The SoapBoxers

In the midwest, ethanol is often a key discussion point regarding alternative energy. I am not going to try to touch on the many political, environmental, and social issues regarding ethanol. Instead, I will touch base on a rather simply mathematical point.

It is often said that ethanol provides 70% of the energy of gasoline. Does this mean that your 30 mpg car will drop to 21 MPH (30mpg X 70%) when you use the ethanol pump?

No.

The 70% figure is the energy of straight ethanol (100% ethanol). What you see at gas stations is most commonly a 90/10 blend (90% gasoline, 10% ethanol) or E-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline).

Let’s quickly run the math of the mileage for these two types of fuel.

• For the 90/10 blend (by far the most common type of ethanol based fuel), 90% of the fuel (the gasoline) will provide 30 mpg while 10% of the fuel (the ethanol) will provide 21 mpg (30 X .70). When we use weighted averages (.9 X 30) + (.1 X 21) = 29.1 mpg. This is 97% of the fuel economy of gasoline.
• For the E-85 blend (used in FlexFuel vehicles), 15% of the fuel (the gasoline) will provide 30 mpg while 85% of the fuel (the ethanol) will provide 21 mpg (30 X .70). When we use weighted averages (.15 X 30) + (.85 X 21) = 22.35 mpg. This is 74.5% of the fuel mileage of gasoline.

If you are trying to simply buy the most economical fuel, this should allow you to determine which fuel will provide the most miles per dollar.

Note: in some states, only 90/10 ethanol and E-85 is available – straight gasoline is not available. For this situation, bear in mind that E-85 provides 76.5% of the fuel mileage of the 90/10 blend.

I bought this book off a discount table for $4. I had my doubts that Jimmy Buffett could write a decent novel, so I pushed it to the side. Months later, I stumbled across the abridged audio book for $1 and took the plunge. Now that I owned the work in two different formats and had invested a grand total of $5, I really had to make an effort to read (or listen) to it. So I popped the first tape into the player, and off we went!

I quickly realized that I was a fool to doubt Buffett. After all, Buffet tells great stories in his songs, most of which he writes himself. Is this really much different than writing a novel?

Having said this, the book doesn’t quite fit the mold of a traditional novel. You could easily chop the book into several novellas that would stand on their own with minimal ties to the other parts.

The central character is Tully Mars. Tully began his journey in Montana before he was forced to flee from the injustice of bogus criminal charges. At points in the book, he ends up in Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and Belize (come on, go grab a map and find it). The core theme of the book is Tully’s effort to help centegenarian Cleopatra Highbourne find a rare fresnel lens for the lighthouse on Cayo Loco. Caya Loco is the “Salty Piece of Land” referred to in the title.

During the course of the book, we are treated to rather length flashbacks of recent (and not so recent) events in Tully’s life. Tully really would like to settle down, but the bounty hunters that his former employer sent after him make it difficult to stay in one spot very long. Tully eventually ends up as a fishing guide at a fishing lodge in Mexico, where he does manage a bit of a respite before being forced to move on once again, this time to the lighthouse on Cayo Loco, where he works to restore the lighthouse to its former glory, while also coordinating an effort to find the rare fresnel lens.

While Tully is the narrator of the book, many other characters have significant roles. The aptly named musician Willie Singer tells his own adventures to Tully in the long letters he sends. Willie is attempting to circumnavigate the globe in an old sea plane, while also attempting to locate a fresnel lens for Tully and Cleopatra. Singer is welcomed in some interesting ways on his stops – including being welcomed as the second coming of a mythical US Navy pilot who had crash landed at the same place decades ago.

Then, of course, there is Cleopatra Highbourne, the 101 year old caption of the schooner Lucretia. While Cleopatra is completely consumed by her goal of restoring the Cayo Loco lighthouse to its former glory – complete with the elusive fresnel lens – so that it can serve as her final resting place, she also regales Tully with the story of her life. Even at her advanced age, Cleopatra spends much of her time sailing on the Lucretia. She is no figurehead captain, but is the unquestioned authority on board the schooner.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. If you like lighthouses, fishing, airplanes, or simply enjoy a good tale, you might enjoy this book. My only regret is that I listened to the abridged edition – now I’ll have to read the unabridged version in order to avoid missing any good parts.

