I have a reader mailbag question. I currently live in Japan, making less than $70,000, so I don’t pay any taxes. I want to continue my retirement savings, however. I thought I could contribute to a traditional, pre-tax IRA, but it seems that may not be the case. Can you help me figure this out? How can I keep up my retirement saving while working abroad? Thanks!

(PS: I have savings in ING; perhaps I might contribute money from that account to an IRA, since it was earned in the US and I paid taxes on it already?)

It really depends on how much work needs to be done, and what the definition of “needs” is. When I moved in my house, the bathtub in the bathroom we remodeled was broken (literally cracked). Yet, the house had another bathroom with a shower in it. I wouldn’t want to live forever with a broken bathtub, but I knew I could shower in the other bathroom until it was remodeled, so I wasn’t worried about it. I don’t mind living around renovations and construction, my only concern with buying a house is what if it doesn’t get done? What it takes 3 years to do what you thought would take 6 months? If that’s not the end of the world, then I would go for the house that needs repairs.

Sorry, I wrote it backwards. I meant if you put $10K down (which Q5 mentions having) and took out a $90K mortgage on a $100K house. I got the numbers from an online mortgage calculator.

My husband and I both work full time, are involved in church, spend time with friends, and even watch some tv and we’ve managed to redo most of the house inside of a year. We have trimwork left- baseboards and such. I do not think that we have more time than most people. We are not type A people, and we do enjoy our sleep, we’ve just worked at this steadily. It’s enjoyable for us, maybe that’s why it’s gone quickly for us? Every room did need work, which is why we bought it. We took down some walls and replaced the entire kitchen as well. It doesn’t seem like Q5 is talking about going for a place that needs this amount of work, so if anything, it should be quicker and easier for him. It has been a lot of work, but not overwhelmingly so. We tend to do a lot at night after we get home and on weekends. We both work in offices, so coming home and banging on stuff is relaxing. We’ve had friends and family help as well, and Q5 does mention that he has friends and family that can help. Again, we do enjoy this kind of thing, but it sounds like Q5 does, too. If you don’t like doing renovations and can’t stand living in a construction site, I wouldn’t recommend it. There are plenty of turn-keys out there. If you do, this is a good way to get a great deal on a house.

I can’t imagine having the time to completely overhaul a house with both spouses working. My husband and I have been in our house for 3 years and have done things here and there, the biggest project being remodeling a bathroom but that took nearly a year in itself. I can’t imagine having a house that needed to be completely overhauled. Even if it was all stuff we could do, if every room in our house needed something I wouldn’t have bought it. Most people don’t have that kind of time.

Report maintenance issues as soon as you see them. Don’t assume someone else reported it. The management company and the board can’t address what they don’t know about. This is good risk management as its cheaper to pay to repair a broken gutter than a flooded ground floor unit later. Its better to get four reports of the same problem than none until there’s a bigger problem!

Attend the all (or as many as you can) the board meetings. Too often the board gets abandoned until the one meeting where the budget gets approved. My husband and I trade off attending because they can get boring or contentious. It also gives you a better overall picture rather than just a snapshot of one particular night or issue.

If your board has committees, particularly a maintenance committee, volunteer to get involved. First you’ll learn more about the history of the situation and second, you just might find others concerned about the environmental impact as well.

Involvement is good risk management against future special assessments and helps maintain the value of the property over the long-term.

Q3: If you have credit cards then try and get your husband added to your accounts.

Also, “The mortgage broker we spoke to practically treated us like children ” Find a different broker. That won’t impact your credit situation but you should not give your business to someone who is condescending to you.

Q8: You can start with wordpress.com and make a free blog there. Its safe and easy. I wouldn’t worry about begin a success right away. It takes time to learn blogging and theres no way to learn it other than doing it.

@Priscilla – your next step should be to save an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses, (if your current savings don’t represent that amount) and then after you have done that save a 20% down payment, while building your fiance’s credit score. Just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean you have to rush to buy a house. House come with all kinds of unexpected expenses and stresses. Just rent for your first year of marriage – it will make your life much much easier.

@Bill, taking out a loan for more than the value of the home sounds like a recipe for disaster. If you need to move for some reason you are either trapped in that house or will face foreclosure. Home projects do not generally return 100% of the money you spend on them. In fact, the return in increased value to the house is often more like 50%, depending what type of remodeling you did and the state of comparable homes in the neighborhood. Why not buy a home that is habitable but needs updating, then pay cash for the projects as you go along? It wasn’t my dream to live in a split-level with bathrooms and kitchen cabinets from 1978 and cheesy wood paneling in the basement, but our house was in good shape and had some updates, and we have steadily been making improvements as we could pay for them over the past 5 years.

SyFy delays their shows on Hulu on a one month delay after the first couple of weeks of the season.

No one looking to rent a room out of someone else’s house cares about hardwood floors. Also, pictures on the internet can be deceiving (smaller or larger), and someone who’s just renting a room probably doesn’t have a lot of stuff so they don’t care how big it is. The most important factor is *you* and how you are as a roommate. Focus the ad on that.

Could you add your fiance to your credit card accounts as an authorized user? There is some risk there, but if you’re marrying the guy it seems reasonable. Unless they have changed it very recently, the AU “adopts” the credit history from the card. My early credit was boosted greatly when I was added as an AU on my parents’ card… my credit history suddenly was as long as my life.