Top Five Fridays – Zombie Movies
I omitted Zombie movies from my list of Top Five Scary Movies mainly because I wanted to devote a Top Five Fridays post to this scary movie genre. Zombie movies prey on two of our primal fears – dying and being eaten alive. I will say that my top five zombie movies is a little bit biased towards movies directed/produced by George Romero.
- Dawn of the Dead: George Romero’s finest zombie movie. Hanging out at a mall sounds like fun until the zombies arrive.
- Dawn of the Dead (Remake): Well done but not as good as the original.
- 28 Days Later: A UK film that’s equal parts thriller and horror.
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse: Action packed. Considering this movie is an adaptation of a video game, what would you expect.
- Land of the Dead: In George Romero’s final zombie movie, the dead are quicker and smarter. In other words, the living is doomed!
When flipping goes wrong!
I’ve been tracking this blog: www.iamfacingforeclosure.com for quite some time. Casey Serin, a young dude in his mid 20’s decides to become a real estate investor and does it without deep pockets or the necessary income or assets to qualify for the mortgages on the investment properties he buys.
I’m a 24-year-old aspiring real estate investor from Sacramento CA. After going to few seminars I bought 8 houses in 8 months across 4 states with no money down. I fixed and sold 2 and then ran out of cash. I am now facing foreclosure on 5 houses. I’m learning my lessons, finding solutions and blogging about it. Comments appreciated!
Casey’s blog has gained national exposure including an article in USA Today entitled 10 mistakes that made flipping a flop.
Here’s a summary of the 10 mistakes:
Mistake No. 1 – Using ‘liar loans’
Mistake No. 2 – Overpaying
Mistake No. 3 – Lacking cash
Mistake No. 4 – Quitting your day job
Mistake No. 5 – Hiring an unlicensed contractor
Mistake No. 6 – Buying sight-unseen
Mistake No. 7 – Buying out of state
Mistake No. 8 – Buying too many properties too fast
Mistake No. 9 – Underestimating remodeling costs
Mistake No. 10 – Having a poor exit strategy
Casey isn’t the only one who caught the real estate investment bug and failed miserably but he’s the only one to really document his story as an RSS FEED.
COLORADO FORECLOSURE HOTLINE
foreclosure »”>COLORADO FORECLOSURE HOTLINE: 1-877-601-HOPE
The Colorado Foreclosure Hotline was launched on October 12th. Finally! Considering that we lead the country in foreclosures, it’s about time Colorado did something to help out homeowners.
Housing counselors facilitate communication between borrowers and lenders to find ways that the borrower can avoid foreclosure. Urban estimates that statewide, approximately 1,200 borrowers who have called the hotline have now been helped either through face-to-face counseling or other assistance over the phone.
The Colorado Foreclosure prevention directs borrowers to local homeownership counselors throughout the state and is supported by a partnership of the mortgage lenders, counselors, Realtors, and state agencies, including JPMorgan Chase, the Colorado Division of Housing, the Colorado Association of Realtors, and the Colorado Housing Counseling Coalition.
Read more from the Rocky Mountain News.
Denver Infill Blog
Recently I stumbled upon a site called the Denver Infill Blog :
“Welcome to the DenverInfill Blog — News, ideas, and commentary about Downtown Denver and its urban infill developments.”
If commercial and/or residential development in Denver, Colorado floats your boat, this blog is for you! Also discussed are urbanism, lofts, and up and coming neighborhoods such as Ballpark, Golden Triangle, Riverfront, Curtis Park, etc.
The post that really caught my eye and got me hooked on this blog is entitled Lessons from Portland, Maine. Ken, the author the blog, takes a stroll through Portland, Maine and discusses the finer points of unpretentious urbanism.
Top Five Friday – Scary Movies
Halloween is coming up so here are my top five scary movies.
- Halloween: Michaels Myers returns to his hometown after escaping a mental institution and goes on a rampage.
- Halloween II: Mike Myers survived 6 shots in Halloween and is on the rampage again. This time at a hospital.