A Salty Piece of Land (book)

Today marks the debut of Jonna Wibelius as our international voice.  Jonna is a native of Sweden and currently lives in China (you can read all about it in her blog, SHEinChina).  Jonna’s monthly column will address a current issue from the point of view of a European.

“Help Obama!” says a red banner on the right side of a Swedish online newspaper. By clicking on the link you eventually end up on Avaaz.org, “a small team of global campaigners working in many countries,” or, in other words, an organization that is trying to make some difference, simply by the support of the public.

Avaaz.org wants Europeans to share their stories about the health care system in their countries. They want to defend national healthcare, as a respond to the “disinformation about international health systems from health reform opponents in the US health debate.” They ask citizens to contribute their personal stories and sign petitions. All in order to “show” US citizens that a health care reform isn’t in fact simply “risky and costly” but rather, essential and very right for the time being.

What Avaaz.org is doing is just the tip of an iceberg. For weeks, months, well, years, European papers have printed libraries of articles highlighting the deficient health care system in the US. The reasons for change are substantial, at least if we are to believe the facts presented to us in the newspapers:

The cost for health care in the US is twice as big compared to the costs in countries on the same level. Still, the general level of health is much worse. A large number of Americans, some 46 million, don’t have any health insurance.

Other reasons that the papers are pointing out are lack of incitement to seek health care, bureaucracy and expensive subpoenas. There also seem to be a lucrative business in the US to offer health care to those who are not in need of it. The demand for “flawless health” has never been bigger. And many people do an extra health check, just to “make sure.”

How the US Government should reform the system should be discussed in detail, and it already has been for many years. The Michael Moore movie “Sicko” made headlines around the world some years ago, but still failed to make something happen. During the presidential election in 2008, health care was on the agenda for many of the candidates. And now, when President Obama is finally trying to go on with his plans and actually do something, he bumps into resistance from every corner. Meanwhile, the health care system continues to cost the US Government millions. It has been estimated that between one fifth and one sixth of the US’s BNP goes to health care.

The criticism Obama’s health care reform has been given has been harshly criticized in Scandinavian media as it is not considered as constructive. Activists have been demonstrating, some have been armed, and Obama has been accused to turning America into a bad version of the Soviet Union, or even Nazi-Germany. Swedish media writes: “In fact, he’s just trying to turn the US into Sweden.”

The protests are so exaggerated that it is hard not to feel for Obama. After all, he’s only doing what needs to be done. In 1994, Hillary Clinton hit her head on the wall as she failed to engage her husband Bill Clinton in the mission to reform America’s health care system. Afterwards, a lot of American politicians avoided the subject.

In the current situation, it is the financing of the health care reform that seems to be the biggest issue. Suggested higher taxes worry a lot of US citizens.

As an outside observer that comes from a country with a well-developed health care system with social security and health care for all Swedish citizens, it is hard to imagine being in a situation as many Americans. Not having any health insurance sounds completely foreign to any Swede. We pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but we are also given free health care, free dental care (until we turn 20), free education and unemployment benefits. The security net is so thick that it’s almost hard to tumble and fall. Not to say that it is perfect, as the Swedish health care system obviously battles their own problems (long waiting lines at the hospitals are one), but at least we don’t have millions of people that are outside the system. Still, it is obviously not fair to compare a small country like Sweden to a big country like the US.

I guess my point is that I hope the US will get their much needed health care reform. There’s been a scream for a change for so long now. When so close, I hope the US doesn’t turn back, and I also hope Obama can get some more support from his own Government. After all, he’s only trying to make things better.

Yes, yes I am.

I am announcing the launching of a new blog, The Fiction Writers. What will this blog feature?

