Eye-Catching Art - For Rent!: Tip-of-the-Day #246

Based in New York, Artsicle scours for art works from local up-and-coming artists and rents their art out to you for a totally reasonable fee (starting at $25/month). At last, you can display original work by a bona fide fancy-schmancy artist without making a buying commitment or writing a check that would make even Mitt Romney think twice.

But if you fall deeply in love with your new artwork, they're available to purchase, too.

A few of their favorites: Todd Wright's street-art-influenced abstracts, Nathan Sawaya's LEGO sculptures, Jena Kim's geometric paintings, and Joana Ricou's ever-so-unsettling nudes.
 

Reward: Get 20% off your first rental with code "rundownart," just so you can get a taste of the collector's life.

But wait, the pot gets ever sweeter. Shoot them a note at artsicle@rundown.com for the chance to win a $100 gift card (plus Artsicle email updates). And blammo, free art.

Free Wheelz! Tip-of-the-Day #245

Wheelz, the only "car sharing platform" that connects car owners and renters, is officially launching in San Francisco. For the weekend of 11/02-11/04, every rental on a Wheelz car is free for up to 24 hours! (Standard fuel charges and penalty fees apply.)

If you own a car, it's a great way to make a few extra bucks and pay down your monthly obligation. Charge anywhere from $10 on up an hour. If you need wheels, you can check out rides right in your 'hood and avoid key exchanges and insurance because it's all handled seamlessly behind the scenes. Pretty cool idea and worth checking out! http://www.wheelz.com/signup

Be Your Own Agent: Tip-of-the-Day #244

HAVE A "GOOD" REAL ESTATE AGENT? WHY?

This post is not about bashing real estate agents or their general worth, but it is about what you can do in terms of buying and selling a house - without one!

Here's the background. My ex and I bought a condominium together fourteen years ago. And, despite our "togetherness", my name never made it to title. Flash forward all these years, we've long since broken up, I'm still living in the condo, we're still friendly but he's living in Korea. He's finally ready to get this thing off his books and stop paying California taxes. We decide he'll sell it to me (for what we bought it for in '98 given I've been paying the darn thing down ever since). Well, since I'm already living in the "home of my dreams" and we've already agreed to terms, the only thing left to do was...hire a real estate agent! WRONG. Here's how I saved us $30,000 (typically agents get 6% commission on real estate transactions).
  1. Find yourself a lender. I went to Zillow.com and with a few pieces of information found myself with some viable lenders to choose from. (Be prepared to divulge every financial detail about yourself in the process and expect the loan to get funded within 4 - 6 weeks. The more buttoned up you are, the more seamless the process.) 
  2. I visited lawdepot.com and found a generic form for "real estate purchase contract." I filled in the important details and then (because it was my first time and I didn't want to screw this up) I floated it by a real estate attorney. That attorney was the only bugger in my plan because he charged $350/hr only to confirm that in fact my plan was sound and my contract was legit. Sigh.
  3. Find a title company near where you live/work and have them open escrow for you. That's basically money held by a third-party on behalf of transacting parties. Gotta do it - but the title company will handle all of the logistics for you.
  4. Make sure you have the down payment all ready to go (liquidate any brokerage accounts that you're planning to use, etc.) and when the time comes to fork it over, you'll need to either wire the funds or get a cashier's check made out to your title company.
  5. Sign all the papers (and in my case, I had to make an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Korea so my ex could get several documents notarized).
IT'S THAT EASY.

I have a. never bought or sold a property before on my own, b. had no idea what to expect. But, I knew that whatever was in store for me simply couldn't be THAT difficult and I knew I could do it. I. Knew. I. Could. Do. It.

I seriously recommend trying this yourself if you're ever in a position to. Imagine all the things you can do with that extra thirty grand!

Cheers!

Free Parking!: Tip-of-the-Day #243

I got an email from parkingticket.com in my inbox this morning and I immediately took notice:

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to park free of detainments and tow-away impounds and I’ll tell you that you can. The nation’s cities, from California, to the New York Islands, will let you park for free on our nation’s birthday.
 

“Parking tickets on July 4th? No way,” says Glen Bolofsky, the founder of parkingticket.com.  “However, should your town be filled with redcoats, www.parkingticket.com will challenge your ticket for free!”
 

In the spirit of Independence Day and freeing ourselves from the yoke of tyranny, ParkingTicket.com is providing free services to anyone ticketed on July 4th.  All you have to do is type in the word “Freedom” on the summary page – to gain the free service.  ParkingTicket.com operates in NYC, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia. It’s a day for parkers to pursue their right to liberty without the tyrannical Parking Violations Bandits breathing down their necks.

Hallelujah!

Dealing Domain Names: Tip-of-the-Day #242

CREATIVE DOMAIN NAMES COULD MEAN EXTRA CASH.

My boyfriend's father is a very smart man. He is a doctor - but beyond that, he is incredibly creative. Years ago, before buying or selling domain names ever became lucrative, he thought about the implications of doing just that. He will sit down with his equally brilliant wife, and together they brainstorm domain names and they buy those with the greatest "potential". It has paid out for him (them) multiple times! He stays within the medical vertical and chooses names that have long term promise. For instance, necklift.com. He came up with that! I think he sold that one for $5K. Not bad for a day's work! Now, that said, he did buy that name years ago and ultimately had to shell out several hundred dollars over the years to keep it active - but he certainly made a sound investment there.

