Mary, you're the bomb!

Hi Amanda!

I just wanted to take time to express my gratitude for the time you've spent to financially coach me.
Last week I paid off one of my student loans. It not only feels GREAT, but it's provided the momentum to keep going strong with it!

Thanks so much for teaching me!

-Mary

Looking forward to 1/2015 - Great job, you two~

I am Corbett and my husband is. We had a plan set in place and Amanda completely altered our path. This is our story.

Richie and I are currently renting a three bedroom condo with two and half baths at $900 per month all included. Not bad for our first home. However, with the market today, you can buy a house with a mortgage of $900 a month. So we got to thinking, maybe it would be wise to look into the idea of buying our first home. We have several friends who have worked with Amanda and highly recommended her. After I received her information, I contacted her immediately. She required us to complete a few documents to better help her understand how to work with us. This information included: our monthly income, monthly bills, monthly spending, savings, debt and much more. Richie and I had a pretty extensive debt list which included his student loans, my student loans, my car loan, and my credit card and so on. After filling out all the required information for Amanda, we were ready for our first face to face meeting.

My expectations: I was expecting Amanda to have a list of housing options ready for us.

My reality: Not what I expected.

During our meeting with Amanda, she encouraged us to pay off some of our debt by using the snow ball method from Dave Ramsey. She also suggested Richie and I get on the same car insurance in order to save money. We informed Amanda that Richie was thinking about going back to school to receive his master's in Theology. She said that was not wise due to the fact that we both already owe on student loans. She then spoke to us about God's order. Our God is a God of order. Some things require patience, hard work and self control, but the result is golden. She bluntly stated that we have over $50,000 in debt and going back to school is not an option for us. Talk about crushing someone's dreams. House was no longer labeled a "Good" idea and Richie going back to school was out of the picture. By this moment, I did not exemplify the best of attitudes. Amanda said that she needed a week to look over our finances more in depth and that she will meet with us next week.

During the next week, I spent much needed time with the Lord praying. Asking the Lord to show me His order, and what this looks like for Richie and me. Not much clarity, but peace was given which was enough for me. Richie and I were also able to pay off his student loan and my credit card. Things were starting to make since.

Our second meeting with Amanda, she came up with a plan. She said I have to options for you. One, I can get you into a house by June 2013. Two, I can get you debt free by January 2015. Without hesitation, Richie and I looked at each other and said option TWO. I think we were all shocked by our responses. With the debt free option, we had to cut down on some things and pay double to our bills. I started paying double on my student loans. I refinanced my car. My car loan interest rate went from an 11% to 3.75% with USAA, and I started paying double on my car loan. Richie and I got on the same car insurance with USAA. We are also going to move into a basement apartment which will save us $300 month. On top of everything else, Richie and I both received a raise at work. Plus my credit score went from 524 to 703. By January 2015, Richie and I will have paid off $50,000 in debt and be completely debt free.

Conclusion: God has order for our lives. Once we surrender to His order, doors began opening and blessings began to flood.

Amanda, I thank you so much for supporting and believing in Richie and me. I can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us in the future.

More updates to come.....


Sincerely,
Corbett

Elaine, You Encourage Me!!! Thank you~

Hi Amanda, We met with you about a year and a half ago after taking Financial Peace at our church. I wanted to let you know about our progress and how good God is! We are still in debt, but we are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the time of our meetings, we were not able to make more than minimum payments on our credit cards and did not see a way out. Actually, the only way we could even make those payments most months was to withdraw from our savings account which was basically our "income tax refund" account. Every year when we get our refund check back, we put it into savings in order to help with paying our bills. When we were meeting with you, we were trying to figure out which path to take to start the process of getting out of debt. Then God allowed something wonderful to happen! We were paying my father-in-law $220/month on a debt we owed and still had another year before it would be paid off when he called to say that we didn't have to make any more payments to him. What a blessing! That $220/mo extra was used to pay off a small bill and the rest of a college loan. Then with those two things paid off, it freed up money that we were able to use to pay off our smallest credit card debt. From there, we are continuing to pay on our highest interest credit card by paying an extra $200-$300 a month above the minimum payment. God has also blessed us by allowing my husband to have a seasonal job and the money earned will be used to pay some of our debt. We still have a ways to go before we are credit card debt free, but we are on the right track. Oh, and just last month we were able to refinance our house and bring our payments down $200 a month. God has truly been good to us. I wanted to thank you for the time you spent meeting with us, the advice you gave us, and the encouragement to not give up. Have a blessed day! Elaine

Happy Home, Meagan & Derik!