A large chunk of the articles on the site will actually be serialization of short stories I have written. There are already 4 posts containing portions of the short story Key Relationships. I post updates three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), starting next week. The updates will be about 500 words each.

These stories will have previously been made available to regular visitors of The Soap Boxers, in PDF form. Serialization will allow the stories to reach a new audience, while allowing the readers of The Soap Boxers to ge the first opportunity to see these stories. The readers of the serialized stories will get to the end of the stories months after the PDF is made available to readers of The Soap Boxers.

In addition to my own stories, I am interesting in having my readers submit their own stories. These stories would be published on Tuesdays and Thursday. I can use your name, or I can post the stories anonymously – the choice is yours. If there are writers who would like to produce work for The Fiction Writers on a more consistent basis, this may also be an option. If you are interested in seeing your work displayed on The Fiction Writers, send me an email.

Finally, I will pose a question about writing or writers each weekend. This weekend’s question asks how writers feel about the impact of libraries and used book stores on their income.

In closing, I would like to thank my friend Lazy Man, operator of the web sites Lazy Man and Money and How To Fix. Lazy Man provides hosting and technical support for my blogs simply because he’s a nice guy. If you haven’t visited his sites, drop by and see what he has to say.

We present a special Wednesday edition of Fiction Friday.

“Remember – twelve and half.”

Buck Schroeder nodded his head and left the diner. He slipped the envelope into the pocket of his jeans as he walked to the parking lot. Half now, half after the game – the same as last year. The money was begging to be spent, so he jumped in his jeep and drove to the electronics store, where he dropped a couple of c-notes on some DVD box sets he’d been wanting to buy.

He took his girlfriend Dana out for supper at one of the better steak houses in town. Buck loved the start of football season. Not only did it allow him to be the big man on campus, but the money from the payoffs helped him live a better lifestyle than he could afford in the off season.

Buck fell asleep that night reading his playbook. This was a critical early season test for the Jackals. The Cougars were much improved from last year. It was even possible that Buck wouldn’t have to shave any points to keep the margin of victory below the Vegas line of 12 ½ points.

The next morning, Schroeder headed to the dorm’s soundproof music room and hammered out a few tunes on the piano. It was a tradition that dated back to junior high, and it had served him well. There was nothing like a bit of Beethoven to get his competitive juices flowing.

Buck joined his team for pregame breakfast and indulged another ritual, scarfing down four eggs, three slices of toasts, two large glasses of orange juice, and seventeen slices of bacon. Although the medical community was skeptical about the energizing power of bacon, Schroeder was a true believer.

Before long, the Jackals were taking the field in front of a raucous crowd at Morgan Memorial Stadium. Down on the field, Buck could feel the vibrations emanating from the fans inside the great bowl of the stadium. The fans sensed the importance of the game.

The Jackals received the opening kickoff. Buck dissected the Cougar defense, completing all seven passes on the drive, eventually hitting Nate Gustafson on a fade route in the corner of the end zone for the first score of the game. The scored remained 7-0 until the first drive of the second quarter, when Jackals scatback Troy Maddux found the end zone from twelve yards away to put the Jackals up by two touchdowns.

The Cougars drove deep into Jackals territory on the next drive, before faltering toward the end and settling for a short field goal. The Cougars once again drove into Jackals territory late in the second quarter. The clock became their enemy, and they eventually had to call a timeout and bring on their field goal kicker for a an impossibly long 59 yard field goal – which he promptly drilled right between uprights to draw the Cougars to within 14-6 as the first half clock elapsed.

Schroeder hooked up with speedy wideout Sean Warren on a fifty yard strike early in the third quarter to put the Jackals ahead 21-6. At this point, Schroeder began to lose a bit of touch on his passes, ostensibly because of a hit he absorbed from one of the Cougar defenders. In truth, however, he needed to have the Cougars pull back to within 12 ½ points.

