After you’ve completed all the steps in Part I of the Buying Your First House series, it’s time to hit the streets!  At this point, you should have your credit reports and scores, your maximum monthly payment for a mortgage, and your pre-approval letter from a bank which outlines the maximum you are able to finance.

In most markets, realtor services for the buyer are free, so take advantage of it; their commission comes from the seller.  You are going to want to be honest with your realtor but definitely need someone you can trust.  Ask your family, friends, and co-workers for an agent they trust.

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Buying your first home is probably the most stressful thing you’ll ever have to do.  I am finding I am constantly going back and forth re-tweaking numbers; I wish someone made a list of things to do before even talking to a realtor!  Hopefully you can benefit from this series of articles on how to buy your first home.

Our goal at the end of Part I is to have three numbers:  your credit scores, the maximum monthly mortgage payment you are comfortable with, and a pre-approval letter that has your maximum that is allowed to be financed.

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To everyone baffled by the tons of commercials with singing pirates and catchy jingles, consider this post a public service announcement regarding your credit report.

You are entitled to a one (1) free copy of your Credit Report from each credit reporting agency ANNUALLY by law (1 credit report from each credit reporting agency = 3 reports). The ONLY website authorized to do this is  https://www.annualcreditreport.com.  Everything else is a scam!

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It was a dark and stormy night, a sharp ringing arises from your phone.  You pick up the phone quizzically.  You don’t recognize the number. Who could be calling at this hour?  It has to be an emergency!  Cautiously, you press the “Connect” button and lift the phone to your ear.  Before you can muster out a groggy and raspy “Hello” an automated female voice comes on the line warning you that your factory warranty on your car is expiring!  /cue ominous music/

If this situation seems eerily familiar, you are one of millions of people currently being targeted by the latest identity theft scam.

If you thought you were protected by the Do Not Call list, think again.  There is a tiny exception which you may not be aware of; if you initiate a call to the company, the company may call you for up to 18 months.  “I never did that!” you say.  When you received a call and missed it, did you instinctively call it back?

This is assuming that the company even follows the Do Not Call list, if they don’t, it’s illegal, but you have to file a complaint to the FCC.  Note the date and time, and number from which they called you.

For the daring, before you give them any of your information (as if you would), tell them you are legally obligated to let them know this call is being recorded and ask them a few questions.  Ask them their name, their company, and their company’s address.  Make sure you save this information for when you file a complaint to the FCC.

The most important thing to remember here is do not give out your personal or financial information to people on the phone.  For the dummies, this includes any Infomercial you see on TV.  Companies in the past were notorious for selling this information to every bidder since you were silly enough to buy something on TV without doing any research on the product or the selling company.  If you are easily glamoured into buying something because some fast-talking good-looking person said so, you are flagged as a sucker and other companies want their shot at selling you something.

The only good thing about Tom Brady tearing his ACL in the Week 1 opener is the crying of all those fantasy football players.  The screams of agony of thousands of “virtual coaches” as they watch their No. 1 draft pick get sidelined for the season.  Do not feel sympathy for them; these are the same bunch of jocks who thought playing Dungeons and Dragons was queer.  Now 30 years later, when their wives won’t give up the balloon knot, they have to sit in some guy’s living room in a circle around a table and fantasize they are something they are not.  Delicious irony.

Sometimes I wish a natural disaster would occur just so people would be distracted and I could get items on eBay much cheaper.

NBC has the Olympics this year (as they always do) and without any doubt, they have failed to produce a useable TV schedule.  In response, someone has done the work for them, and created a Google Calendar version of the schedule.

http://www.google.com/calendar/htmlembed?src=olympics_%257e_01039895__10003%23tv%40group.v.calendar.google.com

I didn’t see an iCal version anywhere of the Olympic schedule, but if I find one, I’ll be sure to update this post.

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For those of you who do not know, Gary Gygax, the father of D&D, died at 69.

Like many great people throughout time, he did not invent something from scratch. He created the world of Dungeons and Dragons from the archetypes that J.R.R. Tolkien imagined. This in no way diminishes his achievements, for millions of lives have been affected.

To me, and plenty of other kids who preferred brain over brawn, he gave us an outlet for our creativity. He created a world where the only limit was your imagination. A world where guidelines were given, you fleshed out the details, and was created with a simple 5-word magical incantation; “You are in a bar…”

I’m sure there will be many other posts like this (but this one is mine) around the Internet today, and my self-serving nature merely wants to contribute. Boring you with details on how he affected my life would be completely pointless; those of you who played Dungeons and Dragons understand, those of you who didn’t, won’t.

To Gary, let’s just hope the deity you meet in the after-life isn’t begrudging you for being left out of Deities and Demi-Gods.

Why should fans be loyal to sports teams, when the players aren’t loyal to the fans? Each year (read: end of contract), players have to decide if they want to go to another team to make more money or stay where they are. The only reason most players stay on a team for any length of time is because they are bound by contracts.*

I, however, am not. I’m not bound to the Phillies(/Eagles/Flyers/Sixers) just because I live near Philadelphia. I’m a fan. I demand action, and excitement. If my “team” isn’t giving me action or excitement, why can’t I choose another? Tell me honestly, WHY do I have to be a fan of only one team?

And the jocks cry, “duuuude, you bandwagon jumper! Where were you when we were on a 10 game losing streak?” You know where I was? Supporting a team which DESERVES my energy by giving me fantastic games to watch. But I know your anger stems from your jealousy of me, watching me jump up and down in elation as the team I’m rooting for scores again, and it’s OK. It’s a perfectly acceptable response, you just need to recognize that as a human, if I’m going to invest my time, money and emotions into a team and I don’t get a return, I need a new investment.

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Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch by Russia, essentially the beginning of the Space Age. It’s times like this that makes one marvel at the capabilities of human ingenuity.

When one considers the hundreds of years it took to go from using stone to bronze to iron, and the thousands of years to just get to the Stone age, it really shows the human potential when you consider the Industrial Revolution was only a mere 150-year span.

In a paltry 50 years, we have a (relatively) stable space program with regular human flight, created a world-wide electronic data network, developed nuclear power and even gave blacks the right to vote.

And now, I can’t help but think what will happen in my lifetime (hopefully another 50 years). Will commercial space flight be available? Will everything be Internet-ready? Will there be a black President?