Owning a home

To many the dream of owning a home seems unreachable. I think however one may need to realize that the first home will not look anything like their parents and perhaps you might even have to buy something that needs some tender loving care. I bought my first house when I was still in college, if you could call it a house.
It was a 3 room cabin in the hills above the college. It was heated by a wood stove and to get water I had to clean out and replumb to an underground spring. It was on 3/4 of an acre of the hardest hard pan you have ever seen and the only thing growing on it was prickly brush. I spent $12,000 and it was every cent I could beg or borrow from friends and family. The place was so bad, my mom only visited once and her nose was in the air the entire time.

But and here it the big but, I was able to put in a bit of elbow grease, fix it up, slap some paint on it and when I graduated I was able to sell it for $27,500. Sure small numbers now, but the principle still holds. This gave me the money for a down payment when I went to my first job in Seattle and ever since then I was able to buy a house where ever I went.

So my advice is hold you nose and buy what ever you can afford, fix it up and move up. In a few years you will look back on those times fondly and proudly and you will have achieved the American dream of owning a house.

How the heck do you figure out your taxes? Do you do them yourself or do you take them to a friend or service?

Taxes, the evil IRS, how do I cope. I have always been a believer in doing my own taxes. I believe I am the one who cares the most about me and with the inexpensive tax packages available today it is just not that tough.

When doing the taxes I always end up explaining to someone the difference between tax avoidance (a right you should exercise to the extreme) and tax evasion which is illegal and unethical.

The American tax system is extremely complex. But this means you can probably find a clause that works to your advantage. Understanding the code allows you to transfer this knowledge to your business life and makes you sensitive to what others are going through and paying.

While I will always try to avoid taxes, when the time comes to pay what I owe, I do it with a bit of pride. First you have to make money to have to pay taxes and second, my taxes are what help to pay for the American lifestyle and all you have to do is look around a little to know that we have it pretty darn good.