Two Cougars field goals made the score 21-12 as the clock began ticking down in the fourth quarter. Buck needed only to manage the game a bit in order to win the game while also keeping the winning margin below the point spread. On a third and ten from the fifty yard line, he threw an inaccurate pass in the general vicinity of Nate Gustafson. A stunned Schroeder watched as Gustafson adjusted his route as the ball was thrown, apparently sensing that the ball would be thrown too far toward the far sideline. Gustafson grabbed the ball off his shoe tops, dodged a defender, switched directions, and accelerated into high gear, leaving an army of Cougars defender in his wake.

Schroeder had difficulty watching, as the Cougars fought to get back into the game. A field goal would not do them much good at this point in the game – nor would it do much good for Schroeder, who needed to see the sixteen point lead erode by more than the value of a sole field goal.

The Cougars quarterback dinked and dunked down the field. The Cougars were inside the five yard line as precious time was eaten up. The Jackals defense held strong three times, before finally yielding on a fourth and goal from within the one yard line. The Cougars then proceeded to pound the ball back into the end zone on the two point conversion attempt.

Thirty seconds remained in the game. With the Cougars within eight points, every fan in the stadium expected an onside kick. The Jackals sent the “hands team” onto the field, and Buck breathed a sigh of relief. The Jackals simply had to recover the onside kick and then have Schroeder take a few snaps to run out the remaining clock and preserve an eight point win.

The ball popped into the air and was grabbed by reserve receiver Jeff Casey. Instead of falling to the ground to down the ball, the lead footed Casey took off down the sideline. The rest of the Jackals raced downfield to block for Casey and the senior walk-on waddled into the end zone for the first touchdown of his career.

Buck Schroeder winced as the scoreboard flashed the score of 34-20. The PAT was added to make it a fifteen point difference.

The Cougars attempted a hook-and-ladder on the ensuing kickoff, making it as far as the Jackals forty yard line before the ball carrier was tackled, ending the game, and putting Buck Schroeder’s part time job in jeopardy.

The felony murder statute (or felony murder rule) seems to pop up in the news every now and then, but the general public does not seem to have a great deal of awareness of it.  Some people think that the term simply refers to “normal” murder.  In fact, it is a special type of murder.  So, today, I’ll weigh in on the felony murder statute.

Although the specifics vary by state, the core of the statute is quite simple.  If you are involved in the execution of a felony and someone dies, you can be charged with first degree murder in their death.  This most often applies to cases involving robbery, rape, arson, burglary, terrorism, kidnapping, carjacking, and escape.

The felony murder statute can apply even if it’s not one of the “good guys” who dies.  For example, let’s take the case of robbery.  If you and your friend rob a bank and the police shoot and kill your friend when you attempt to flee, it is you who will be charged with the murder, not the police officer.  This is why, at times, you will see a defense attorney declaring that his client should not be convicted, because he did not kill anyone.  Indeed, his client did not directly cause anyone’s death.

What, exactly, is the theory behind the felony murder statute?  The theory is that the perpetrators of the crime are engaged in acts that are inherently dangerous, and that they should know that there is a relatively high likelihood that the activity could result in death.

Opponents of the statute claim that it is unjust, because the perpetrators never intended to kill anyone.  Thus they lack “mens rea” (premeditation), which is typically must occur in order for a crime to qualify as first degree murder (deaths that do not involved mens rea are typically prosecuted as lesser crimes).  While the perpetrators may have premeditated the robbery, they did not premeditate the death.

Supporters counter the lack of mens rea by saying that transferred intent exists; that is, the intent to commit the underlying felony transfers to other activities that occur during the commission of the felony.

Where do I stand on this issue?  Although I am often liberal in my views, I come down firmly in favor of the felony murder statute.  I believe that this is a case were common sense should substitute for mens rea.  Although the perpetrators did not specifically intend to cause death, it is only logical that certain types of activities have a high probability of resulting in a death.  Not only does the felony murder statute serve to adequately punish the criminals, but it is also my hope that it will cause some people to stop and think before committing crimes such as robbery and arson.

