Sunday, October 25, 2020

My 8 Day Fast

I did an 8 day fast. Yes you read that correctly. 


I learned about taking control of my health with fasting, from my brother Benj. I've always had pretty bad allergies and hay fever, and one potential benefit of an extended fast is that it resets your immune system. So I thought I would try it out to see if it helped with my allergies or anything else. 


The first day I ate an avocado, and the second day half an avocado, to kind of ease into the fast. So I technically had only 6 days of no calories, and 8 days of very low calories.


I didn't find it really too difficult to not eat, but the biggest downside was that I was somewhat weak/sluggish/low energy a lot of the time. That would supposedly not have been as bad if my body was more "fat adjusted", i.e. more used to using fat as energy instead of carbs, if I had been on a lower carb diet before starting the fast.


Other observations: 

  • I lost 14.4 pounds (!). Benj says it will probably snap back partially, since a lot of the loss is from glycogen in the muscles (or something?).
  • My sleep wasn't too bad, surprisingly. I was expecting it to be harder to sleep with no food.
  • I swam laps every day. Sarah didn't think that was a good idea, but that was actually the only time in the day that I had much energy, while I was swimming.
  • I had a fair amount of heartburn. I tried an antacid pill one day, but I didn't want to do too much of that in case it disrupted my immune system reset.
  • Sarah was very bothered by the ketogenic smell of my breath. She said I smelled like fingernail polish remover.  I didn't notice it myself.
  • I haven't seen too big of an improvement in the hay fever since I finished the fast.  Hopefully there are other latent benefits.


Weight during fasting


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Where is the Phoenix Real Estate Market Headed in 2015?

Here is an article that I wrote on my Phoenix real estate website about where the Phoenix real estate market is headed in 2015.

Of course no one really knows, but that's what blogs are for, right? :)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Success

  1. Things don't always go as planned.
  2. Don't dwell on the past.
  3. Learn from the past, plan for the future, but live in the present.
  4. Don't dwell on the past.
  5. Be here now.
  6. I can only move forward.
  7. What is the best way forward from this exact point in my life?
  8. What are my assets?
  9. What are my liabilities?
  10. How can I best leverage my assets and overcome my liabilities?
  11. How can I do the most good?
  12. What good cause should I be anxiously engaged in?
  13. What is my highest potential?
  14. What is my vision of success?
  15. How can I get there?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Five Guys versus In-N-Out Burger


VERSUS


I have been an In-N-Out Burger aficionado for many years, and I've recently heard vague rumblings about different competitors such as Shake Shack and Five Guys Burgers and Fries popping up. I just tried out Five Guys for the first time, at Reagan National Airport in DC. Here is my head to head review:

Burger: Five Guys was actually a little better than In-N-Out! I liked the thicker patty, and loved that they offer additional toppings such as green peppers.

Fries: Five Guys' fries were better as well. Their fries are thicker and pretty good, while In-N-Out's are just average, even though they are "freshly cut"... (who cares?)

Price: Five Guys was WAY overpriced! $6 for a cheeseburger and $5 for a large fries? Seriously? But it was at the airport, where everything is overpriced. So it may be priced more reasonably at non-airport locations.

Other Factors:
  • Five Guys gives you a TON of fries. That might be nice if you have someone to share them with, but since I was flying solo, it wasn't that helpful.  And I can't really reward bonus points for contributing to the obesity epidemic.
  • Five Guys is not available in Arizona, which is a big minus since I don't want to have to fly to DC for a burger, no matter how good.
  • Five Guys took a really long time to get the order up. (Could be another airport only issue.) But In-N-Out isn't really very speedy either.
Conclusion: If Five Guys was/were available in AZ, it/they would have probably pulled off the upset victory. However, since they're overpriced, slow, and unavailable without a flight involved, In-N-Out still gets the nod for now.

Friday, July 08, 2011

Holocaust Museum

Matthew and I went to the Holocaust Museum at the Smithsonian, mainly because we'd been to the other museums before. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there on the tour. I most enjoyed the stories of the heroic individuals who risked their lives to save others, such as the White Rose group. However, the thing that struck me the most, and that I still have trouble grasping, is how most of the people of Germany, as well as Austria and some other countries, just went along with Hitler's plans. I may be off on this, but it seems like when Hitler said "OK, new plan, we're going to systematically discriminate against Jews", about 99% of Germans (and later Austrians and other countries) said "Sure, sounds good to me." How is that possible? And it's one thing to go along with discrimination, but then later, Hitler literally said things like, "We're going to go into Poland and kill every man, woman and child without mercy." And everyone was STILL ok going along with his plans. I know there was a lot of brainwashing and propaganda going on, and of course there was a point when it was too late to openly oppose anything, but I just can't comprehend how the large majority of normal citizens and/or soldiers were seemingly ok with Hitler's systematic discrimination, hate, murder, and genocide.

Friday, April 15, 2011

How To Appeal Your Property Tax Valuation In Maricopa County Arizona

Tired of paying high property taxes? I just appealed my property tax valuation, so I thought I would share the steps for how to do it. This will only be helpful if you live in Maricopa County, AZ. (And actually our property taxes aren't that high compared to some states, but it's still a good idea to appeal if your valuation is inaccurate.)

There are two ways to appeal, administrative and judicial. I will only be talking about the administrative option. (For the judicial, according to the State Board of Equalization, "You may file a petition directly with the Tax Court at any time after receiving the Notice of Value, provided you do not file an administrative appeal - but you must file it no later than December 15. This is the Judicial Process.")

