Welcome to Chez Cliff!

With the extra money from the refi, I’m going to eliminate my debt.  This includes the credit card debt and the debt from the Dell POS that I financed.

It’s sad to say but I still carry some credit card debt.  They are all below the 50% mark, thank goodness!  But I’m still making monthly payments on them.  This will help out my monthly cashflow dramatically.  In addition, my credit score will definitely go up.

The timing on this is perfect because I’ve learned that Federal Legislation requires the minimum payment on credit cards to jump from 2% to 4%.  For those that are paying $1,000+ a month in credit card bills, they are going to get nailed to the wall!

There’s even a bigger bright spot.  The money I’m getting back from Uncle Sam is for my future real estate deal.

I’m learning new things every day.  One of these is that sometimes, people just don’t want to be helped.

I know a woman who wants to be a caterer so bad, she can barely breath.  She absolutely hates her job.  She is constantly talking about quitting and pursuing her true passion.  As with most budding entrepreneurs, she wants to be her own boss, set her own schedule, hire her own staff, come up with her own logo . . . the whole gambit.

During my adventures in purchasing a business, I signed up on several emailing listings for new businesses for sale in Southern California.  As fate would have it, one day an email listed a catering business for sale.

The gentlemen was offering was his 5 year old catering van, complete with all of his catering equipment, for $25,000.  My first thought is that he’d take $20,000 if someone offered 50% down.  The other $10,000 could be financed any number of ways.

I saw this woman just a few days later.  I followed my instinct and told her what I had discovered.  I explained that if she came up with $10,000 then she could probably finance the rest.  After all, many people had commented that they would hire her for an event if she had all of the equipment.  Finding jobs didn’t seem to be a problem.

With a distant far off look in her eye, she said "I don’t have $20,000."  It was almost like speaking to a robot.  "I don’t have $20,000."  My entire idea was shot down and within the blink of an eye, she dismissed everything.

Admittedly, I was annoyed with her.  Not only because she dismissed my efforts to help rather quickly but because she shot herself down within the same time span.  When I started my adventure, I didn’t have the money for the down payment on my house.  But I found it anyway.  I had debt up to my eye balls, an "ok" credit score, and no experience.  Yet I found the money.

As stated in other postings here, people always have the greatest ideas but when it comes to funding their project, they stall.  They stop at the "money door" and stare at it.  "I don’t have the money for this."  Then they walk away and nothing becomes of it.  Even after telling them that it’s easier to open the door than they think, they don’t believe it. 

I personally think they don’t even want to try.

My response to her was "Then I guess you really don’t want to be a caterer."

Here’s the outcome of the story.

Catering Business:  It sold within a few weeks.

Clifford:  Be more selective in who I assist.  Not everyone that has a dream is willing to do what it takes to achieve it.

Woman:  A few months later, she was dragged to court over a civil lawsuit.  The case was dismissed but not before she had to pay over $10,000 in court and lawyer fees.  I guess she really could find the money.

Recently, I’ve felt like that fly that repeatedly smacks his head against the window yet can never seem to get through.  I have all the drive but I’m accomplishing nothing.

This last week, the window cracked.

I spent a few hours with the Tax Man.  Lessons on that is coming soon.  The moral of the story is I’m getting a nice size refund from Uncle Sam.  I’m quite excited about that because it means I’ve got cash to do my next real estate deal.

A few hours after that, I received a call from the Escrow Company.  The refi on my house finally went through.  I drove to their office and signed my life away, once again.  This time, I was way more savvy and was able to ask intelligent questions as I went along.  After the loan was processed, it appears that I’m getting money back from that as well.  I haven’t yet decided what these funds will be used for.  I’m leaning towards complete debt elimination.

I cracked open my fortune cookie after an afternoon of getting a ton of money.  Here’s what it said, via my photo.

I guess that’s better than this guy.

Here is an excellent opportunity for an investor.  Or maybe a first timer.  I’m helping Trisha out with advertising her place.

$59000  – Investment Property For Sale

Before any "non-investors" turn this idea down, let me tell you why this may be good for someone to invest in.

First, the place is managed via a property manager.  You won’t be getting any phone calls at 2:30 in the morning for a plunger request.  The property manager takes care of that.  This also means that you don’t have to be in the state of Oklahoma to enjoy the benefits of this.

Second, yes the place is Section 8 but that guarantees rent via the US Government.  Say what you want about this administration but HUD will always be with us. 

You can find a mortgage calculator to figure out the numbers.  The few numbers I selected always showed positive cash-flow.

As I stood near the crawl space entrance, the question on my mind was "How do I evict Grey?"  I thought about calling animal control or another service like that.  But I could see this turning into some giant fiasco with television cameras and helicopters.  Mental images of SWAT bashing down my front door danced in my head.  I believe having a skunk qualifies under the PATRIOT Act as an act of terrorism.

I asked myself "How do I evict Grey?  Then the answer hit me – he would leave on his own accord if he had an escape route.  I just had to provide it.  All I had to do was leave the crawl space door open.

The clock struck 10:00 p.m. and it was time to release Grey.  I walked into the space between the two houses and realized that the Tenant was probably home.  A quick glance at the houses revealed no lights turned on so I figured she was sound asleep.  Good, no worries there. 

All the lights in the house were shut off.  I rested perfectly still on the bed as the minutes slowly ticked away.  Any minute now, Grey would advance to the portal and make quick his escape.  My heart pace quickened as I realized that this zany scheme just might work.  I was giddy!

Suddenly, my room was flooded with light.  The Tenant had stepped outside the back house with her dog.  What was she thinking?  She was suppose to be in bed!!

Tenant:  C’mon doggie.  Make the poopie!
Dog:  (stupid stare)
Tenant:  C’mon!  Make the poopie!
Dog:  (stupid stare)

While standing on my bed, my mind pondered if "poopie" was actually a real word. Then it occured to me that I had no way of knowing if Grey had started his ascent or not.

Merde.

This mental movie played in my head.  I quickly jumped down off the bed and ran towards the back door.  While only wearing my old boxers and a pair of socks, I bolted into the back yard.  The tenant’s dog had seen the skunk.  On instinct, the skunk turned it’s body and lifted it’s tail to project it’s toxic, acidic spray.

"No-o-o-o-o!" I screamed as in some Secret Service Agent Style, I leapt forward to put my body between the skunk and the tenant.  The skunk spray hit me full on in the chest, it’s acrid smell pierced the air and nearly sent me retching.  But at least the tenant was alright.

No, none of that happened.

The dog must have made the "poopie" because he and the tenant went back into the house.

The night passed without incident.  I’m not sure of the exact moment Grey left.  In the morning, upon inspecting the cardboard, there was a set of dirty footprints on it.  I resealed the hole.

What’s next?