What are your thoughts?  Does anyone want to offer a counter-argument?  The floor is yours.

An exciting week in sports this week. I am still resting up from my trip to the Solheim Cup, and I am sure you are all ready to read something other than another golf article, so I will just touch on some golf briefly and move on.

Golf

A real win for the LPGA this week with a win for the United States Team in the Solheim Cup. It might have well spelled a coming out party for Michelle Wie, who along with Paula Creamer were clearly the stars of the US team. Wie went an impressive 3-0-1 in her four matches played. It is too easy to forget she is still very young has it seems like she has already been playing forever.

Sergio Garcia sees another opportunity slip by as he extinguishes a late lead on Sunday in yet another tournament. And what is up with the rugged bearded look Sergio? Go back to the clean shaven Michelob Poster Boy look, it is much better for you and I am sure your many sponsors would agree with that assessment.

Baseball

C.C. Sabathia became the majors first 15 game winner of 2009 as the Yankees continued to dominate over the Boston Red Sox. No love in Beantown right now as the Yanks have built an impressive lead and seem to be firing on all cylinders. The Yankees now have a huge 7 ½ game in the division … just a few months ago it seemed like this was totally out of the question for this year.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball. What I have always found fascinating about the Rose lifetime ban is that very few people are on the fence with an opinion. You either think Pete Rose should or should not be in the Hall of Fame. Even current Hall members are on different sides of the issue. There is no disputing however that the all time hit leader has some statistical support in many categories that warrant a spot in Cooperstown, only time will tell if the decision of Bart Giamatti is ever overturned.

Football

Brett Favre is back …. again …. I think I would un-retire for a cool twenty five million dollars over two years. The Vikings have the running game, they have the defense, I am not sure they have the receivers. All the Vikings really need to do is to manage the game offensively. This could be a huge year for Adrian Peterson if he stays healthy.

Latest line from Vegas….over/under for number of times the new “JerryTron” 60 yard long High Definition Jumbo screen gets hit by punts at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium this year….14 ½.

And finally …

The crazy comment of the week:

Lou Holtz makes a bold post season prediction for the BCS Title game. “ I personally believe, if you ask me, ‘Who’s going to play in the national championship game?’ I’d say it’s going to be Florida and the University of Notre Dame. They return 11 starters on offense. They return all three running backs, the two best wide receivers, they have a great defense coming back.”

And to think …. ESPN pays this guy …. wow.

Until next week … Good Luck with your last minute Fantasy Football drafts!

I’ve noticed a slight increase in Google traffic this week as we made a push toward 250 articles. I suspect that 250 files (article + pages) may trigger Google to give you a bit more love. At this rate, we’ll have at least 3 unique visitors every day by the end of the year 😉

While I can sometimes sort of understand what Google is doing, I have some difficulty understanding what PEOPLE are doing sometimes.

In the aftermath of Google showing us a bit more love, the two most popular search terms over the weekend were:

• Johnny Goodman’s article, Live From the Solheim Cup
• A five month old article regarding How Many People Make More Than $250,000?

OK, these both make sense. Johnny’s article was very topical, and the article about how many people make more than $250,000 will be relevant as long as some politicians consider this to be a break point between those who are rich and those who are not.

So, you ask, what are some of the most commonly searched for articles, all time?

• What Are the Best Baseball Sites? – reviews of several baseball sites
• A Review of Librivox (a site that offers free audio book downloads for works in the public domain)
• Ferdinand The Turtle -a short story I made up while rocking my daughter to sleep one night. I also wrote a prequel later

The baseball article makes a lot of sense. It functions very nicely as portable baseball bookmarks file. Librivox was hot (OK, hot is an exaggeration, but definitely warm) for a few weeks and then suddenly dropped off for no apparent reason. Ferdinand the Turtle, however, has been a steady performer for several months. I honestly have no clue what these people are searching for. I suspect that they are not looking for a children’s story about a turtle who grows up to be king of Turtle Island (with the help of his trust gofer, Bob the Squirrel), but I may be wrong.

