Well, I have learned a hard lesson. The stock I planned to sell on Friday afternoon OPENED $18 lower because some analyst changed his mind about the company’s prospects! If I sell now, I will lose money!
What time does it close?
Since my resumé hasn’t enticed anyone to hire me yet, I have turned to trading stocks to try to earn some money. Overall, I have been doing pretty well. However, I made a boneheaded mistake this afternoon.
I had waited for this certain stock to reach my target price. In the last hour, it was rapidly approaching my target and I was preparing to sell the stock when my children called and asked if I was going to pick them up from school.
I dutifully hurried out, picked them up and headed right back home only to discover…
that the market closes at 3:00! not 3:30!
Now, you may say that is a pretty large oversight and I guess that I would have to agree.
But, to rush to my defense, I have never tried to close a trade out at the end of the day. In the second place, I have to admit that I was still a little confused about the time zones (here, NY, CA). However, after this incident, that is all cleared up!
Anyway, I was pleased that the stock moved up to the exact price that I was expecting. I will try to close it first thing Monday morning. As it stands, I am up a little.
I hope that this doesn’t come back to bite me.
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A needle in the haystack!
After I my wife and I drove by two more houses with my wife this morning, we had a little time before we met with the realtor to go inside four more houses. On a lark, I drove by the house that mysteriously went off the market. What if I could meet and talk to the owner and find out why he took it off the market?
You’ll never guess what I found when I pulled in front of the house…
the owner feeding his dog! What are the odds of that happening…in the middle of the morning?
He took it off the market because his father was admitted into surgery for quadruple bypass surgery in Lebanon and he might be flying to see him if things don’t go well.
If his father comes through the surgery, he is going to do what he does every winter-close the house up and head to Laguna Beach, CA for the winter! My guess is that he doesn’t really NEED the money…
Anyway, we talked, toured the house (it was beautiful) and tried to work out a deal. In the end, the best we could do was a good deal. But if I am going to ask my father-in-law to loan us money, it is going to have to be a GREAT deal!
Surprise!
My son turned 18 today. Just like his father, he forgot that fact so his boss scheduled him to work tonight.
But, having had much practice at making lemonade (you know, turn your lemons into…), we decided to surprise him by having his party at the pizzeria!
Cakes, my youngest daughter, has been surreptitiously (right click and look it up) invited his friends from school.
His shift ended at 8:00. So, we told everyone to come at 7:30 so he will get to make all of the pizzas for his own birthday party!
Both Cakes and I were a little nervous as we drove to the pizza shop. How many people would show up? You never know…especially with high school kids.
Well, eleven people showed up and had a great time. It was great to see him surrounded by his new friends.
To cap everything off, as everyone was getting into their cars to go home, my son got into Wild Bill, my old, beat up F-150. One of his friends asked, “Is that your truck?”
“Yes.”
“Man, that is tight!” and he left his girlfriend’s car to check it out.
You could almost hear my wife’s skin crawl. She has hated that truck nearly from the day I bought it. When I have told her that men like the truck, she won’t believe me! But, now she has undeniable proof that men, young and old, have a sweet spot in their hearts for an old, beat up pickup truck!
Are we too late?
The house hunt is getting interesting. As I mentioned in my last post on the subject, the house that really has taken the lead is in foreclosure. Our realtor informed us today that the listing agent already has two offers that they are submitting to the bank today!
Oh well, if it is meant to be ours, it will still be there.
We are going to look at three more properties in a neighborhood that my wife really likes tomorrow morning. Tomorrow evening, we will make our decision and then talk to my father-in-law.
Not your everyday occurrence
We were supposed to meet our realtor at the house that both my wife and I hope is “THE ONE.” As we pulled in front of the house and called her, she informed us that the house had been taken off the market that morning because the owner had to leave the country to visit a sick relative!
Hmmmm…that’s a little unusual.
Ambushed by a teenage brain
It’s been awhile since I have been negatively impacted by the two developing adolescent brains that live with me.
I mean, I live with them every day and deal with them every day. I am very aware that they are still developing! However, today brought back memories.
I went to pick up my children from school today, as usual. My youngest daughter came out as usual. But, I waited and waited for my son. Where in the heck is he?!?!?
I called his cell phone…no answer!
Finally, he answered my daughter’s call. He was in a meeting for the National Honor Society.
How, can I get mad at him? I’ll just tell you what I said to him when he finally came out 45 minutes later…
“Fellow, does your phone work?”
“Yes.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me to let me know that you had to stay late?”
“I didn’t think of it.”
What’s a father to do?
We might have found our jewel
My wife had the day off so we headed off with the realtor to actually go inside six of the houses that we have driven by. One of the houses is BEAUTIFUL! I mean, a dream.
One was in very bad shape. Three of them were small country houses that were advertised as 3 bedrooms but really had 2.
And one of them needed to have the exterior painted, the deck needed to be restained and sealed and it needed new carpet. But it was a very nice house: 4BR/3.5BA with a real office/library, a walkout basement with high ceilings and full size windows, a view over the valley from the kitchen, a big deck, a HUGE master suite, etc. And it is currently in foreclosure so it is priced 25% below market value.
We have at least one more to look at tomorrow. We’ll see.
I’ve had enough!…for today
I’m sick of looking at houses. I am tired of reading maps.
I plotted the positions of 65 houses on 45 pages of printed Google maps that cover 15 square miles and I have looked at nearly every single one of those houses in the last few days.
And none of them seem to be an exact fit!
There is the absolutely beautiful, brand new house with a 4 car garage that has never been lived in and is in foreclosure! However, it is priced $150K above our highest target price!
Then there is 2.5 of the most beautiful wooded acres but with a small 3BR/2.5BA house that needs to be completely updated.
There is the nice house on 4 acres. The only problem is that power lines, not telephone poles, POWER LINES run over the property. My wife says that she doesn’t want to look at that! Can you believe that? (LOL)
Then there are the multitudes of houses well within our budget that are so close to one another that you could ask your neighbor for a roll of toilet paper without really leaving the bathroom!
Anyway, the Lord’s Day starts tonight. I’m done for now!
I’ll try harder
For the past few weeks, I have been writing a week’s worth of posts in a day. It seems that I am so consumed with looking for a job, learning to trade stocks and finding a house that it doesn’t dawn on me until the weekend that I have anything to write about. I will get better. Anyway, I wrote about this entire week this morning. I hope you enjoy it!
