House Hunting Updates
February 14, 2010 Posted by Tyler CruzA couple months ago I posted how I was tired of condo living and was ready to buy a house. I was serious about it and have been scouring the MLS nearly everyday since then, looking at what’s out there and what I can get in my price range.
I met up with my independent mortgage broker, the same one who I worked with when I bought my condo 3 years ago, to ask a bunch of questions as well as go through the process to get preapproved for a mortgage again.
Since I incorporated back in February of 2008, I’ve only been paying myself what I need to live comfortably and not a penny more in order to take advantage of the low corporate tax rate. However, this can create an issue when you want to request a loan from the bank. While my 2007 personal income was very high, my 2008 and 2009 (2009 being based on my T4) years were extremely low.
Since the banks here only take the previous 2 years into account when factoring how much they are comfortable lending you, I was originally not approved for as much as I’d like in order to get a half-decent house. They used to take the previous 3 years, but changed once the whole housing and economic crisis hit recently.
Fortunately, my mortgage broker was somehow able to get them to take my 2007 year into consideration which bumped up my preapproval amount pretty significantly. After factoring in all of the costs of buying a home including closing costs and all that jazz, I am able to afford a house in the $380-$390k range. Since there is always bargaining room, I am looking at homes up to the $425k range.
Location, Location, Location
I’ve been continuing to watch scores of House Hunters, Property Virgins, and My First Place episodes from HGTV to get into the home-buying mood, but sometimes it can work the other way around. It is absolutely insane how cheap houses are in some parts of the US, such as Georgia, Las Vegas, and Texas.
Here’s a video of John Chow and me looking at some houses in Las Vegas about a year and a half ago. Sorry for the shaky camera-work, I was looking at the house and not focusing on the video 
Then again, I’m a lot more fortunate than if I were to buy a place in London or New York. But that’s the thing… I don’t live in a big city yet it’s still expensive here. I guess that’s the price you pay for living on an island.
Closing Costs
The closing costs will suck. There’s CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) which is basically a mortgage insurance (although I’m putting down a pretty decent down payment so it won’t be too much), realtor fees, and a property transfer tax which is 1% on the first $200k and 2% thereafter. So if I were to buy a house at $390k the property transfer tax would be $5,800.
Combined, it all adds up, especially when it’s coming out of my pocket and can’t be tacked onto the mortgage.
Mortgage Penalty
There’s also the mortgage penalty to worry about. Since I was locked in at a fixed rate on my condo mortgage, it’s actually more beneficial for me to get out of it and pay a flat penalty payment since mortgage rates are so low right now.
For the house, I will be getting a variable rate mortgage at prime-1 with the option of locking it down at any time (should rates start to increase). The cost for this will be around $5,000 though, which just adds more money onto the whole process.
Putting my Condo up for Sale
Now that I have been preapproved for a new mortgage and thought things out a bit more, I think I’m ready to put my condo up for sale on the market. I used to work for a real estate company here as their web developer and designer, and they actually specialize and focus on condos, so I’m naturally using them as my agents.
I’ve already been giving the comparables of the other units in my building so I know how much they were listed at, and more importantly, sold for. I now know exactly how much I should list my place at now. I’ll make at least $20k profit from when I bought it 3 years ago, which isn’t too bad. When you look at things that way, it kind of pays for the interest of the mortgage I’ve been paying over the past few years, so it’s like getting a free loan.
Since there is another unit in my building for sale as well, it might bring on a bit of price competition. However, mine is on the second floor and theirs is in the first so hopefully buyers will understand the difference (security and views). The other unit is priced $2k below what I want to list mine at, so we’ll see how that does.
I have no idea how long it will take to sell my place, but I’m hoping not too long. We are currently holding the Winter Olympics in Vancouver on the mainland (I’m on Vancouver Island), so maybe that might help things.
Possible Candidates
Once I got my mortgage preapproval raised, it really increased the number of decent houses out there. Here are 4 houses that tickle my fancy – but there are actually a couple dozen which I’m still considering… I just didn’t have room for all of them here.
House #1:
This is one of my favourites. My main concern is that the kitchen is just a bit small with not a lot of counter space and not a lot of height (for my blender for example). Yes, I nitpick
House #2
Again, there isn’t a whole lot of counter space on this one, and the backyard needs a bit to grow a lawn, but otherwise I like it.
House #3
Nice ocean views but a bit of a weird layout, and a grassed backyard is unknown…
House #4
Pretty nice house, just needs a bit of colour and accents, and some granite countertops in the kitchen. Oh, and I don’t know if it has a grassed back yard which is a must…
Blog Updates: February 2010
February 12, 2010 Posted by Tyler CruzIt’s already been over another 2 months since I last gave an update on how I’ve been evolving my blog.
In these "Blog Update" posts I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.
You may wonder why I make these Blog Update posts, where I mention very small or seemingly unimportant improvements and modifications. Well, while they may not seem too notable by themselves, over time these small things can (and do) make a big impact. The key is to keep looking over your blog or site with a very critical eye and to constantly try improving it.
