The blog has lost it's name and it will not let me ut a new one in. when i do and click update it just erases it again. what is going on?

The blog has lost it's name and it will not let me ut a new one in. when i do and click update it just erases it again. what is going on?

So my mom and I are looking at going to Ireland in November the week before Thanksgiving and maybe staying for 10 days or so. (I found a great deal for 6 nights-7 days plus a 3 day optional extension during the off season for about $990 including airfare and B&B stays so we are considering it.)

Anyone have any must do’s/don’t miss experiences to suggest? I have traveled throughout Europe but have never had the chance to get to the UK or Ireland.

I am very excited to try this out and go someplace new. I have dreamed of going to Ireland for a long time but could never make it when I had a free place to stay with my sister and her family and an easy way to travel the continent. Now that she has moved back to the US I want to branch out. While my real dream is to stay for longer than 10 days, this would give us a quick over view of the country. But I need to save money for a longer trip and I have heard the train situation is a little different from Europe, sometimes difficult to go East to West or vice versa without going through Dublin.

At least we have time to plan a trip and really get a good idea of where we want to go. I am sure that we will take a circle through the country either clockwise or counter clockwise, my mom has no really idea what she would like to see but we have 5 months to plan if we decide to do this trip.

I really want to go to Northern Ireland as well if we had time. I know the train from Dublin takes about three hours and what a great way to see a bit of the country without having to drive all the time.

This will also be the first time I will drive on the left side of the road. I am a little nervous about that and pray I won’t end up in an accident with cars, busses or sheep.

I am really excited to hear some great Irish music. I love the Irish music and wish I could understand Gaelic. It seems to be a pretty melodic language although very different than anything I have studied in my life.

I know it can be relatively cold (~41 average temperature in November/December) but the price, my work schedule and timing for fmaily events it just makes sense to go at this time.

I think I am in the process of buying a condo. I really don’t want a yard to deal with and this condo seems like a good deal. 2 bed/2 bathrooms (separated by the entire condo, almost like two master suites!) 1230 square feet. Now I really want one on the bottom floor because I have bad ankles and I fear the day I break one again (don’t ask how many times!)

Listed price brand new $239,990 as it dropped $70,000 last week because they want to close them out. Third largest floor plan in the complex and attached two car garage with lots of room and storage.

Now, they are offering an additional 10k drop in price if I have 3% (no problem) plus another 10k toward monthly fees (about 250/month), hopefully toward closing costs or something else I can’t remember right now.

Monthly payment around $1390 plus $250 HOA fees plus $250 property taxes plus $69 for insuring all contents and everything from the walls in for the condo. Lots of feature to save energy. One good thing, it faces the sun most of the day, great for winter, harder to keep cool in summer without good window coverings.

This is the model so that means that lots of people have wandered through and I know they will clean the carpets, but is it ok to ask for new carpets or hard wood floors? Complete cleaning of the entire condo (I mean good deep cleaning)? Throw in a washer/dryer and refrigerator? Or at least credits back to get them?

How do I adjust my withholding to reflect the property taxes and mortgage interest I am paying? (I am currently withholding at 0 on 60K a year because I like getting back money at the end of the year.) To keep them at zero I’d have to drop my 401k ad 457 plan deductions for a while (four months only). But how do I know where to push the withholding to, 2? 3? 4? (Mortgage interest will be about 1200 a month for the first couple of years and I have no real write offs other than that.)

I will be advertising for a house mate and since it is bottom floor, two car garage I’d allow someone to park in the garage or use part of it for storage for an extra house fee. Rooms for rent in this town go for about $500/month plus I would ask for half of utilities.
What do you think? Any accountants out there can give advice about buying a home and withholding questions?