The SEVEN year ITCH....

Speak to old time Realtors and investors in this town and they will tell you about the seven year cycle.

Now it is not an exact science like aeronautical engineering, but it does seem rather interesting that RE tends to top and bottom in 7 or so year cycles.

It would be even more noticeable if the price chart was adjusted for inflation, since a flat year would in fact be a price drop. However even on a regular chart it is pretty obvious.

Take a look above. Our first top is 1980-1981. The bottom came around 1987-8. The next top came in 1994-5. We then had a perfect drop to 2001-2. Finally we had a peak in 2008 exactly where you would expect it and then....??!!??

Has the seven year formula failed us? Has it just been delayed by zero rates?

I am moving more towards a 5 wave structure. The third waves are the most violent up-moves.

We have that from 2001-2008. Then we get a 4th wave drop and finally the last 5 wave to top the pattern. No-body knows where and when fifth waves top.

Like I said before, the stage is set for the start of the drop this year. We have listed the reasons a million times, the same crazy number that the average detached house sells for in this crazy town.

Another Give Away!!**Now Closed**

Hey Guys! I have been working on some projects for the past few days, and I am going to have a lot to share with you next week. So to hold you over until then....we have another AWESOME give away! CSNstores.com has graciously offered a $40 gift certificate to use in one of their 200 + websites!! You have gotta check this site out...Tis da bomb! You won't believe what all they have to offer!! They have THOUSANDS of items to choose from. Items for all your needs: Home Improvement, Housewares, Home Decor, Furniture, which include some fab entertainment centers, outdoor furniture, and so much more. You could spend all day at csn.stores.com. They have some great prices on great merchandise. Here are a few of my favorites:o)

Loving this little girl's bed! Isn't it precious??

 I really like this one too! Def. a princess bed:o)

And check out this fan-tab-u-lous entertainment center!

Isn't this cute? I L.O.V.E. Melissa & Doug toys!!

I'm telling you, they have it all!

So here's how you enter: Leave a comment of what your favorite item(s) are at CSN stores. If you are a follower of Fussy Monkey Business, you can leave 2 separate comments. If you are not a follower, well just simply click the "follow" button. Super simple. This give away will close Sunday, May 16th at 7 p.m. The winner will be chosen by Random.org, and announced on Monday the 17th. Opened to U.S. and Canadian residents only. Looking forward to hearing what you fave items are!!!
This Give Away is now closed.

TIMBER!

OK - this post isn't what you think. Housing is not ready for the big drop yet.

This coast used to be known for it's old growth of gigantic Douglas fir. They rose high into the sky, as far as the eye could see. They looked like they touched the sky.

To log one of these trees required great expertise and courage. Loggers were veritable mechanical engineers, able to judge what type of cut would bring down this huge edifice where they wanted it, without harming themselves or others.

It required a complex series of cuts first on the side that the tree was to be felled and then on other side.

Loggers actually stood on stakes driven into the tree to help them. The tree was solid and would not fall despite being cut nearly half way through on one side and nearly a third on the other. Suddenly, with one more chop, it would happen! The weight would shift towards the fell side and the tree would start splintering and like a colloses it would crash to the ground.

It could get caught in another tree, but often this was just temporary. It would often bring that tree down with it too.

So we go in RE.

The cuts have been made. Incredible lack of affordability. All time lows in rates. CHMC changes. We are waiting to see when the tree will be felled.

Think 2007/2008.

We had a gradually worsening economy..no big deal. We had the bankruptcy of one the US'd largest investment companies..our RE hits new highs. We had the US in a full-scale RE collapse...yawn.

Then we had a rising inventory...hmm. Price changes out-numbering sales..sweaty arm-pits. MOI started to sky-rocket into the double digits and then over a year..nausea time. Then it suddenly fell.

Dropping 15% or so in a matter of months.

The CHMC shenanigans, the zero interest rates and the boom in Chinese RE were the tree that snagged it up and kept it from having a good roll-over. These are breaking down.

All eyes on inventory, MOI and price changes.

Dragon Fly Painting

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was spent with my mother, and we had a very pleasant weekend:o) Before I went to visit her, I went with my friend Amy to one of the local Winery stores for Bottle and Brush. Bottle and Brush is a really fun experience. Mind you, I didn't "experience" the bottle part, just the brush part;o) A local artist instructs you on how to paint one of her creations, while you are turning back a few. We brought our own non-alcoholic drinks, of course. You could definitely tell that some of the women had had one too many. Some of the dragon flies looked more like dragons:o)  I think Amy's turned out better than mine:o) I wish I had a picture of hers to share with you. 

We had a really good time, and I hope to do it again soon:o) My master piece is now hanging in S.R.'s room, and it's starting to grow on me:o).

**I have lots of laundry to catch up on, so I better get to it. I hope you have a FAB day!!!

Once Upon a Time...

There was a beautiful little country with delusions
of grandeur.