By simply making small improvements here and there, my blog has evolved by leaps and bounds since its genesis four years ago. So, maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two by reading my blog updates. Feel free to search for my past Blog Update posts to get even more ideas on how you can improve your blog.
New RSS Record
A few days ago, on February 10th, I set a new RSS record of 2,456. During my last Blog Update post on November 17th 2009, my RSS was 2,345 (a new high at that time), so it has only grown by 110 during the past 3 months – roughly +1 per day.
But, it is a new record so I like to acknowledge it anyway.
I’m continuing to fall behind most of my online blogging colleagues (their growth > my growth):
- ZacJohnson.com: 9,264
- WinningTheWeb.com: 5,502
- JonathanVolk.com: 3,766
This isn’t too surprising though. It’s been a week since my last post and I just haven’t been posting very frequently lately. This is mostly due to having too many projects going on these days.
I’ll try to make a conscious attempt to ramp up the frequency of my posts though.
Special Modifications
While the amount of comment spam has always seemed to be on a steady increase the larger this blog grew, I started to receive a ton of spam from one particular user (spambot) in particular a couple months ago.
The spammed comments were made under the guise of “mary” with a URL I will not name here as to not reward their spammed efforts. Now, all of her spam was correctly being identified by Akismet and being placed in the Spam folder, but I was getting around 100 of her comments a day which clogged the Spam folder, making it a real chore to weed out any legitimate and incorrectly identified comments.
If I didn’t check the Spam filter in a week then I’d have over a thousand of her comments messing up the place.
I asked John Chow if “mary” had been comment spamming his blog as well, but he said no.
However, he reminded me that I could use .htaccess to simply deny its IP from visiting my blog.
Instead of simply denying the IP, I came up with a slight variation. I find this method to be more effective since it allows me to redirect the spammer to a page with a custom error message. This way, if a legitimate user is somehow accidentally blacklisted, they still have the opportunity to notify me of the mistake instead of simply seeing a 403 – Forbidden status error.
So now when ‘mary’ (or any user with a blacklisted IP) tries to visit my blog, they are redirected to http://www.tylercruz.com/spammer.html
To do this, I added the following code to the very top of my header.php file:
<?php
// This section blocks chronic spambots by specific IP or IP range, so that they don’t fill up the Akismet spam filter
// Code for multiple IPs: $block = array("xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx");
$block = array("112.65.19.126"); # comment spambot: "mary" of nobacklinksforyou.comif (in_array ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'], $block)) {
// Used to display a custom error in the case of potential legitimate users being blocked accidentally
header("Location: http://www.tylercruz.com/spammer.html");
exit();
}
?>
Feel free to use my little modification if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
WordPress & Plugin Upgrades
As always, WordPress and the various plugins I use are constantly coming out with new versions, and I try to keep up with them the best I can.
Upgraded WordPress from v2.8.6 to v2.9.1
I always like to keep up-to-date with the latest WordPress versions to help protect myself from any security or bug exploits. Therefore, I upgraded WordPress from v2.8.6 to v2.9 which was the “Carmen” major release, and then again from v2.9 to v2.9.1.
I still do all the WordPress updates manually (as opposed to the automatic upgrading) as I trust that method better and also have to modify a few other files by hand each time as well due to certain special tweaks and modifications.
One of the inevitable downsides that occurs when a new version of WordPress is released is that all your plugins suddenly have new updates as well. When you’re updating everything manually and keep records and backups of everything, this can be quite the nuisance… especially when you have over a dozen plugins to maintain.
Upgraded WordPress Exploit Scanner from v0.7 to v0.93
I installed this plugin a few months ago and wrote about it in my previous Blog Update post. I also wrote how 0.7 version caused the plugin to stop working for me. I was therefore hopeful that the 0.93 version would fix those bugs, but unfortunately it didn’t…
You can download the plugin here, and read the thread in which people are having issues with it here.
Upgraded Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.3 to v2.1.1
I upgraded the Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.0.3 to v2.1.1. This is a pretty useful plugin which allows you to embed Flash inside your posts. This is great if you need to add Camtasia videos or Flash games to your posts, for example.
You can download the plugin here.
Advertising Changes
I recently increased the price of my Top Sitewide 728×90 Leaderboard banner slot from $300/month to $325/month simply because I value my traffic quality and don’t mind substituting my own affiliate/referral banners if it’s not sold.
It was just purchased a couple days ago so I need to put the new banner up and mark it as sold out again!
Guest Bloggers Needed
I’m always looking for more guest bloggers to occasionally submit posts on my blog. Why do I want guest posters? It’s simple really: there are times when I’m too busy to write a new post and could really use a guest post to fill in the gap. Since I try to post every day, having a few guest posts on file for when I need them is very useful.
I’m looking for good writers who can write about affiliate marketing, making money online, blogging, marketing, or web development and the articles/posts must be written specifically and exclusively for TylerCruz.com.
