FIRE... by 2018

Ah! What a wonderful long weekend. It started on Wednesday and ended on Sunday. Five days of rest and relaxation.. in uh, Brooklyn. Total disregard for Personal Finance. Sorry.. I screwed the budget thing a while ago. I will pick it up again, eventually, I swear! Anyway, I woke up late everyday and found things to do around the city. It was a taste of the FIRE life, and I absolutely loved it. I did some shopping, ran some errands and ate out several times. I even had Japanese food twice. For NYers, Sashimi Deluxe and Hamachi Kama at Tomoe Sushi is hard to beat. (Quality, quantity, and price!) Osaka in Cobble Hill had decent Sashimi as well. I wanted to go see the Bodies Exhibition at South Street Seaport, but at $24.50 a head, I just couldn't. Biking in Prospect Park wasn't a bad alternative. Overall, a fun weekend.

The Addiction that is Real Estate:

• The deal on the flipper is about to go through. Addressed some items on the inspection list and hopefully everything will go smoothly. Won't say anymore right now.
• The tenant on the other property says he may leave at the end of June instead of May. Whichever is fine I told him, as long as he gives me a month's notice. Not sure how I feel about it though. Since I still haven't decided on what to do with this property, I guess having another month to think about it isn't so bad. Found out that someone else in the building is selling a smaller unit (by 100 sq ft) that is in worse shape, for $199k. That's good news for me since that could mean a handsome gain for me too.
• Wanted to check out an open house on a condo w/parking in a converted school house but decided against it due to the heavy rain on Sunday. $499k for a 800 sq ft 1br 1.5ba. Kinda pricey, but the parking is what's got my attention.
• Speaking of parking, the apartment I visited about a month ago that has parking has been reduced to $315k. There was also a similar apartment without parking that was also asking $329k then is now reduced to $295k.
• A buddy of mine mentioned to me about a possible FSBO on a 1Br w/ parking a few blocks away from me. I asked for the seller's contact info, but I haven't heard back. This would be the most ideal situation, but I think the seller might be too greedy and want something in the $400s.

Money:

I got a small raise. My base salary is now $80k. With the bonus that I received in February, my total cash compensation for 2006 will be slightly south of $93k. No complaints here. Boring job yes, good pay yes, wanting more for nothing, definitely. $80k is good, but $85k would be so much better.