hollowmoose21 said:Some people are actually calling for a crash. We're talking up to a 50% drop. And this isn't just some random guy—it’s Jim Rogers we're talking about here. 😁
I really dig this quote: "Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants, and debt is the money of slaves." Now get moving—slaves!
Listen, kids, gold is absolutely in a bubble right now (enjoy the ride), because nobody was buying it like this after such a long bear market 20 or 30 years ago... The most consistent returns over the last century actually come from something else entirely!! TIMBER!
YES, the landscape of gold production—mining in general—is definitely shifting! Biomining isn't just some joke. Everyone here seems to be an expert on gold already; most of you probably figured this out years ago... But Biomining is taking over! At some point, though, production could skyrocket (maybe we just start hitting Ctrl-P on gold more often?)
Lawrence Wright7 said:I’m writing this with an incredible sense of relief 😁 ,,,,,,,,,,,, I ACTUALLY DID IT,,,,,,,,,,,, I’m finally done being a slave to the banks—settled the debt, sold the house 😁 Being free... man, that feeling is priceless. I can actually breathe again!!! (It feels amazing) Next step is packing up and heading back to the Midwest to be near my kid.🙂 I even have a little bit of cash left over to pick up a decent gift. It was a Long, grueling journey, but I pushed through and somehow found the light at the end of the tunnel. If only I’d had the guts to do this sooner. Like some people here were saying: four walls aren't worth all this misery—and they were absolutely right! Thanks to everyone for the support, the harsh critiques, the advice, the answers......
Later ☕
I wouldn't believe it, but reading this made me genuinely happy for you!! You should have pushed to settle this much sooner. It’s a shame about the money wasted over the last year while you were struggling. I curse anyone who advised you to just "tough it out" or "try this or that." Anyone with an ounce of Common sense knows how this works—you shouldn't even need five minutes to make the right call! Enjoy life!!
1 Honestly, you'd be hard-pressed to pull that kind of cash today. And even if 2 if someone actually snatched up that apartment at that price point back THEN, it’s only temporary. They’ll be packing their bags and moving out within a few months. People who are desperate will pay a premium, but they don't stick around. I see this all the time over in Middle, which is basically a college town. I can't rent an apartment for $2,250, and it's been sitting empty for over a YEAR. Let's be real: the odds of a tenant staying long-term and consistently paying on time are slim to none. Like I’ve said before, [zajeb]go ahead and buy it; you can't go wrong[[/zajeb]] Advice from someone who has been renting properties for 15 years...
It was a bad call, alright? It’s my kid’s money, sure, but life moves fast. We had all our paperwork finalized to move out of the country, and you have to get that sorted within six months or you lose everything. You can't just assume things will stay fine. Why would I leave my child's savings sitting in a bank halfway across the world? Who knows what will happen to it—it could vanish just like a collapse at Chase Bank. You think you can just show up and withdraw it later? Forget it. You try going to a social services office and you'll see how they treat you. They look at you like you're some kind of nuisance constantly bothering them, and time is something you simply don't have anymore. I would never, ever recommend this to anyone!
👍 Now, quit stalling and drop the links to every single listing you’ve posted on the classified sites. I want to see as many as possible. Here is why: Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are indexed heavily by Google, so posting everywhere actually boosts your visibility. A cheap price isn't enough to win here. If you bother to read the discussions on local forums, you'll realize most real estate agents are completely useless. Stop relying on them and take control of the situation yourself... Get those ads on as many platforms as you can, then paste the links right here. Put some actual effort into this—it is incredibly important for your success!
You could fix this mess right now by setting a competitive price, but you refuse. You're just hoping for some miracle to bail you out, but let’s be honest: you're just dragging your feet and making things worse. I've already told you how much time you're wasting per unit of time... If you declared bankruptcy today, you'd lose everything. They'd liquidate the assets through receivership, and you'd get a "fresh start," but you'd be barred from getting any kind of credit for at least seven years... The reason you haven't filed for bankruptcy yet is because you've been dutifully paying your bills—up until now. Your situation can continue to spiral indefinitely at your own expense, but look at your life and ask yourself what that actually looks like... Of course, for most people in your shoes, filing is the smartest move. It forces the banks to swallow the loss, even if they feel the sting of their own poor risk assessment. Their business model isn't exactly foolproof, despite what they think!
