#11 "Shoot-em up Daddy Date"; We will start the day with some warm up shooting at the arcade, followed by Laser Tag, and a trip across town to a paintball course to test your skills and depending on your comfort level, shoot a gun or two on the farm if you promise not to shoot your eye out.
#12 "Training with Daddy Date"; A day of riding the rails. We will start the day with lunch of Amtrack for a round trip from Portland to Salem and back for a ride on various trolleys, street cars and old trains around Portland.
#13 "Cruising the River and hiking the falls Daddy Date"; A Sunday Brunch on the Columbia Sternwheeler to see the beautiful scenery followed by a hike to the top of the Multnomah Falls to see the river we just rode.
#14 "Snow Board Daddy Date"; Daddy will leave his skis behind and we will rent our boards and boots and take a lesson on how to shred the snow with our boards.
#15 "Ski Bowl With No Snow Daddy Date"; This summer, when the snow has left us, we will return to the Ski Bowl for summer fun with a luge run, Sky ride and more in their adventure park.
#16 "Bullwinkle's Daddy Date With A Friend"; You can bring a friend this time, for a day of unlimited fun until you can't handle anymore.
#17 "Discover the Sea with Daddy Date"; A trip to the ocean and tour of the Oregon Coast Aquarium to see all of our sea worthy friends and maybe Nemo too!
#18 "Flying Disc Golf Course Daddy Date"; A trip out west to Horning's Hideaway to test our skills on the Frisbee golf courses. Can you beat daddy?
#19 "Kids Course Golfing Daddy Date"; We will travel to a golf course made just for kids. Real golf, shorter holes, to see if Golf is in your future.
#20 "The Spooky, Frightening, Daddy Date"; As much as you love haunted and scary things, we will travel to the scariest place in the West, "Hysteria Nation Haunted Scream Park" in Springfield.
#21 "Cowboy Daddy Date at the St. Paul Rodeo" with a day of carnival fun, big rodeo and a firework show only to have our own firework finale at home.
#22 "Birthday week Surprise Daddy Date"; On the week of your birthday, when you least expect it, I will have a special event planned prior to your birth date!
#23 "You Pick, It's Daddy's Birthday Date"; Like last this year, you get to pick the location and party for my 30th birthday, or whatever age I am, your choice.
#24 "Cirque Du Soleil Daddy Date"; When the circus comes to Portland in April, we will go watch the wonders of circus performers.
#25 "Polar Express, Christmas Light Tour Daddy Date"; After Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities start to appear, we will plan a special day starting with the Polar Express and challenge ourselves to see how many Christmas lights we can see in one night.
I encourage you if you are to do something similar, create a shared calendar or a print calendar and plot the dates on the calendar with your child as it gives them excitement and anticipation for the event throughout their days.
Many of you have inquired since my posts on Facebook about this and have realized a bunch of people either don't live and die by my Facebook posts, or simply did not see how much fun it has been preparing for my usual "25 Days of Christmas" for my daughter Karmen, who is now 8, that I started this tradition with when she started to "get" Christmas after her 3rd birthday.
In the past, it had just been "lovey" notes from Daddy to Daughter and maybe a dollar store "gift" and some candy or change or something corresponding with the date, like 7 nickles on the 7th day.
After some family challenges this year I wanted to make the 25 days much more special and memorable where they truly were gifts that kept on giving and created special memories. So with ideas from a great book, "Daddy Dates," by Greg Wright,www.daddydatesthebook.com, I ran with it.
Having my daughter, Karmen, read out the little red card each day, it is always so touching to see she is far more excited and asking questions about the date rather than digging into the stocking to see the other prizes she had just read on the note. Some of the events she didn't even know what they were or understand what it was so in those cases, I went to the website of the event/activity and printed pictures and info on what it was. Watching her eyes light up has been a gift over and over for me.
I encourage you as single dads, married dads, and just as important for single moms and married moms, to give your individual children the special one on one time they need, to make sure they feel as precious, important and special as they really are.
Some of these dates may not resonate with you either by location or just not interested, but I encourage all of you to make your own special list of dates for you children that they will hold with them forever. Working with youth and asking those hard questions over the years, TIME is the number one gift they want from their parents, it doesn't need to be fancy or expensive, just T.I.M.E.
Here are the 25 dates we have planned. I did not combine special dates for the most part as those would have been done anyway, i.e., birthday, Christmas, Easter, etc as I felt those were a given and would have for sure had a special day planned anyway.
