
I also came up with a few FAD items which I knew sales wouldn't last, but were fun to make or have made and resell to retailers.
I enjoyed my many years in home renovations and running Handymenders, but then too, one person can only do so much themselves. Plus the dealing with clients, and/or customers for products.
And this is why I got into Manufacturing. One customer, my mfgr. rep. who handled nearly everything from sales to distribution to distributors. And of course, distributors sold to wholesalers, who sold to retailers, and the retailers had to deal with the customers, hi hi.
Over the years, I've had my hands on many different challenging jobs and opportunities. Most of them did well though.
Now I'm too old and sickly to do anything anymore. Not even sell the things I've stockpiled to sell as vintage and antiques.
Same thing with repairing restaurant and car seats, anything Naugahyde or Leather. We did it the right way. Even so, places came out with funky cheap kits to do it yourself for 1/3 the cost, and they didn't hold up at all.
I also came up with a few FAD items which I knew sales wouldn't last, but were fun to make or have made and resell to retailers.
I enjoyed my many years in home renovations and running Handymenders, but then too, one person can only do so much themselves. Plus the dealing with clients, and/or customers for products.
And this is why I got into Manufacturing. One customer, my mfgr. rep. who handled nearly everything from sales to distribution to distributors. And of course, distributors sold to wholesalers, who sold to retailers, and the retailers had to deal with the customers, hi hi.
Over the years, I've had my hands on many different challenging jobs and opportunities. Most of them did well though.
Now I'm too old and sickly to do anything anymore. Not even sell the things I've stockpiled to sell as vintage and antiques.
Re: Major Announcement
I know about the pangs of being too old to do anything. That symptom is the one factor common to all human beings. We get old and can't perform as well as we did in our youth. My attempt at consolation is to keep my mind challenged and fresh, but all that does is make me even more cognizant of what I no longer am asked to do. I have a suspicion that when I take my last breath, I will be fully aware of it. It's nothing I fear at the moment, but I probably will feel disappointed. Given that in the end we must all face the same fate, it's probably wise to simply continue doing the best we can with what we have. That's how those successes in the past were accomplished. The mission now is to be comfortable and to figure out a way to go out in style. Recently I read about a old timer, thinking he was near ninety, who decided he wanted to do one more jump as a sky diver. After all, at that age what do you have to lose? Then there is the story my young daughter tells about the days when she was a collector of bad credit card debt. She ran into some mean characters, but also one who was a fairly sweet old lady in her mid eighties. The old lady just racked up something like $25k in credit card debt and refused to pay it off. She said to my daughter, "What are you going to do about it? Put me in jail?" LOL My daughter changed jobs shortly after that.
Re: Major Announcement
The amounts I could charge on my credit cards, although I pay them off in full every month. Each of them were up around 7,500 available credit limit. But the day I turned 75, all of them suddenly dropped to 2,500 available credit limit.
Now back when I was working and doing houses, I had two credit cards with a 15,000 dollar credit limit, and often carried a balance on them over 6,000, sometimes for up to three or four months, but I always paid much more than the minimum payment also, and paid them down when a house sold. Never was late on a payment either, which makes a big difference in how they treat you.
There are some things that are not strenuous I do want to get done, but it seems I run out of time before I get to them.
Now back when I was working and doing houses, I had two credit cards with a 15,000 dollar credit limit, and often carried a balance on them over 6,000, sometimes for up to three or four months, but I always paid much more than the minimum payment also, and paid them down when a house sold. Never was late on a payment either, which makes a big difference in how they treat you.
There are some things that are not strenuous I do want to get done, but it seems I run out of time before I get to them.
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My current credit card has a multi decade history. I have had a few other cards in my time, but this one now issued by Chase is the oldest. We got it when both my wife and I were working at near the top of our pay scales. I don't recall the initial spending limit, but it was well in excess of $10k. Every few years they upped it until the limit reached $25k. Then we retired and they no longer automatically upped the limit, but they did not lower it either. It's still at $25k. However, since we have retired they send us letters periodically suggesting we submit a statement of our income so that they can up the credit limit if we qualified. Well, that sounds nice but I never submitted an update because that review of our income could also be used to lower the limit. They have not lowered it already most likely because we paid off the card when we retired and never carried any balances forward thereafter. In other words our risk factor, as far as Chase is concerned, has not changed. I have wondered why they did not lower our credit limit. All I can think of is that we have paid off the balance every month for at least twenty years now. We came close to maxing out when we bought this house, but were able to even pay that off after closing. I guess that all means something.
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I used to have lots of credit cards, but got rid of most of them, especially all the fuel credit cards I used to carry from my truck driving days. Now I just have a Bank of America CC I got shortly after I moved down here, and I do pay it off every month. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse. No Annual Fee, No Interest for 5 years, which is now long past, 3% cash back on most purchases, 2% on some items, and 1% on everything else. Plus, by opening a savings account with them, what I earn is automatically deposited to my saving account. The savings account is a joke though, I earn 1 cent per month, hi hi.
They keep sending me other offers, but when I look at what it takes to cash in on the offer, I just can't do them.
Having the savings account is a bonus though, it will prevent me from getting a late pay charge, or an over the limit charge, should I ever charge too much, which I don't. But it is good to know my little nest egg in their savings program protects me.
When I was doing contracting work, I had hardware store issued credit cards from nearly every one of them, even ones who no longer exist, but the credit cards were still good, since they were all Visa cards to start with. Like Builders Square, long gone.
I had in-house charge accounts at some of the suppliers I used often, which worked out great for me. I could call and order a truckload of drywall and joint compound, several rolls of joint tape, etc. and they would deliver them to where I needed them to go, and often I wouldn't see a bill come in the mail for over 30 days after I made the purchase. And then you still had another 30 days to get it to them. No interest and no complaints as long as you paid them before 90 days were up.
They keep sending me other offers, but when I look at what it takes to cash in on the offer, I just can't do them.
Having the savings account is a bonus though, it will prevent me from getting a late pay charge, or an over the limit charge, should I ever charge too much, which I don't. But it is good to know my little nest egg in their savings program protects me.
When I was doing contracting work, I had hardware store issued credit cards from nearly every one of them, even ones who no longer exist, but the credit cards were still good, since they were all Visa cards to start with. Like Builders Square, long gone.
I had in-house charge accounts at some of the suppliers I used often, which worked out great for me. I could call and order a truckload of drywall and joint compound, several rolls of joint tape, etc. and they would deliver them to where I needed them to go, and often I wouldn't see a bill come in the mail for over 30 days after I made the purchase. And then you still had another 30 days to get it to them. No interest and no complaints as long as you paid them before 90 days were up.
Re: Major Announcement
When both wife and I were working we had dozens of credit cards. Most of them were hers from all the shops in the mall she liked to visit. It was a huge shopping mall so that she acquired a lot of cards. Eventually we stopped using those store cards and they expired. A couple of the cash credit cards did the same. We had a business credit card for E-Bay, for reasons I don't recall. We did sell a lot of things there and I suppose there was some special offer she just could not pass up and got the card. That one took many years to expire for lack of use. So, now we are down to two. The main one is from Chase and the bank we deal with gave us a debit card that is also a credit card. There are only a few times when that came in handy. Periodically some phisher gets hold of our credit card information and we have to kill that card and wait for a new one to be issued. While we are waiting we use the debit card. Other than that it's useless. There are a couple places that send me deals once in a while and the terms are slightly better than what I have now. That is to say the cash back is higher than the 1% I get now, 2% for most restaurants. I've been tempted to switch, but as I mentioned earlier we had the current card for more than twenty years. Parting with such long time friends isn't easy. LOL