It’s a shame you haven't listed this on every single major American classified site yet. You need to be aggressive about it. Get the word out everywhere so the info is impossible to miss. The listing itself is solid—the photos are high quality—but you really need to start posting on international boards for countries that actually care about the US real estate market (like the UK, Germany, Austria, etc.).
This waiting game cost you 6*$1277 installments you shouldn't have even had to deal with. In reality, they just tacked the moratorium onto your principal, which is putting even more pressure on you. You should have sold sooner. You didn't listen. Now that you're drawing a line in the sand, the deficit from wasted time—money you spent just to stay afloat—is going to be even larger, unless they hiked up your principal by $7667. Have you actually checked what it takes to close out this loan? How much do you owe the bank to walk away? The longer you stall, the deeper your hole gets... Forget all this talk about renting out rooms or scrambling for cash just to cover a monthly payment that’s basically 90% interest. Those first five years are a brutal slog. Once things start cracking, you need to fix it immediately if you want to salvage any profit with minimal losses... Your only saving grace is that starting November 1st, you won't be hit with prepayment penalties for paying off the loan in one shot... As soon as you sniff out someone who might be interested, make a deal. If they aren't biting, you'll have to create that interest by dropping your asking price...
romc55 said:Where exactly is the issue? Just call the bank and ask them. Stop making problems where none exist. Regards,
I also picked up a high-tier Electron card from JPMorgan Chase and asked my wife if I could use it for online purchases. She insisted it wouldn't work... But I can't just let things go. I tried using it to buy Skype credit, and of course, it worked perfectly fine... So there you have it. Even the bank employees who are actually supposed to know what they're talking about are completely clueless... z
I stick with WinZip because it’s just more practical. Those various ZIP formats don't always play nice with everything, whereas RAR-based formats handle both ZIP and RAR files without breaking a sweat. It covers all my bases much better... Of course, once my trial period expired, the software started acting up. It keeps throwing that annoying pop-up demanding I buy it, but I just hit cancel every single time. If it doesn't bother you or if you aren't using it constantly, don't worry about it too much... Z
Look, the idiots at JPMorgan Chase are driving me crazy, but I actually agree with you... My old man sent some money over from Germany to my wife, but once the cash hits the account, it just vanishes. It’s gone. And get this—I checked the records from over there, and the funds landed ages ago. Someone already processed a $200 withdrawal. So, my wife heads down to the branch to confront the manager about where the money went. She showed them proof from the sending bank, demanding to speak with the supervisor. The teller kept making excuses and acting all shifty. Basically, they blocked access to the funds, and on top of that, someone else had already pulled money out! My wife told them straight up: she wants every single cent out of that account right now. That's it. Next time she walks in, she's emptying the balance and closing the account for good! Unbelievable!! They are THIEVES, plain and simple! Jerry Wright6
Heh, I went with American Express $6667 at an APR of about 18% over two years... First, I wasted my time bothering traditional banks for those "standard" loans with 10% interest rates that aren't even purpose-specific. Once I did the math, they effectively hit 14-15%. Plus, I couldn't even get a two-year term; they forced me into three years because of some clause requiring a guarantor to have a third of their property mortgaged just in case I default. Then you have to go find a guarantor, deal with all the paperwork, and handle the notary fees out of my own pocket. I’m basically paying to screw myself and someone else just to get a loan that ends up being 15% or more. And since it's a three-year term instead of two, the total amount I hand over to the bank is even higher... The kicker? When I finally scrape together enough cash to pay it off early—because I was hoping to settle everything in under a year to save on interest—they tell me I have to pay a 1.5% prepayment penalty. Unbelievable. Screw that. I went to American Express. My elderly mother got the funds at 18% without needing a guarantor, and she can pay it off whenever she wants without any penalties. The best part? She has an American Express account with over $1000 monthly payments, and even though it exceeds her pension by a huge margin (about a third), she pays every single month without fail. Because she's such a reliable payer, they just looked at her and said, "No problem, you're good." She handed them an envelope with a printed Excel spreadsheet showing every single payment, interest breakdown, principal, blah blah blah, down to the last cent! And just like that, everything runs like clockwork! Some people actually know how to run a business. American Express rules! 8-)! Jerry Wright6
Tvrtko1995 said:Come to the States. You can set up a sole proprietorship for just $25. That’s basically all you pay for the registration fee. Then you're good to go.
Setting up a full corporation costs a bit more—roughly $130.