#1 "Daddy Date with a View"; A window seat and special "adult" meal at the tallest building/restaurant at the Portland City Grill with the best view in town.
#2 "Snow Dog Daddy Date"; A trip up to Mountain Hood (as she calls it) with Kharlie (dog) and me to play in the snow, intertubbing, and a snowball fight with hot chocolate and picnic in the snow.
#3 "Would you rather Daddy Date"; being obsesses with challenges and gross things, we will go to the Insect and Reptile museum in Salem where we play, "would you rather" eat that bug or that bug and end the night with a marathon of "Would you Rather" board game.
#4 "Date with Scientist Daddy"; A trip to OMSI to explore the "Body Worlds" exhibit, the many other stations and end with an IMAX movie of choice.
#5 "Fly into the water Daddy Date"; A day at the Evergreen Water Park and Air Museum.
#6 "Enchanted Way Daddy Date"; A journey south to an Enchanted Forest where rides and stories await."
#7 "Date with Daddy Van Gogh"; A painting and art experience at "Color Me Mine" art studio where we can create and paint memories.
#8 "Sandy Beach Daddy Date"; A trip to the Oregon Coast with Kharlie and me, to introduce Kharlie to the sand and ocean for the first time and buy a new kite for those windy days.
#9 "Wild Wolf Weekend Daddy Date"; During one of your long school breaks in the Spring we will go on our adventure north to where the Wolves live at Great Wolf Lodge for water fun and challenges.
#10 "Indoor river float Daddy Date"; A trip to the Ray Crock swim center to float in their indoor river and slide to your hearts content.
So, I read this article today...http://www.businessinsider.com/best-housing-markets-next-5-years-2011-7?op=1 in the Business Insider that through their research and data, they feel 3 of the top 15 housing markets are in my home state, Oregon. It seems I have seen all of the articles and ratings for everything from the city with the manliest men to the stigma of being the wimpiest men in my home town of Portland, Oregon, ranking dead last at #50 by Combos! (Isn't that a stuffed pretzel snack!)
Anyway, I am sure this study can be debated but I am a numbers guy and I am going to play along for now. That being said as my pseudo disclaimer, if we run with the numbers, go with today's new record setting,it mortgage rate lows and the anticipated growth in this "study" for the Bend market, it is hard to believe this is possible but I likey what I seey.
This home, http://goo.gl/KZXGm sold for $427,000 in January of 2007, in a well known neighborhood in the resort town of Bend, Oregon and as you can see, a view straight to the 4th tee box. Hard to believe this jewel can be snatched up for $234,900 now, almost that $200k drop we would like to brag to the new neightbors about.
And that's not all folks, this is a HomePath home, owned by Fannie Mae! As some of you may have heard today, the government announced they want to get the massive amount of homes off of Fannie and Freddie's books, so if the buyer incentives are not incentive enough, wait a week or two possibly and see what the next incentive is (hopefully not a rental.)
Without giving all of the details of the HomePath deals, I will highlight a few bonuses my clients have experienced recently when buying their vacation home in Central Oregon under HomePath. 10% down, that is all you need, AND, no mortgage insurance, seriously. Add to it, no appraisal, as is, enjoy!
Let me break this down a bit more. Although disappointing there are some additional fees when it is a second home and with only 10% down, today when I priced this scenario, with no points, 4.5%! Seriously.
Here is the easy math, home sold for nearly twice as much only 4 and a half years ago, if you harvest some of that remaining equity in your current home (Feds announced yesterday they are keeping the Fed Funds rate at .25 for at least 2 more years so your equity line would be around 3.5% for the next couple years anyway,) to the tune of about $23,500, or even your stock purchase plan, ROTH IRA, 401k loan or if you are really blessed, cash on hand, this home can be yours for a principal and interest payment of $1,087!
Here is the fun part. If we run with this article's numbers from their data and go with the 5 year average assumed appreciation of 11.7%, your $235,000 purchase that tied up $23,500 of your money is now worth $409,545, a net gain of $145,871, and that is AFTER subtracting your monthly payments.
Did I lose you yet? Thanks for hanging in there, I am almost done, promise. The simple comparison is taking that same $23,500 down payment and adding the same net monthly house payment of $1,134 into your 401k or other investment for 60 months to compare apples to apples. Your annual rate of return on your investment account would have to average 40.425% over 5 years, and that is without broker or commission fees from your financial advisor or plan.
