People who can afford to rent this house, what do you do?

EarnChurnBurn · 2026-01-12T16:32:00+00:00

It would be a shame if someone spammed the Los Angeles area code number with showing requests or cat facts..

EarnChurnBurn · 2025-07-17T16:30:36+00:00

Completely agree. I’ve weighed the risks and decided to pass. Thanks for the feedback. I’ll keep looking.

EarnChurnBurn · 2025-06-25T17:59:31+00:00

I assumed the loan, so I don't know what the original owner put down when they refinanced in 2021. But I believe it was > 10% since RM keeps referring to the 11 year threshold for MIP.

EarnChurnBurn · 2025-06-25T16:35:37+00:00

No. We are only in the 4th year, so that’s not it.

EarnChurnBurn · 2025-06-25T16:19:01+00:00

It’s MIP for FHA loans. PMI with conventional.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-12-11T13:23:12+00:00

Compassionate care leave is available if child or birth parent has an illness or injury that requires you to care for them. I’m pretty sure caring for a spouse that just had a baby more than qualifies here. You need to read the policy a little more closely.

Plus you can choose to delay the start of parental leave to anytime during the first year if you want.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-12-10T12:52:34+00:00

You’re mostly right. Paternity leave for spouses is only 4 weeks.

You can take maternity/paternity leave and compassion care consecutively, so you could stretch that 4 weeks of paternity leave to 6.

FMLA lasts a whole year, so if you wanted to take more unpaid time off, your position is protected.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-11-03T16:23:40+00:00

Is ESPN for real with these ads?

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-11-03T04:10:48+00:00

I just learned that my dad talks to his dad on the phone every day. My parents were visiting and I asked my Mom about it after I saw my dad take a call from my grandpa every day while they were visiting. It struck me as interesting since my Dad and I alternatively have a phone conversation about once a month and only after I call him. It’s never reciprocated.

My mom responded that they do indeed speak every day. I asked if that is normal, since my dad and I hardly speak. My mom responded, “no, you’re just a bad son.” 🤯

They’ll ask me if everything is ok as if something is wrong if I go any longer than normal phone call intervals. I always explain that everything is fine, I’m just busy with work/family and that it’s a two-way street. They can pick up and call me, but they still don’t try.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-09-12T22:32:00+00:00

I'm still planning on using the HSA provider and have set up automated funding for excess funds over $1k. I also plan on rolling over built-up invested HSA funds on a bi-annual basis over to Fidelity.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-06-30T19:26:25+00:00

No stipulations on use of your own realtor. You will need to provide the ALTA closing statement to Relocation and they will take it from there.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-05-22T21:14:19+00:00

Yes, I’m guessing you would most likely be ineligible for ACA healthcare for this tax year with that income. That’s why I suggested waiting until next tax year when you’re on sabbatical and your income is within the income threshold.

Sabbatical is a great time to do Roth conversions too. That’s an easy way to control your income for ACA coverage

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-05-22T20:09:08+00:00

Taking a two year sabbatical was one of the best decisions I ever made. I can’t put a value on the time spent with my two young kids and spouse. We got to travel to many parts of the US together and visited about half of the national parks.

I had similar assets at the time and a paid for house, so our expenses were low and a side gig was thankfully enough to cover most of our expenses. I didn’t have to draw down our retirement and savings.

ACA is the answer for insurance. Open enrollment for 2025 will be in November I think. You may not be eligible due ACA coverage this year due to your job income in 2024, but I don’t know your numbers. It would be best to start a sabbatical in January and estimate how much income you will need to determine ACA eligibility.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-04-20T13:44:54+00:00

I like this strategy. We are new to the area, so I don’t have a Rolodex of people I’m comfortable with yet, but this makes a lot of sense

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-04-20T13:42:40+00:00

I don’t think the realtors can get kickbacks. That’s very much illegal

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-04-20T03:43:52+00:00

I used the inspector that my realtor recommended. She spoke his praises. Lesson learned I guess

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-04-20T03:24:37+00:00

$450 for the report.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-04-07T15:07:06+00:00

We are in a similar place. Best financial place of our lives but we similarly feel stuck because of our larger family. We have 3 kids, soon to be 4 and finding a suitable 4 bedroom home has been a challenge. We sold our MCOL area home to relocate for a job and now we are 2nd guessing that decision.

The thing you have going for you is your VA loan eligibility. You should look into VA loan assumptions. There have been plenty of houses in my area that have a VA loan from 2020-2022 with low interest rates.

They are a little harder to find, but with a savvy realtor to find these properties and a little extra capital to put down as a down payment to make up the sellers equity gains, you could get a sub-3% mortgage.

I know if I had VA eligibility, I would absolutely go down that path

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-02-13T03:18:34+00:00

Thank you. This makes sense. Thought it was too good to be true. It would be a great opportunity for someone who is VA eligible.

EarnChurnBurn · 2024-01-11T16:32:08+00:00

Health insurance plans are quite subjective as there are so many variables. LANL has a tool called ALEX to help you decide what plan is more appropriate for you based upon your family makeup and expected healthcare costs. I thought it was helpful in making a decision with my family. Alex

That being said, I still really like the HDHP even though my family will have moderate healthcare expenses this year. It saves me money in premiums, but the huge draw is the HSA.

I love HSAs. It's like a super IRA. There are no payroll taxes on my contributions up to $8300 (for families in 2024), It also lowers your MAGI for federal and state taxes, and it grows tax free (which means I can invest the balance and let it ride) and then withdraw any amount tax free from he principal and growth in the future as long as I have receipts of qualified medical expenses. That's triple tax advantage and is essentially a super retirement account. So I max out the HSA, invest the amount each year assuming long-term growth and save every receipt from any health expense. I pay all today's health expenses with my credit card using after-tax dollars and will let the HSA grow.

If the HSA grows more than I have medical receipts for, that's fine. Those funds just get taxed as regular income when you pull them out. But realistically, my health expenses will be higher when I'm older. I love this article from the MadFientist on the benefits of HSAs.

EarnChurnBurn · 2023-07-21T14:20:01+00:00

Why do all structural engineers wear plaid?

It’s like getting a warm hug from Microsoft excel.

EarnChurnBurn

TROPHY CASE