In return, you’ll have your name attached to each post which can be linked to your own website. This is not so much for backlinks as it is to gain a bit of exposure and traffic. I’m also fine with you writing a small blurb (1-2 sentences) plugging your own blog within the actual post, either at the very beginning or end.
In addition to having over 2,400 targeted RSS subscribers reading your posts, you’ll also get the benefit of receiving a lot of feedback from readers with the knowledge that you’re writing to a large targeted audience. And, of course, you’ll be helping me out as well 
The way it currently works is once a guest blogger submits a draft, and when I don’t have time to write a blog post, I then publish the draft into a post on the site.
If you’re interested, please contact me with a sample post or two. Please understand that I’m looking for fairly long, well-written posts that I think my readers will enjoy.
If I think your writing style and post-length is suitable for my blog, I’ll upgrade your account to Contributor status within WordPress, so that you can submit a post whenever you’re willing.
Joel Comm is Giving Away his eBooks for Free
February 9, 2010 Posted by Tyler CruzJoel Comm, the best-selling author, host and creator of The Next Internet Millionaire, and more recently of The Joel Comm Show is now giving away 4 of his eBooks away completely free.
These are eBooks that used to cost money (he sold thousands of copies of his AdSense Secrets eBook at $97) so here’s your opportunity to get a lot of great content from one of the Internet’s earliest big marketers.
There is absolutely no catch. You’ll be added to Joel’s mailing list, of course, but that’s hosted on AWeber meaning that you can easily opt-out at any time.
Here’s a quick summary of the 4 eBooks that are now completely free:
AdSense Secrets 4
Link: Adsense Secrets
Kontera Secrets
Link: Kontera Secrets
Chitika Secrets
Link: Chitika Secrets
Build a Website Fast
Link: Build a Website Fast
Enjoy!
Our Experiences With Commission Junction
February 6, 2010 Posted by WhatsGoodBlogThis article was written by Josh Bucher (Jay Booshay) and Ian Sherwin (The Sherwinator) of What’s Good Blog. What’s Good Blog is your one stop site for up to date reviews of technology, sporting events, TV shows, movies, electronics, cell phones and everything that is important to young adult professionals.
A little over two weeks ago, we decided to finally move to our own host and domain. We spent about 8 months on BlogSpot but eventually decided it was time to move on from the free hosting days. As we expanded our website capabilities using Wordpress, we also decided to expand our revenue earning beyond the horizon of Google AdSense. While AdSense was great for beginners who do not really have any experience with affiliate marketing and content based ads, eventually you will need to incorporate other methods to start earning revenue.
We decided to experiment with Commission Junction Affiliate Marketing, located at www.cj.com. Commission Junction is basically a hub where you can search for companies by name, type, theme, genre, category, etc… that you are interested in promoting on your site. Once you find companies that you are interested in working with, you have to apply and be approved by the company itself before you can continue the process. Some applications take a few days for a response, and others take only seconds. Some of the higher end companies require you to have had your website running for at least several months and also frequently require you to have at least a certain amount of unique visitors per day. Each company varies.
Once you are approved for an affiliate program, you will receive an email from the company itself introducing themselves and discussing how their program works. Many of the companies offer commissions in the range of 2%-15%. Once you decide that you want to work with the company (after being approved), you then click on their link, where you are then taken to a banner generator. Often, you can decide what size banner you want, what color, whether or not it’s in flash or html, etc. Each company provides their own advertisements and sizes. Once the code has been generated, you can place it directly onto your homepage/main page, directly into an article, or wherever else you may desire. (Check out the affiliate section of our homepage)
After the banner has been added to your site, you can track clicks, leads, sales, and more right through Commission Junction’s control center, much like you can in either Google AdSense or Amazon’s Affiliate Marketing Program. Right off the bat, in our first month of using Commission Junction, we have had more clicks than we ever had using Google AdSense. At this rate, Commission Junction could become our main advertising utility.
Be advised though – its not that simple. Most of the advertisers only pay commissions and not for leads or clicks. So in order to really make any money, you have to have lots of clicks in the hopes that some of these clicks will result in a product purchase. A good idea is to incorporate these ads into your articles that deal with similar content. For example, I included a Bplay ad in an article about a Blackberry App (check it out). This is a great way to utilize Commission Junction’s affiliates to the maximum.
Commission Junction also offers great performance reporting based on individual ads and days. We have been using this to optimize our ad placement and ad selection. For example, we have several ads that have been getting a very high percentage of clicks per impressions (over 50%). We have been swapping ads in and out of the website according to these statistics. These can track not only individual advertisers but their individual ads that you place in your website.
Unfortunately, you cannot view the exit page of the ad. That would be a really helpful tool, especially when learning of the ad placement. In less than one month, we have already had 84 clicks out of 14,792 impressions, far surpassing our performance in Google AdSense. However, keep in mind, most advertisers only pay for commissions and not clicks.
Overall, Commission Junction is a great affiliate program with huge potential when its used effectively. The variety of advertisers surpasses many other advertising venues and the potential commissions are at very competitive rates. Give Commission Junction a try and let us know what you think.