- Exorcist: I remember seeing this movie and saying to myself, “WTF!” way before “WTF” was hip or trendy.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake): The original was good but Jessica Biel kicks ass in this one. The idea of a lunatic running amok with a chainsaw is not only scary, it’s just plain bananas. Those things weigh a ton!
- The Silence of the Lambs: This isn’t really a horror movie but the last scene with Buffalo Bill wearing night vision googles and Clarice Starling blinded by darkness is intense and very scary.
Want to save money, drink tea
One of my favorite topics of debate is “How to Save?” Many books have been written about saving. Many people have become multi-millionaires writing books about saving. Yet people simply don’t save.
My biggest savings point is coffee. Some pundits call it the “Latte Effect” where you spend $5 a day on coffee and next thing you know you’ve just spend over $1000 a year on coffee. I love coffee but I loathe Starbucks. They’re everywhere. They’re on every block in Downtown Denver (or so it seems). They’re in the grocery stores. They have drive ups. Last but not least, when you’re at a Starbucks the smell of coffee overwhelms you and you have to buy coffee. In the meantime Starbucks has raised prices and razed the competition.
I prefer to brew my coffee. A full pound bag of coffee typically runs about $8. Unless you like Peet’s (the good stuff) which runs about $12. It may be time consuming and there’s always a pot of coffee to wash and grinds to deal with but it’s economical. I probably make about a half-pound of coffee a week. Recently (due to a cold) I cut back on drinking coffee and started drinking tea. It’s much easier to brew tea than coffee since all you need is a mug, water, a microwave, and a tea bag. The green tea bags with caffeine I picked up at an Asian market only cost $2 for 100.
Latte’s run about $5 a cup (with tip) $5 x 5 per week = $25 week x 4 weeks = $100 month x 12 = $1200 year
Venti coffee’s run about $2 a cup. (with tip) $2 x 5 per week = $10 week x 4 weeks = $40 month x 12 = $480 year
Coffee at home (no tip) runs about $16 a month x 12 = $192 year
Tea at home or in the office runs about $.02 a cup (no tip) x 5 per week = $.10 x 4 weeks = $ .40 month x 12 = $4.80 year
So there you have it, for the same price of a latte, you can drink cheap green tea purchased at an Asian market for a whole year.
Bad Ads Banned?
Ok, I’ll admit that the title “Bad Ads Banned?” really stinks but it’s the best I could come up with before I head off to lunch. Everyone who reads the newspaper or listens to the radio has heard the mortgage ads promising super low mortgage payments, super low mortgage rates, and paying off your mortgage in seven years. These ads are basically marketing efforts by less than reputable mortgage companies. The Colorado Attorney General has had enough and is now cracking down on these ads according to the Denver Post article, “AG cracks down on mortgage ads.”
The Colorado attorney general’s office will subpoena at least 10 area mortgage brokers and companies during the next few weeks in an investigation of possibly deceptive advertising practices, a prosecutor in the office said.
The office is focusing on mortgage companies that advertise low teaser interest rates, tout minimum-loan-payment plans and use confusing terms to describe their loans, said Jan Zavislan, deputy attorney general for consumer protection.
T-REX unleashed next month
Let the countdown begin, the massive Denver light rail project running down the I-25 corridor known as T-REX will be unleashed on November 17, 2006:
Flipping in Denver
While I’ve entertained thoughts numerous times on flipping homes in Denver, I’ve decided against it mainly because I know too many people who’ve failed at it rather than succeeded. These were established real estate investors who failed, not neophytes who watched a Carleton Sheets infomercial one night and decided to try their hand as a budding real estate mogul. Their failures taught me one lesson, have deep pockets because your carrying costs are going to be far greater than you initially imagined. For more on fllipping in Denver, check out this Denver Post article “Flip this house? Not so fast.”
Denver Post gets a makeover
It looks like DenverPost.com got a makeover. The new site is slick!
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