Are there some articles that I wish more people would be searching for? Definitely.

• Roth vs. 401(k) – compares the two retirement options under a couple of different scenarios
• My fictional account of Manny Ramirez signing with the Hanshin Tigers. I’m biased, but I think it’s funny.
• And, of course, the one that started it all – article 001 – my tongue in cheek Guerrilla Investment Advice

Apparently, however, more people are concerned about the exploits of Ferdinand the Turtle than a comparison of Roth vs. 401(k). And maybe that’s how it should be …

On July 23, I launched a dinosaur book giveaway as part of a multi-part dinosaur extravaganza.

I am happy to announce the following winners:

• The winner for “best comment” goes to Evan from 40tech.com. I’m not going to point out a specific comment, but I’ll just award it as a “monthtime achievement award”. Evan has been commenting for a while now – always with interesting comments. Now, if I can just figure out why his comments always go into my spam filter! Plenty of other folks had good comments during the month as well. Evan – I hope you enjoy Anonymous Rex – I know that I did! (Note: the rest of the winners won the DK Pockets mini reference Dinosaurs book)
• I also picked one random winner from among everyone who commented during the timeframe of the contest. People with multiple comments received multiple entries (a maximum of one entry per day). The winner is Spivey.
• I also picked a random winner from among people who retweeted a post from The Soap Boxers. Sate3 is the winner.
• Kelly from The Centsible Life is the winner for mentioning The Soap Boxers. She added The Soap Boxers to her blog roll.
• None of the RSS readers emailed me to enter. However, I still do want to give away all of the books – so I’ll give away the remaining DK Pockets Dinosaurs reference book to one commenter who expressed a desire to own it – Dana.

Winners – you should have an email from me (or, in the case of Sate3, a tweet). If you don’t see an email, drop me a lne at kosmo@observingcasually.com I hope you enjoy the book you receive, or have a family member or friend who will enjoy it. Didn’t win? Don’t despair. These books – and other dinosaur related items that were mentioned during the dinosaur articles are all available on Amazon. If you order them via the links below, I receive a small commission (and you still pay the exact same Amazon.com price ).

I have really noticed a surge in comments lately, especially in the last week. We appreciate the feedback – continue to comment on articles. Many times, the comments can spur the discussion into new directions. As a bonus to commenters who have their own blog, a link to a recent blog post will be included in your comment. Thus, commenting is a win/win situation – we get good comments on our site, and you get some exposure for your blog.

Anonymous Rex
DK Pockets – Dinosaurs
Jurassic Park – Book
Jurassic Park DVD combo pack All 3 movies!

We recently celebrated our 250th anniversary! 250 articles, that is. I’d like to thank all of the loyal readers and my great staff of writers!

In the spirit of baseball season, I have broken down the process of buying a home into nine innings (technically, ten sections – there is also a post game).

Note: this advice is provided with no warranties. I am not a realtor or a financial advisor. If you have questions about the process, I would suggest that you consult with a professional. This is geared mostly toward the first time home buyer, although other some veteran homeowners might pick up a tip or two.

First inning: Clean up your credit – Your credit history will affect your interest rate. A mere one percent rate hike can add up in a hurry. One percent on an outstanding balance of $200,000 is an extra $2000 per year (this amount would decrease in future years as you pay the balance down). Pay your bills on time, and avoid doing things that could adversely affect your credit score (such as opening 85 new credit cards).

Second Inning: Determine your budget. Some people will go to a bank and ask how much they can get approved for. This is a bad idea, as it may cause you to take on a higher mortgage than you want. Instead, determine what you want your housing budget to be. Once you have determined your overall housing budget, subtract an amount to save toward maintenance and upgrades (a new roof, fixing a furnace, etc.) to leave the amount that you want to put toward the actual monthly payment. Then subtract the amount for insurance, property taxes, and PMI (if necessary) – items that are typically escrowed – to leave the amount of money left for the actual house. Run this number through a mortgage calculator to determine the maximum price of the house.