Needless to say, there needs to be a head (logic) and heart (emotion) disconnect or we will all be cursing the "guys and gals with money that bought" in five years that monster-trucked through the naysayers and made decisions on numbers.
Here is a link http://mcedge.tv/16al3y to 3 pages of data and analysis if you are dying to know the minutia of this plan as well as some other great HomePath properties in Bend with this one http://goo.gl/CTdvU at $135,000, 1500 sq ft on a half acre for $765 PITI net payment after taxes and this beauty http://goo.gl/GPiYo on 3 acres at $270,000 that sold for $580,000 in February of 2006 that is only $1,312 PITI net after taxes.
Oh wait, if you order now...but seriously, if you actually had a leasing management company or "vacation rental" place renting your place out a few days a month, well then this just becomes ridiculous, crazy I tell ya!
I have to remind myself as I lock my friends and clients into a committed rate for their pending home purchase or refinance today that an interest rate in the upper 4% range on a 30-yr fixed is still a historically low interest rate other than the very small window of time over the past few months we were lucky to witness. It is tough as a professional and trusted advisor to meet with my new clients and friends and discuss the actual rate the day they came in last month, compared to the rate they may end up with if they were still searching for that perfect home, waiting for their overpriced home to sell or simply, MSNBC told them that mortgage rates would plummet into the 3% range for the first time EVER!
Unfortunately that day has come and gone and I have a lot of disappointed clients that burned that 4.0% number into their heads. The budgeting and planning of that 3.75% 30-yr fixed rate they heard about on 20/20 or some random advertisement on the radio or internet that never happened, now what?
Fortunately, so many of my clients were able to take action back in early 2009 when we saw rates dip into the 4% range for the first time in our generation and it seemed dropping their interest rate from 4.75% to 3.875% became more of a bragging right, not the appreciation of how low their borrowed funds really were historically.
I have attached a few graphs and comparisons of what the indecision or sitting on the fence may have caused. I compared a few scenarios of a $325,000 purchase or refinance value where the loan at 80% of the value was at $260,000.
Had the new home purchase or refinance allowed a rate lock on Nov 4th at the "peak" at 3.875% on a 30-yr Fixed, with perfect circumstances and an APR around 4.126%, it is a much different picture and analysis than 40 days later on Dec 13th with rate a whopping 1% higher at 4.875%. Actually, a difference in monthly payment of $153 a month for the same exact home/purchase price with a 1% rise in rates over the past 40 days.
Another surprising fact when I ran the numbers considering my clients that were waiting for home prices to drop more, had they locked on their new home on Nov 4th on a home price of $325,000, if they waited 40 days until today to lock, they would have dropped their purchase power to a price of $289,000 to have the same monthly payment.
The first reaction for most is, how did rates climb 1% in a little over a month? The more logical reaction or thought would be, how did rates ever plummet to 3.875% without a total global economic collapse.
Thankfully, no global or US economic collapse YET, and the reality is you still have plenty of bragging rights at the water cooler if you lock in your interest rate at 4.875% versus 3.875%. Obviously the status of having a 30-yr mortgage rate under 4% is held by very few in my database and fun to brag about at Christmas dinner this year with your family, but please know, no one is going to mock you if they know you held out and ended up with the forbidden 4.875%.
If you need a shoulder to cry on or a rebuttal for your annoying brother-in-law that is going to be bragging up his 3.875%, give me a call or shoot me an email and I can give you some compensating arguments as to why there had been that slim chance rates could have moved lower. That way you can look like the cool risk taker playing the market and that is simply "how you roll" rather than you truly did miss the prefect window.
I too am guilty of becoming indifferent or jaded to the same worn out message we hear for weeks or months on end and when we hear the same message enough times, our "cry wolf complex" kicks in and we start to tune the message out. There are so many areas of our life where records are set or shocking news is no longer shocking.
Think about it.
After your 10th day in a row of 40 degree below zero temperatures in Minneapolis in the winter, you hear the weather person report a new record low of 50 below predicted the next day, is it really shocking to you at that point?
I can think back to before I was deployed to Iraq hearing that temperatures could reach 120 degrees and when I was sent over for the first Gulf War, I couldn't imagine those conditions in full combat gear. But after about 15 days in a row of 116 degree days, when 120 degrees finally hit one day, was it really unbelievable to me?
