Stan – Life Hacks and Houses

Aug12016 by StanNo Comments

life hack: how to pay off credit cards… WITH credit cards

It's hard to believe that a little piece of plastic could cause as much controversy as the credit card does. I have some friends who love them, some friends who hate them, and some whose lives have been virtually ruined by them. I've found credit cards to be useful, mostly for their cash-back options (which we'll talk about on the blog another time), but what happens if you get yourself into credit card debt and need some time to pay it down? Well, as long as you recognize that I'm not an investment advisor and that you should talk to yours before doing anything radical, then read on. Many credit cards have a relatively unknown feature called a "balance transfer" (you can usually find it pretty easily on your credit card account page online). Here's how a balance transfer works - let

Jul222016 by StanNo Comments

that time i saved friends from losing out on a home

real estate

Some friends recently sent me several desperate messages asking for my help. They had used another realtor to get under contract on a home, but they were having major problems getting financing on the home. They knew I had experience with creative financing techniques, and so they reached out to me. Of course, I was curious why their realtor wasn’t helping, and they said simply that the “realtor didn’t have any more suggestions.” Yikes! So I gave them some advice that I had learned along the way with my investments. They followed my advice, and within two days, they emailed me back that they had been approved for financing! Now I don’t like to brag on myself, but there are too many realtors out there who have only book knowledge of their craft. I became a realtor because I thought

Jun242016 by StanNo Comments

why now is a great time to buy or sell a house in the upstate of sc

all about the upstate, real estate

Realtors always think it's a good time to buy or sell your house. That's how we make money, right? But there are some real reasons right now why it's a good time to buy or sell a home. Here are a few to consider. For everyone: interest rates are low. It's no secret that the Fed really, really wants to raise interest rates. It's unclear when they will, but it is very likely to happen, and odds are mortgage rates will be going up before year-end. Even a slight increase in rates will mean literally tens of thousands of dollars added to your debt over the course of 30 year loan. For sellers: inventory is low. It's very hard to find a home right now, and that means it's a great time to sell. Many areas are seeing homes sell within days of going on the market. I saw a home recently that

Jun42016 by Stan34 Comments

5 hole-in-the-wall restaurants in greenville, sc you need to try

all about the upstate

There are plenty of restaurant chains out there that I like (I'm looking at you, Cheesecake Factory), but many of my most memorable eating experiences have come at mom-and-pop, hole-in-the-wall joints. I'm always on the lookout for these types of places, and I feel obligated to share some of my favorite ones in Greenville, SC with my readers. Without doubt, these are some of the best (and most reasonably priced) restaurants in Greenville. In no particular order: Pita House - Cash-only, authentic Middle Eastern. This place delivers a HUGE bang for the buck - absolutely delicious and large quantities for a low price. Make sure you check out their online menu before going there as their in-restaurant menu lacks explanations. I love Middle Eastern food, and this place is about as good

May72016 by StanNo Comments

scoring hotel deals: hacking priceline

life hacks, travel

Like most people, I love to travel. There's something exhilarating about seeing new places, trying new food, experiencing new cultures, and making new memories in a foreign environment. But there's one part of traveling that always irritates me. You spend most of your money on the place where you have the fewest number of unique experiences - the hotel room. So I'm always out to find hotel deals that will enable my budget to focus more on experiences and less on where I sleep every night. And I've found a secret weapon in finding cheap hotel deals - Priceline Express Deals. For those unfamiliar with Express Deals, Priceline will offer a variety of hotels at a substantial discount from what they normally cost. The catch? You don't know what hotel you're getting. Until now. You s

May72016 by StanNo Comments

how to flip real estate with absolutely no money

real estate

A few years ago I read an ebook on flipping a house with no money. Obviously, the topic piqued my interest. The biggest hurdle (and biggest risk) in flipping houses is laying down the money, but I had seen multiple sources that said money was not a necessity. How could that be? As it turns out, the ebook was absolutely terrible and answered none of the questions I had, but it did set me in the right direction. That direction lead me to an investor underworld known as "wholesale real estate." Before I go any further, let me be clear that wholesale real estate isn't technically flipping a house, at least not in the HGTV sense of the term. Wholesaling, as they call it, is actually flipping a real estate contract. Here is a very basic flyover of how it works: Find a home that has a

Apr22016 by StanNo Comments

5 misconceptions about flipping houses (or: you can do it!)

Uncategorized

Thanks to a variety of TV shows, flipping houses has become a pop culture phenomenon. I have to admit, watching those shows is like a drug. They don't even show a commercial break in between the end of one show and the beginning of the next, ensuring that they hook you on a never-ending loop of house flip episodes. But whereas many of us have seen and enjoy shows about house flips, most would say, "I could never do that myself." Why? Because misconceptions abound and cause confusion on what is truly difficult about flipping a house. Needless to say, most of the objections are not good ones, and most people don't realize that the average American could flip a house and make money without giving up a ton of money or putting in a ton of work. So with that in mind, here are the top misco

Mar282016 by StanNo Comments

why i buy houses instead of stocks

real estate

The stock market has never been bigger, from a hype standpoint. We constantly hear stories of people making millions trading stocks. When we turn on the news, there's a little stock ticker at the bottom of the screen giving us real-time updates, like sports scores. Many people, while working in an office all day, keep a tab open to watch what is happening in the stock market in real time. Our society is obsessed with the stock market. Which is why I'm not so into it. Well, it's one reason. I think about it this way - with the accessibility of information and the ease of trading stocks these days, what are the odds that I'm going to outwit most of the people out there with my cunning in stock trading? Not real good. And even if I am successful, nothing I can do can revert a sudden

Mar232016 by StanNo Comments

losing weight doesn’t have to be hard

weight loss

The summer after the seventh grade, Middle School Stan was tired of being made fun of for being fat. From a fairly young age, kids - even his close friends - called him "Stan, Stan - the big, fat man." This happened even though he wasn't that overweight, by most standards. But kids are brutal, and the criticisms kept flying. Fortunately, rather than pushing Stan to despair, it pushed him to action. So that summer, he stopped taking "seconds" at meals, cut back on sweets, started drinking diet drinks and water, and made (at least to a 13 year old) some major diet shifts. It worked. When he went to school in the eight grade, people who hadn't seen him that summer (or on Facebook, since, you know, we were still using AOL Instant Messenger via our Netzero dial up internet back then) could b

Mar222016 by Stan2 Comments

five dieting mistakes that caused me to gain weight

weight loss

Last year I ballooned to a weight that I had never hit before, and it scared me. But the shocking thing is that I had been trying to eat healthy, had been exercising, etc. and I was still gaining weight. Eventually, I was able to figure out the issues I was having, and once I did, I lost 30 lbs easily in just a few months. But before delving into those details, it's worth listing some of the misconceptions I had that caused me to gain weight. So here are the top dieting mistakes I made when I was gaining weight. I thought fat was bad. You know how when you're looking at the nutritional content of food, and "fat" is near the top of the "bad stuff" list? Well, in my opinion, it should be at the bottom. When I was gaining weight, I was worried about fat. The moment I stopped worrying a