How was your weekend?

I took advantage of the long weekend (yes, Monday’s a holiday!) and drove all the way to San Diego to spend the weekend with my parents. I was planning on surprising them but I was the one who was surprised when I saw all those house renovations that they did recently.

The renovations were supposed to be the surprise for us, their children, come thanksgiving because it’s our family tradition to spend the holidays together at my parent’s house during the holidays. Since I came home earlier than they had expected, I already spoiled the surprise.

I love the new tiles and granite countertops that they placed in the kitchen. They also removed the wall partition between the living room and the hallway – and I love its overall effect to the house’s floor plan. The color scheme of the new paint produced some great effects too.

I know I’m not giving a lot of specifics – it’s because I don’t want to totally spoil the surprise in case my siblings read this post. But I’m gonna share some pics after the holidays so that you’ll see the wonderful renovations my parents did to their house. Promise!

I love weekends! Who doesn’t, right? Even a two-day respite from five long days of working is the most welcome. You don’t need to wake up early, beat the traffic, work in an office from morning to dusk and repeat the same process in the next few days. You can do the things you enjoy without thinking of the time.

Well, I actually have a friend who currently lives as if each day is a weekend. She’s been out of the workforce for years now and just receiving some compensation. Because of a work-related injury, she can’t anymore work in the same capacity as she did before. I’m sure it’s not a great reason to why every day of her life is now a weekend but it’s better than being injured at work and not being compensated at all.

Actually, it took some time for Maria to finally get the personal injury claim that she’s been claiming. She had to seek for the help of a law firm – not from David Boone and Michael Davis of BooneAndDavis.com though but another firm here in our city. After going through a lot of process, it was good that in the end, the law firm that handled Maria’s case finally won the it for her. The good thing about it is that aside from getting the settlement that she deserved, Maria didn’t pay anything. You read it right, she didn’t pay any attorney’s fees so there was no risk on her part when she was filing for the claim.

Anyway, I hope that I can live each day as if it’s a weekend but I hope it comes from a well-planned financial decision and not because I got ill or injured and am just receiving compensation because of it. I am just grateful that I am healthy and well – even though I have to stay in the rat race at the moment.

Do you have any idea about investing in commercial properties via joint ventures? What if somebody gave you a business proposal in property investing, will you be able to assess it properly?

Recently, my friend suggested to me that we invest in commercial properties via a joint venture. Much as I like the idea, she mentioned a lot of terminologies that I never encountered even once in my life. Since the undertaking entails a great deal of investment, I’d like to make sure that I completely understand the process first before I consider these kinds of investments.

Yesterday, I consulted with one of the real estate lawyers that was referred to me by another friend. I did this to become more familiar with this topic of commercial property investing. I’m glad I did because Atty. Haydon, the lawyer whom I consulted with, taught me a few things not only about commercial properties but also about some issues and procedures in real estate like purchasing and selling of residential properties, refinancing and building and developing land.

Now, I’m so excited with the idea of investing in commercial properties. I just hope that we can get a good deal because, from what I have heard, the real estate business is bouncing back and cost of real estate properties are on the rise again.