Sound confusing? Let’s do an example. Let’s say that you want to spend $2000 per month on your overall housing budget. You decide that $350 of this amount should go into a savings account devoted to maintenance and upgrades (to a new homeowner, this might sound like a lot, but a new appliance can quickly wipe this out). This leaves $1650 for the mortgage. You expect to pay $300 per month for property taxes, $100 per month for home insurance, and $50 for per month for PMI. Deduct these amounts from the $1650 and you have $1200 left toward the actual house payments. Assuming a 30 year mortgage at 6%, this means that you can spend $200,000 on a house. (Note: these amounts may not be realistic for you – they are provided simply to show how the math works).

Summary:

• $2000 : Monthly housing budget
• -$350 : Put towards maintenance and upgrades
• -$300 : Property taxes
• -$100 : Homeowner’s insurance
• -$50 : PMI (mortgage insurance)
• = $1200 per month toward the purchase price of the house

Plug $1200 (payment), 6 (annual interest), and 360 (months) into this calculator, and you get a mortgage amount of $200,000.

Third inning: What do you want? OK, you know you want to buy a house – but what sort of house? Ranch? Two story? Two bedrooms? Four bedrooms? Do you need a three car garage or a big back yard? Do you want to live in a particular neighborhood – or avoid certain parts of town? Make a list of things that are “must haves” and things that are nice to have. Look around a bit on realty websites and in your local paper to determine if you can realistically afford the type of home you want, based on your budget. If you can’t realistically afford it, begin to scale back.

Fourth Inning: Get pre-approved – Sellers (and realtors) love buyers you are pre-approved, because it avoids a situation where someone wants to buy a house but can’t get the financing. Get pre-approved for the amount you determine in the second inning – or perhaps a slight bit of wiggle room – but don’t get pre-approved for an amount you don’t want to spend. The availability of the credit might tempt you to buy a more expensive house than you really want or need. At this point, you might want to get an estimate of taxes, insurance, and PMI to get a better grasp on what everything is going to cost.

If you have a choice between a piggyback mortgage (such as an 80-10) and PMI, one thing to keep in mind is that mortgage interest is deductible, but the PMI is not. You will pay more interest with a piggyback (due to a higher rate on the smaller loan) than you will when you use PMI, but your out of pocket cost may still be lower.

Fifth inning: Get a realtor – Ask your family and friends for advice on a realtor. In most cases, you won’t be directly paying the realtor (they split the commission with the seller’s realtor), so get the best possible realtor – money is no object! Find someone who not only is good at his or her job, but also will mesh well with your personality.

Note that your realtor will not help you on homes that are for sale by owner, unless you pay them. Why? Because FSBO homes don’t have a commission to split. Thus it is only fair that you pay them, since they can’t work for free.

If you have rollover minutes on your cell phone plan, you might want to roll some forward, as you’ll chew up a lot of minutes talking to the realtor, spouse, banker, etc.

Sixth inning: Find a house – This is a fairly important part of the whole process, right? You may choose to attend a few open houses, or you might share your list from the third inning and have the realtor find some properties that seem to be a good fit.

When you walk through a house with your realtor, give them feedback. Don’t simply say that you don’t like the house; instead, tell them what you don’t like. This allows them to focus on houses that are more suitable for you.

When it is time to make an offer on the house, your realtor can advise you on a good place to start the negotiations. You don’t want to insult the sellers, but you also want to leave some room for negotiations.

As a tactic to gain leverage, you may want to point out some of the less desirable qualities of the house – such as saying “we really like the house, although the yard seems a bit small.” In our case, we actually looked at both sides of a zero lot line home (referred to as a duplex in some areas). The homes were basically the mirror image of each other, with some small differences. Thus, we had some leverage based on the fact that a very similar house was for sale just a few feet away. If one of the sellers wouldn’t negotiate, we could just go next door and make an offer on the other house.  Do not, however, turn this into an all out attack on the house.  You won’t fool anyone, and you’ll make the sellers angry.