Amanda, There are not enough words to express our gratitude for all you have done for us. You have been a gift from God and an answered prayer for us. Thanks for everything. Derik and Meagan

A Time for Everything - thank you Matt & Sarah

Almost three years ago we contacted Amanda to help us look for a house. It was January and our first appointment was cancelled due to snow and ice. Enough had melted by the next day that we were able to make it out of our apartment complex parking lot and drive to the homes on our list. Over the next few months we looked at dozens of homes on multiple outings trying to find the perfect place. Amanda stuck with us and was patient and helpful. She treated us like friends more than clients and it was so refreshing after previous agents we had worked with. We were looking for a house for ourselves and an ill family member and were trying to find where God would have us be. After many frustrations and dead ends we finally found the home we wanted to buy. We felt a peace and a calling that God didn't actually care about the house itself, just that we took the next steps. It felt strange at the time, but we soon found out why. After living in the house for a short time things started to fall apart. Our good intentions didn't pan out and it seemed that all of the plans we had made, thinking they were God's, were falling through the cracks. We didn't realize at the time all we were being taught. We desired clarity and God was teaching us faith. We put the house on the market and hoped for a speedy sale. We waited. And waited. And waited. Two years passed and after many showings, we didn't have even the slightest nibble. During these two years quite a bit happened. The home we were trying desperately to make a distant memory was weaving itself deep into the fabric of our story. We saw our two children born and pass on to heaven. We saw community come around us and support us in ways that pass understanding. We saw our marriage grow and we saw growth in ways that seemed impossible. Despite the work that was being done there was still a constant frustration that this chapter of our lives that we wanted closed would not finish. We were two weeks from taking the house off the market for the holidays and deciding what would come next when we got a call for a house showing. It was just like any other and we didn't think anything of it, until we got a call back that the folks that came by were very interested. That night we got our first offer. Everything went as smoothly as possible and less than a month later we were sitting at the closing table across from a very nice couple moving to Georgia to be closer to their first grandchild. Amanda told us early on that God had the right people for us and that it was just a matter of time for them to show up. This is exactly what happened. It took some time, but I have no doubt this was exactly how it was meant to be. We are so thankful for Amanda and all her encouragement and support over the past few years. She has become a friend and we truly appreciate her being in our lives. We are excited to move on and start the next chapter. We've learned not to stress over making it perfect, but to trust God that it will be according to His will for our lives. Whatever happens, we know it will be leading us deeper into the story we are writing and closer to the Kingdom story we all are writing every day. Matt and Sarah

Thanks, Deanne

I began the adventure of building our new home and I was not convinced I really needed a real estate agent since I had been in the building industry prior and I thought I could easily handle the decisions to be made. However, I quickly realized that Amanda's experience and services were desperately needed on almost a daily basis. I don't think I could have kept a positive attitude throughout the ordeal without Amanda's great support and friendship. I am so blessed that God has reconnected our lives and it was an amazing jourmey to have gone through this process with Amanda by my side. I am now settled in and the frustration is but a mere memory and we are blessed to have an amazing home for our family and an amazing friend to share in our joy. I wish you the best in all your future endeavors and pray that God blesses you and your family as much as you have blessed our lives.

Two of My Fav Guys Make it Happen!!!! Way to Make that Extra Money, Guys!

Kevin and I got to talking a few months ago about how he had worked on one or two of their cars that they got cheap, fixed them up and then ended up selling them for a good profit. I said I had a business idea to go with his skills – and we talked it out. He has a passion and knowledge when it comes to fixing up cars, and I had some business thinking as well as capital. We agreed to a “one car at a time” partnership – where I put up the funds for purchasing a super cheap car and doing the repair work. We agreed that on any given car we could not exceed $1500 total (between purchase, insurance, title and repair work). Once we sold the car we would repay on the capital investment and then split the profits 50/50. For Kevin, this gave an opportunity to make extra money to help pay down debt by doing something he enjoys. For me, this gave an extremely low risk way to invest a little bit of my money to help generate income to pay off debt. We entered in with 2 main things in mind: 1) We were using money that was sitting in savings at the moment and earning 1%-2% interest. By using this money for this business idea, we would be able to return a much higher rate in short time. Our goal would be to make 30%-70% ROI per car, but even if we made far less, it would still be better earnings that just sitting in the savings account. 2) My car is on it’s last leg – meaning we will need to purchase another car soon. In this scenario, the risk of owning another car we cannot sell is lowered even more because it means that (worst case) I could pay Kevin a couple hundred dollars and just keep the car that he has worked on – now having a more reliable vehicle and knowing the guy who has done the work on it. Our first vehicle we did this with ended up being just over $1100 total between purchase, repairs and all the sales fees. We were able to sell it for around $2300 within a month of purchasing it. This meant we each made about $600 on the car in a month’s time. On top of that, we sold it at a price where the purchaser got a deal – because the car was worth a little more than the selling price (meaning we were able to make great money, provide someone with a great car, and leave some value in it for them to do more repairs). We currently have our second vehicle ready to sell. We have spent $870 on it in total, and currently have it listed for $1900. We expect to be able to sell it for around $1600-$1700, which will mean another $350-$400 for each of us. Cory & Kevin