following one thing down, the other up

July 8th, 2008 at 08:01 pm

Tuesday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $1.70 decaf coffee + $9 lunch & snack

Monday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $9 lunch

You might remember a certain shack that was apparently to be had for a certain princely sum of $499K.
http://baselle.savingadvice.com/2008/02/22/the-housing-bubbl...

I promised to follow it down. And down it is going.

Feb 2008 - $499K
April 2008 - $445K
2hrs ago, 2008 - $395K

Still too much even with a 20% haircut.

Yesterday afternoon I found my electronic pay stubs, which list my 403B contributions. I changed my withholding after Q1 2008 to shelter a few more dollars from taxes and I aimed for the limit of $15,000K. (I know the limit is $15,500; I wanted a little breathing room) The good news is that I will get a 4% raise, possibly a 6% raise, which is, in a sense, bad news if it tips my 403B withholding above $15,500.

So I added up what I already put in. I get paid 24 times. I calculated my current withholding times 1.06, and got an estimated withholding. I figure I will be just under the limit with a 2008 withholding at $15,445. Cutting it a tad close, so I will look again on the August 15th pay stub, just to make sure. I'll have 4Q to adjust if I go over.

Posted in Workplace, Taxes, The Neighborhood | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “following one thing down, the other up”

monkeymama Says:
July 8th, 2008 at 08:06 pm

Dang. I remember your last post on that house. A little behind the times still?

Yay for the 403B!
gamecock43 Says:
July 8th, 2008 at 08:08 pm

100k drop in a few months? Whoa, I want to see that kind of drop where I have been looking in South Georgia.
baselle Says:
July 8th, 2008 at 09:00 pm

gamecock - its a shack. Really. I joked that at full $499950, a realtor would have to remove a whole digit before its appealing. He can pick any of the digits - so between 99,950 and 49,995 will work.
scfr Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 07:20 am

I remember that house ... Oh, that poor agent. Our former neighbor listed his house for sale. I knew the original listing agent, so I stopped by the open house and when I said with a grin: "Couldn't talk ..xyz.. down $20K huh?" he burst out laughing. I don't know why he started out $20K too high ... perhaps he felt he had to get more for his house than we did for ours? 18 months later it's still on the market. The owner has since taken the $20K drop, but of course he's too late. It probably needs to come down another $50-60K. If he had just started out $20K lower to begin with, the house would probably be sold by now.

But I know it's tough. When I sold my house, I had to quickly move myself beyond the "but my house is so great" sense of pride and just sell at market price. Yes, my house WAS great, but it was just one of many homes on the market. At the time of selling, a house is just a commodity, plain and simple.
PauletteGoddard Says:
July 9th, 2008 at 01:43 pm

Today I read that a house belonging to a real estate agent was up for a trustee sale. I wonder how the market would look if the real estate agents and flippers were weeded out.

baselle's Financial Diary

quirky, funny people can save money too.

following one thing down, the other up

5 Responses to “following one thing down, the other up”

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