Mind you, many names don't ever pay out. It's somewhat akin to buying a lottery ticket of sorts...but with some creative thinking and a little insight into where an industry might be headed, you may find yourself thousands of dollars richer!

I came up with a few names about a year ago - but they were a little random and so after a year I let them go. My feeling is that you have to pick an industry/vertical that a. has money and b. has growth potential. So, you'll probably want to stay clear of names like "myownrecipe.com" or "sewingcirclefriends.com" because even though they mean something to you - you probably won't find anyone knocking on your door for those types of names. Unless of course, the Bravo network extends its franchise with some of those housewives. ;)

Good luck!

TaskRabbit.com: Tip-of-the-Day #241

HIRE YOURSELF OUT OR HIRE SOMEONE ELSE - BUT GET THE JOB DONE!

I recently discovered TaskRabbit.com (I know, I'm waaay late on this one), an online and mobile marketplace that allows folks to live a smarter and more fulfilling life by relying on their neighbors.

My mom of all people told me about it. She said her friends use it all the time to hire last minute help for events, but the service fulfills just about any need out there.

I checked it out because my boyfriend had nearly 1,000 receipts from 2011 that he needed taped to individual pieces of paper and scanned for electronic safekeeping. He offered to pay my sister but she was not inclined (I don't blame her). I posted the task on TaskRabbit and after very little negotiation, found someone who lives just two blocks from me to do it for $50.

The best part: TaskRabbit is very careful about who they "hire" to be Rabbits. They conduct a background check and a video interview. I know this, because after my great experience I decided to throw my hat in the ring to become a Rabbit! You can list the skills that you have (mine fell into the marketing, branding, strategy quadrant) and when jobs are posted you are selected based on your self selected skillset.

This is a terrific way to find "neighbors" to help you get your job done quickly and cost effectively and an equally great way to make some extra cash by marketing some of your savvier skills to the general public.

Let me know how it works out for you! 

Daily Deal Know-How: Tip-of-the-Day #240

DON'T THROW AWAY UNUSED DAILY DEAL PURCHASES THAT "EXPIRED"!

If you're like me, you LOVE to take advantage of daily deals. Only prob is remembering to use them. For a while, I let all sorts of deals I'd purchased just go to waste or get lost in my massive inbox. Then, I started putting the confirmation emails right into a folder marked "Daily Deals I Must Use". That helped. Only hitch: I was still forgetting to use some of them before they "expired."

Here's the thing folks, those deals, by law, CAN'T expire. Yes, the "offer" can expire, meaning if you paid $30 for $60 worth of tanning sessions, you won't still have access to the $60 after the expiration, but you'll ALWAYS have access to the value that you paid out of your pocket.

I use the example above because I bought some "organic tanning sessions" last summer (God knows what I was thinking) and just rediscovered them in my "must use" folder. They had expired in January. I made the appt with the salon anyway, knowing I could use the value I paid for the deal. I got an email from the salon telling me my coupon had expired. I had to write them back and remind them of the law!

In Summary: Don't think you have to toss out your daily deal just because it's expired. You can still use the value of what you paid for it. Keep saving is my strategy!

Leap Year Deals: Tip-of-the-Month #239

LEAP YEAR IS AS GOOD A REASON AS ANY TO SHOP FOR DEALS.

The elevator in the office building that I work at, features one of those small screens that scrolls breaking news, interesting movie facts, weather updates, etc. At lunch, I was quickly absorbing some Red Carpet gossip when the next screen flashed a super sale on Alaska Cruises - but only if you buy on February 29th, given it's leap year.  It got me to thinking that more retailers might be using this special day (that only pops up every four years), to create more business.

I did a simple search online and found that in fact, everyone from furniture dealers to mattress retailers to cruise lines are delivering deep discounts, but ONLY on 2/29/12.

I suppose if you've been waiting for the perfect time to book that vacation or upgrade your bedroom set, now is the time! Er, Wednesday is.

Google: Leap Year Deals

Good luck!

House Buying Negotiation Tool: Tip-of-the-Day #238



GET WHAT YOU WANT WITH A LITTLE LEVERAGE.

My boyfriend and I recently found a house in Marin County that we like well enough to bid on. We've been casually looking for years but something would always break the deal (price, location, foundation, etc.). So now we've found an interesting property in Sausalito - a place we both grew up - and it has terrific views, parking, lots of natural light and the price is right(ish). That said, it needs some serious work (nothing's been done to the property in 28 years).

The price has already dropped once because of the fixes the property requires, but now we're going in with an even lower number. Hard to know if the seller will accept the offer or not, but in speaking with my boyfriend's mother (a smart woman) she advised us to find something else about the property to use as leverage to keep the price down. In this case, there is an enormous Blue Gum Eucalyptus that is leaning heavily toward the home and, if left unattended, will eventually come down on the roof!

Our leverage is asking the current owner to remove the tree before we seal the deal. The current owner likely does not want to remove the tree and would rather give us the lower asking price instead. If however, he calls our bluff and does remove the tree, it's a win for us regardless because removal of a tree of this size can cost $10K or more!

If you don't have a tree to use as leverage, you can use something of equal significance: removal of an old (unwanted) hot tub, or a new roof, or, new siding. Choose something that is necessary to the integrity of the property and you may just find yourself with the wished for item or a lower price on the property.

It's said to be a buyer's market at the moment - but that really depends on where you live, what the inventory is like and how many foreclosed homes are in your area. Do your research and make it work *for* you!