Another week in May, the year of our Lord 2005 ends, and what have we found out?
- I should divorce my wife for tax reasons? My wife wants to know when this might happen and she claims the bed as hers (that’s worrying).
- There are no new taxes in the budget but we still aren’t sure what the $2M for Democratic Renewal Secretariat (maybe it’s for a racehorse). Oh, and Ontario pays $9.8B to service its debt.
- I have a nice credit rating (according to my credit report), that cost me $20 to see (better than bad credit, I guess) (no, not Fico Report; we haven’t got that in Canada)
- Lowering or cancelling credit cards is a real “bear” to do, but is important to fight identity theft.
- CIBC doesn’t like taking charges off your credit card
- Paying bi-weekly bills gives you bill vacations and helps pay down debt.
Yes, it was another interesting week. In the coming weeks, you will hear me rant about the price of:
- Replacing a roof on your house
- Replacing the furnace and A/C in your house
- Finishing a basement
- How it ISN’T cheaper to just buy a new house instead of doing those previous three things.
There is stuff called “beacon points” in Canada which is the same as FICO in US. If you get extended report, you should see it.
Replacing roof, furnace, hot water heater, AC, appliances. I am ready to discuss all these things with you in great depth. Roofing in particular..what a GD ripoff that is. In my neighbourhood, roofers like to push what I think of as “devil horn” venting for your roof. Now, this may be needed on some houses or maybe you can just achieve the same affect with a ridge vent and a few additional smaller vents. The roofers like to push them as a special high end accessory that will vent your attic like nothing else! Ha! End result. Roofer gets rich. Homeowner has crooked horns on roof. I’m so happy we didn’t get these but I see them on all the homes around me!
As for new home cost versus existing home renovation, obviously I am with existing home renovation. If you do it right and price things carefully you are further ahead. It’s just too bad you need contractors in both cases.