liquidation

As we get ready to sell our home and move to our new place we've started clearing out the extra stuff we've had lying around over the years that we don't really need. Less stuff to move = less trouble. It's not hard to imagine that I have quite a few auto parts stored away in the garage. So I've put up my original Lexus wheels from the IS350 for sale on craigslist. There's probably other parts I've kept around for no reason that will go to the dump or up for sale on craigslist, like extra exhausts, lug nuts etc.

Wouldn't you know it, the first three emails I've received about the wheels are all likely scammers. They either want me to click on some probably malicious link or spam that they sent me, or want to send me a cashier's check for the wheels, sight unseen. I just need to send them all my personal information so they can proceed swiftly with the transaction. The transaction of stealing my money, you mean? Yeah right sucker.

Check out this video at the Federal Trade Commission about filing a complaint online. I think it's unintentionally funny because everyone's all squinty-eyed until they get scammed, and suddenly their eyes pop open.

migration

Maybe I'm an optimist but I do believe that 2010 is the year that things turn around for us... and now I've put my wallet (and life savings) on the line to prove it. Last week V and I decided to buy a new house up in the Hayward Highlands. Right now it's still just a dirt lot on a hill, but in about 6 to 8 months our new home will be built and it's going to be very exciting to move into a bigger house. It's so big, the builder Toll Brothers doesn't just refer to them as homes, they are "estate" homes.

This is by far the biggest purchase we've ever made (eclipsing our current home by more than double the price) so it's really going to be a test of our financial strength. But it's all about risk vs. reward and we think it's worth the stretch. We've lived in our current home for 7 years, and this will be our home for probably the next 7 or more... and there's plenty of room so I doubt we'll outgrow this one. So here's hoping that in 7 years we are sitting on a big fat pile of equity.

Anyways we are pretty excited about moving to our new home, but some changes are in order before that happy day... we need to keep saving money to make our dream a reality and we plan to try and sell our current home very soon and move temporarily into an apartment to save even more as our home is built. It's certainly a real shakeup and turn of events for me, but I hope in the end it is worth it.