It decided to host a magnificent Olympic games. It spent Billions on security and festivities and managed to keep the poor and dirty out of sight. Despite a few small glitches, everyone agreed that they had put on a great spectacle which would never be forgotten. The leaders got to feel very important and everyone felt very proud.

Then the costs started to come in for building the huge edifices and for all the security, and they were ruinously high.

Especially for a country which already spent so much on a safety-net, and social issues like health and education.

"Don't worry, we can afford it" Their leaders told them.

Some people made fortunes from Olympic contracts. Five years later the country was in economic turmoil. Six years later it was bankrupt and there was rioting and deaths in the street.

That country is Greece. Can you recall the year of the Olympics without counting backwards?

Not that memorable, and certainly not worth the cost.

When to go beyond "Salary" ?

When your personal income increases, you start to pay more taxes too. It was mentioned before there are certain income Stepping that one should watch out for to optimize tax planning. For example, as your total annual income is approaching MYR 100,000 in Malaysia, you are most likely to be paying maximum taxes like a company's ie. 27%.

So you pay about MYR 15,000 taxes so your net income become MYR 85,000 ( exclude other deductions for the purpose of this article ). Then you will proceed paying your due diligences like house loan, car loan and all your other expenses etc. Lets say those total up to MYR 73,000 so you would have a remaining income of MYR 12,000; Or MYR 1,000 a month.

As mentioned before, if the taxation laid upon a business is similar ie. 27%, then perhaps you can create a business of your own. Then sell yourself back to your current employer doing exactly the same stuff so that it has no impact what so ever to your employer's operation (*1).

As a business owner, you should deduct all costs incurred in order to perform your business (job) before you come up with a profit, which is then taxable. Lets say MYR 50,000 of your expenses can be qualified as business expenses. Then you may end up with paying less tax ie. MYR 13,500

$100,000 - $50,000 = $50,000 x 27% = $ 13,500

There are still MYR 23,000 expenses that are not classified as business expenses, hence you will end up with a remaining income of $13,500; instead of just $12,000 if you keep your 'job'.

$50,000 - $13,500 (tax) - $23,000 (non biz expenses) = $13,500

In this scenario simply by changing the 'mode' of how things work can save you a thousand or two. As you may have noticed, the difference is not that big. Hence, if you have been working whole your life; Annual income of MYR 100,000 is the magic number where you should start thinking if you want to continue working a job or start building something of your own.

This difference will become significant as your salary increases beyond MYR 100,000.

However, there are quite a handful of knowledge and skills you will need before you can make a switch like this successfully.

• setting and maintaining a business will cost money
• no employer means no one pays your EPF
• security, liability, risk and reward will have different meanings
• classifying business expenses is an important skill
• all business expenses should help the business grows
• pay yourself maximum non taxable salary, pay yourself EPF ...

In real and practical world, a smart guy doing this would NOT only save a thousand or two. But the actual tax saving should be 50%-80%, ie. from $15,000 to $3,500.

(*1) There WILL BE some impacts to the company especially account and human resource wise. In short, the company saves money by not paying you EPF and other cost to maintain an employee. Hence in practical world, one would ask for more than $100,000 when converting from an employment to a contract staff.

Most of you will think it is NOT possible to switch from an employment to a contractual staff without affecting the operation and yourself, only a few of you will start to think how to make that happen. Like wise, I can assure you that some has already made that switch successfully, although just a handful. But none of them were given any guideline or magic numbers like this article. So you are now equipped better than them. Hope you can get something out of this ...

Baby Pool Converted to Sand Tub

First off, I want to congratulate Cayce again for being the winner of the ruffle wallet give away. Speaking of which, I have a few fabrics I purchased yesterday, and if you are interested in any of these prints, I will be making wallets and selling them for $20. All proceeds will be given to the American Red Cross for the Nashville, TN flood victims. Just shoot me an email if you are interested. If not, I'll sell them on Etsy.

Also, here's an interesting tidbit I read in the Lowes mag. the other day. Flies hate the smell of Basil. We live out in the country with the cows. And where there's cows, there are a ton of flies. So I purchased some basil and I'm looking forward to it growing big, and hopefully warding off those little pests. I'll let you know if it works:o)

Now for the actual post. I have been very interested in getting a sand table for the kids to play with. They aren't exactly cheap, though. I was ready to purchase one, got to Walmart, and they said I would have to order online and have it shipped to the store...fat chance. They saved me 70 bucks by not having it in the store. So then it hit me, I have a cheap-o baby pool, you know the kind you get from Babies R Us for $5? I decided to fill it with leveling sand...cuz it's cheap, and have a ready made sand tub. Total cost for this sand contraption: $3.50. The kids love it. And I really love it, since I saved so much money. I plan on buying one of those pool covers, the kind that are made of tarp and elastic, they're pretty cheap, so I can keep the elements out.

 The great thing about this is that it's so small, if it does rain before I get the pool cover, I can pull it under our covered patio without any trouble. So that's my tip for the weekend:o)

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I hope that you all have a wonderful Mother's Day!