The law is one thing, but if there were any loopholes to exploit, being able to open an American company from abroad would be incredible. You'd just register a firm overseas for $130 and then open a branch here following Vojkyjev's method... I have no clue what the cost for the branch setup would be, but it’s clearly a massive potential saving... Jerry Wright6
Loans are a complete scam, they really screw you over... I'm looking to get a small personal loan for about $2,000. I was checking out Bank of America because their big commercials claim they have the best rates on personal loans, but they aren't actually the cheapest—it's actually Chase... But even there, I got burned. Because the loan amount is so low, the effective interest rate jumps to over 17%, even though they claim the base rate for an unsecured loan is only 9.98%... And here’s the catch: they say if I put down a 20% deposit, the rate stays at 9.98%. But if I take that 20% and put it into a high-yield savings account instead, my returns would be higher than $67, meaning even if I have the cash for a deposit, the whole math just doesn't add up... Fine, let's say I go without a deposit and take 10.98%. Then you've got processing fees at 2.5%, some nonsense about promissory notes being signed 4 times$6.75, then that damn paperwork$10, interest accrual around $17, dealing with a co-signer, having documents notarized twice$27 (maybe I missed something), and the headache of getting everything verified—my tax forms, the co-signer's info, etc. And then, the co-signer isn't just liable for 2 years, I'm stuck with them for 3... Basically, all those extra costs bring the total up to $250, which effectively pushes the interest rate to 17%... To make matters worse, I'll have the cash to pay off the loan early in 4 or 5 months. But then I'd have to pay a $1.50 fee just to return the money to them... The way they calculate a lower effective interest rate is pure theft. They conveniently ignore the forms, the notary fees, and all that other crap that I eventually have to pay out of my own pocket. It's a joke. They think they're being clever, but it's just a slap in the face... God, what idiots and morons. In the end, I just went to an American Express agent. An older woman came to the counter (she had the card, I didn't want it because I never use it, this was my first time, but I'll take it if it works) and within 15 minutes, I had cash in an envelope. On the surface, the terms looked even uglier, but... They don't ask for a co-signer, the interest is 12%, there's zero paperwork, and the total fees are $217. In the end, over a 2-year term, the difference in total costs is $67... I planned on paying it off immediately anyway, and since there's no penalty for early repayment, I'll just bring the extra cash, pay it off, and call it a day. I ended up with much better terms from Amex for just a few bucks...😉 Man, what a relief. People, do not trust the numbers alone... My blood was absolutely boiling in that bank with all those shady tricks and scams...
vrabac said:Oh, great. So it's my fault if the sales staff is rude, dismissive, and lies straight to my face???
Look, if I buy budget furniture, I expect lower quality. Period. Honestly, I was actually pleasantly surprised when they told me the delivery would arrive right on schedule—I fully expected a delay.
What I didn't expect was for some woman to stare me down, chew her donut, and tell me "Yeah, everything's here, order is complete," only for me to pay the bill and find out a wardrobe is missing. That’s just plain insane.
Thanks for the tip, Enivey. I am definitely not going back there. It’s pretty insulting to be spoken to by someone with a mouthful of food.
That wasn't my point. Your personal experience is a completely different matter... My point was about the sheer volume of work and the price points of these types of companies. You can expect a certain level of service based on what you pay (which won't be top-tier)... Though that isn't a universal rule... For instance, check out that thread on Reddit where people are absolutely floored by the service they received for next to nothing...
So, what, you're just going to head over to IKEA (or whatever) and pick out furniture there? Look, Paul is a total cheapskate—the biggest one I know—but he’s got a massive customer base and keeps busy. I don't expect any kind of speed from a guy like that. If I want a groveling salesperson and $3333 extra cash left in my wallet, I'm staying far away from Paul. But if I'm willing to compromise and I'm tight on funds, then yeah, I go to Paul... IBM, the distributor for Farnell is Altpro, and we're talking high-end, expensive gear here. This supposedly "renowned" company they represent basically ghosted me on a product for three months after I already paid for an ADC $833. It’s like ordering a simple printer connector for your PC and being told it's out of stock in the States... What am I supposed to do about it? I finally got it, but only after waiting three long months... There's never a guarantee you won't run into this with the top-tier companies, but honestly, when someone is moving 100 pieces of furniture a day, it feels like these kinds of screw-ups happen to them way more often...