Also, remember the big joke in Austin Powers when Dr. Evil was going to hold the world ransom for "One Millllion Dollars" (visualize the pinky up to the corner of his mouth) It reminds me of being in grade school and trying to comprehend how many zeros and how much one billion dollars really was. Now, daily we hear our government spending trillions of dollars and now just shrug our shoulders when we hear about a new spending package or Senate bill costing 300 billion you almost think, "that's it, how is that going to help anyone?"
The "Cry Wolf Complex" at its best which most of us have naturally adopted.
I am very concerned though the CWC (Cry Wolf Complex) must be what is going on with home owners, my family, friends and clients when they hear mortgage rates have set new all-time low records over the past few weeks. Because if these messages or news reports really resonated with everyone, there would be a "run on the banks" for new mortgages.
You must have had to ask yourself by now, what does it really mean that a 30-year mortgage interest rate is at an all-time low and how does that translate to something you should be excited about? Well let me tell you since you asked, a heck of a lot!
Society has pushed us to only focus on instant gratification and what's in it for me NOW? Our tendency is to ask, "why would I spend $3500 in costs only to save $325 a month?"
Here is why.
My case study examples will use the same loan amount and interest rate.a client recently obtained. To make things easy, I did lower the loan amount slightly just so I could work with even numbers but the interest rates are the actual rates this client had before and after.
We refinanced their $300,000 mortgage that was at 5.875% and locked them in at 4.375% with $3500 in closing costs. The simple math when you lower your interest rate by 1.5% like my clients did, is a savings of $4500 a year in interest.
Are you still ambivalent to those numbers?
Let's look at what this meant to these clients and why a huge stressor was relieved and an answer to prayer became a reality in a matter of minutes once we looked at their numbers.
Their 3 year old was soon going to be 4 and that college savings plan they had promised each other to start the month he was born had not come to fruition and 4 years later they were still worried about it. They felt hopeless with no way to start saving anymore monthly with the current obligations and no plan to start.
Simply, we freed up $318 a month in cash flow with their new interest rate and the additional interest savings going toward principal reduction. With some quick math we looked at how that $318 reinvested monthly could perform over the next 14 years. We soon discovered if they just were able to average a modest yearly rate of return of 4.375% (safe estimate since they are paying this on their mortgage) they would have just over $73,500 in 14 years! These clients were shocked that they just created a sizable college fund for their son without changing any of their monthly cash outflow.
Another client had an almost identical loan scenario and their goal was to somehow pay off their mortgage in 20 years when they both had planned to retire but did not want to commit more cash monthly to paying down their mortgage as their main focus was to create wealth with their retirement plans. By taking that same $318 savings and adding it to principal reduction, it took their new 30 year loan down to a little less than 22 years. So we threw in another $60 a month they said they could afford and we now had their mortgage being paid off in 20 years.
Finally, a scenario where so many of us can relate with how our 401k's and other investments have taken significant hits and we are now realizing we will need to work a lot longer than we all had hoped for before we could retire. Investing this same $318 a month for 30 years at a conservative 4.375% ROR, an extra cool $344,000 would be accumulated toward retirement.
A lot to consider but instead of focusing on instant gratification where $318 extra a month may not mean a lot to you currently and the "CWC" has jaded you into not exploring your options, I would say it is probably time to reconsider.
A quick overview of market action today as well as my thoughts on 2 important topics that are all the buzz right now with the $8000 tax credit about to expire and advertised rates versus realistic rates with extended lock periods due to HVCC and HERA.
Find more videos like this on The Wealth Creation Team
A short video to recap the $8000 home buyer tax credit due to expire Nov 30th. The 5 key points in my video will cover; #1 The deadline and what this means. #2 The IRS' broad definition of what a first time home buyer and who does and doesn't qualify for the credit. #3 Understanding that it truly is a credit and not a deduction or loan that needs to be repaid back. #4 How the credit can or cannot be used in reference to closing costs and down payment. #5 How to amend your 2008 taxes to receive the $8000 credit weeks after closing versus waiting until next Spring to file and the forms needed to receive the credit and amendment.
Reporting on the 3-day decline in mortgage bond pricing causing a jump in rates from last week. Watch the video for the reasons for the jump but it simply comes down to anytime there is positive news for the economy, bonds will suffer. With good pending home sales, lower number of jobs being lost and positive economic news if other global economies, mortgage bonds have been taking a lashing.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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