If you hurry, there is still time to appeal your 2012 valuation, which was the one that you should have received recently. The county sends out a postcard in February with your valuation for the following year, which looks about like this:


The deadline for them to send out the postcard is March 1, and then the deadline for you to appeal is 60 days later. So you probably only have another week or so. Get on it!

If you did not receive a postcard, you can see your valuation info online:

  1. Go to the assessor's website
  2. Enter your street number and name (or your parcel number if you know it)
  3. You will be taken to your property info page.
  4. Scroll down to "Valuation Information"

How is the amount of tax determined?

The way the taxes are calculated is quite a complicated mess. It's not imperative that you understand the details of how the taxes are calculated, and I don't really understand it completely myself, so feel free to skip down to the section below about appealing. But here are some basics.

One important thing to understand is that when your assessed valuation goes down from one year to the next, that does not necessarily mean your taxes go down! Your assessed value only determines how much of the pie is your responsibility. So if everyone's valuation went down about the same percentage, then the percentage of the taxes that are your responsibility, or your piece of the pie, would not change.

Your property is identified by a unique parcel number. You will see on your notice of valuation a "full cash value" (FCV) and a "limited property value" (LPV), which are each used to determine different portions of the tax for your parcel. Then there's an assessment ratio which is multiplied by the FCV and LPV to determine the value that they then multiply by some arbitrary "tax rate" to determine your actual amount of tax. You can read more nitty gritty details in the FAQs here.

For owner occupied homes and rental homes, the assessment ratio is always 10%. (It's higher for land and commercial properties.) So if your full cash value was $100,000, then your assessed value would be $100,000 x 10% = $10,000. And if the tax rate was 8%, then your annual property taxes owed would be $10,000 (assessed value) x 8% (tax rate) = $800.

If you are interested in seeing a breakdown of where your taxes are going:

  1. Go back to the assessor's website
  2. Enter your street number and name (or your parcel number)
  3. You will be taken to your property info page.
  4. Click on "View Tax Information"
  5. You will be taken to the treasurer's website.
  6. Click on "Tax Bill" in the upper left hand corner.
  7. Scroll down and you can see all the places your property taxes are being used for. (The majority goes to the school districts.)

Is My Property Valuation Too High?

If you want to appeal your tax valuation, you will need to show that the valuation should have been lower. (At least I'm assuming you want your taxes lowered, not increased.) There are at least 4 ways you can value your property:
  1. Market approach
  2. Cost approach
  3. Income approach
  4. "Equity" approach

Market approach. Using the market approach just means looking at the current market value of your home. So for example if the valuation on your property notice was $100,000 and the comparable sales in your neighborhood show that your home is worth $80,000, then you could argue that your home is worth $80,000, by providing those comps.

Cost approach. Using the cost approach means looking at how much it would cost to build your home. So for example if the valuation on your property notice was $100,000 and you know that it would only cost $80,000 to build your home, then you could argue that your home is worth $80,000, by showing that it would only cost $80,000 to build it (including the purchase of the land). This option is not going to be helpful anytime soon, since the assessments are generally far lower than the cost to build.

Income approach. Using the income approach means looking at how much your property is worth based on how much income it brings it. This would only apply for income (rental) properties.

"Equity" approach. This last one, which I am calling the "equity" approach, just means looking at how much the other properties in your neighborhood were assessed for, and seeing if theirs were assessed for less than yours. If the other similar sized properties in your area were assessed for less than yours, then you have a strong argument that yours should also be assessed for less. So, even if you think the assessed value of your property is equal to or less than current market value, you should still check and make sure that it's also in line with the amounts that your neighbors' properties were assessed for. Otherwise you'll have to pay for more than your share of the pie!

How To Check On The Assessed Values Of The Properties In Your Area

To check on the assessed values of the properties in your area:
  • Go to the Assessor's website.
  • Scroll over "Maps" and click on "GIS Interactive Maps"
  • In the search fields on the right, enter the Street number and Street name (or parcel number) for your property, and click "Submit".
  • Your parcel will be highlighted.
  • On the right, click on the "Valuation Data" tab to see the assessed value, and click on the "Property Data" tab to see the size of your home. (Make sure the square footage is correct. If the assessor has an incorrect value for your home size, that is another factor that you could appeal.)
  • On the map, click on the neighboring lots on your street and in your area. After clicking on each parcel, click on the "Property Data" tab to check the size of the home.


    When you find properties similar in size to yours, click on the "Valuation Data" tab and compare their valuations to yours.

  • If your neighbors with similar sized properties have lower valuations than yours, then you have cause for appeal. You're paying for too much pie! Make a note of the parcel numbers and valuations that support your case.

Appealing the tax valuation

If you decided based on any of the approaches above that you can argue that your home should have a lower valuation, then you can appeal the valuation. To appeal, go to this page on the Assessor's website, enter your parcel number, click "Submit", and then follow the instructions on the form to make your case!

(If you are confident in your case, click on "Yes" for question 8, "CHECK HERE TO REQUEST A MEETING WITH THE ASSESSOR'S OFFICE". According to David Schweikert, former Maricopa County Treasurer, that will help your chances.)

After your appeal, the assessor must consider, decide, and answer your request on or before August 15. If you do not agree with the decision, you can file a petition with the Board of Equalization for the county.

Good luck!