Seventh inning: Get inspections – While some people may be tempted to avoid the expense of inspections, you will want to strongly considering getting them done. They could find big problems that you might not have found on your own. Our inspector found a rotting window frame on the upper level – it is unlikely we would have caught this on our own. We were able to get the sellers to pay the estimated cost of replacement – this more than paid for the cost of the inspector.

Seventh inning stretch: OK, time to stretch your legs and get ready for the big finish.

Eighth inning: Closing – Finally, the day that you have been waiting for! First of all, you should have an estimate of closing costs from your lender. Make sure you have the funds available (and a bit more, just in case there are some “surprises” on closing day). Verify whether you can pay with a personal check, or whether a bank check is required.

If you have questions during the closing, make sure you ask them. Once you have signed the paperwork, it is too late to begin asking questions.

Make sure you know when the first mortgage payment is due, and where to send the payments. A lot of lenders allow you to pay online, which I have found to be very nice.

Ninth inning: Moving day – If someone gave me the choice of being hit in the head with a shovel or moving, I’d take the hit with the shovel. Moving sucks.

Having said that, there are things that you can do to make the process a little easier. This is a great time to get rid of things you no longer need. You can also work on packing a few things every day, to avoid a big rush to pack everything right before the move. Make sure that everything is completely ready to be moved when your moving crew arrives. They are your moving crew, not your packing crew. I have heard stories of people having laundry in the washer and dryer – that’s not good.

If you are renting a truck for the move, reserve it ahead of time, and pick it up the previous night, if possible. The rental places often get a big rush of traffic in the mornings.

If you have friends who are helping you move, remember to thank them. Multiple times, if your have a lot of heavy items.

Post game: After the move – Within a month or so, you’ll realize that you don’t like your house quite as much as you did when you agreed to buy it. This is buyer’s remorse, and it’s a very common feeling. Trying to focus on the positive aspects of the house.

Make sure to stock up on items you will need, such as furnace filters, salt for a water softener, and bulbs to fit the various light fixtures (wow – there is an incredible variety of light bulbs). Put new batteries in the smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, and thermostat.

When tax time rolls around, make sure to have records of the mortgage interest and property taxes you paid during the year. These are itemized deductions – if you have used the standard deduction in the past, it might make more sense to itemize because of these deductions.

If you have two mortgages – such as an 80% at a lower rate and a 10% at a higher rate, any extra payments should go to the loan that is at the higher rate.

If you have PMI, make sure to notify your lender when your loan balance is less than 80% of the home’s value. They don’t always drop the PMI automatically.

When it is too early to refinance? Never. Refinancing is not a question of time, but rather a question of cost savings. There’s also a rule of thumb that you should not refinance unless you can cut your rate by 1%. In the past, this might have made some sense. However, with the increase in housing costs over the past few decades, this rule of thumb is obsolete. For example, if you have a $500,000 house, a half point drop in your interest rate can save you $2500 the first year (and slightly lesser amounts each year, as you pay down the mortgage).

The best way to determine whether or not to finance is to figure your break-even point. First, figure out the costs of refinancing. Do not include prepayments on the new mortgage or re-establishment of escrow, as these are not true closing costs (prepayments are simply a mortgage cost, and re-establishment of escrow is offset when your previous lender returns the existing escrow balance to you). Take the refinance costs and divide by the monthly savings – this is your rough break even point. Actual break even will be slightly more, due to the fact that interests costs decline each month. However, this is typically a very small difference.

What did you miss over the weekend?

• Friday featured kosmo’s short story Drunk.
• Cheri Nobel made her debut on Saturday be welcoming us all into her country corral.
• Kosmo talks about the case of Jasmine Fiore
• We went North of the border with Tyson on Sunday as he shared Canadian fun and facts.