Buying a house in college
This is the summary ….
1. Searched Craigslist for home sellers willing to sell their house on a land contract and eventually found one that made financial sense (see below for details on land contracts).
2. Borrowed $5,000 from my parents and used $10,000 that I had saved up as a down payment. The sale price was $54,000 so the remaining $39,000 was on the land contract.
3. Since the interest rate on the land contract was 7%, I paid it off as soon as possible using student loans (see below for issues relating to using student loans as a down payment or for paying off real estate purchases).
4. Found a renter (also using Craigslist) who rented the house for $950 / month. The $950 covered the land contract payment, property tax, insurance, and the payments on the loan from my parents.
If you are a college student and interested in purchasing real estate, please check out my full guide to Buying a House as a College Student.
January 2013 Big Mac Index
The Big Mac Index was published both in January and July 2013. The January 2013 Big Mac Index is shown below. If are looking to get the entire dataset going back to 1986, click here to download the complete spreadsheet. Big Mac Index information is from the Economist, click here for the Kindle version of the Economist.
Big Mac Index - Published January 31st. 2013
| Country | Local Price | $ Exchange Rate | Dollar Price | Dollar PPP | Dollar Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 19.00 | 4.98 | 3.82 | 4.35 | -12.58 |
| Australia | 4.70 | 0.96 | 4.90 | 1.08 | 12.21 |
| Brazil | 11.25 | 1.99 | 5.64 | 2.58 | 29.22 |
| Britain | 2.69 | 0.63 | 4.25 | 0.62 | -2.73 |
| Canada | 5.41 | 1.00 | 5.39 | 1.24 | 23.51 |
| Chile | 2050.00 | 471.75 | 4.35 | 469.39 | -0.50 |
| China | 16.00 | 6.22 | 2.57 | 3.66 | -41.10 |
| Colombia | 8600.00 | 1773.18 | 4.85 | 1969.14 | 11.05 |
| Costa Rica | 2200.00 | 500.83 | 4.39 | 503.73 | 0.58 |
| Czech Republic | 70.33 | 18.89 | 3.72 | 16.10 | -14.77 |
| Denmark | 28.50 | 5.50 | 5.18 | 6.53 | 18.69 |
| Egypt | 16.00 | 6.69 | 2.39 | 3.66 | -45.20 |
| Euro area | 3.59 | 0.74 | 4.88 | 0.82 | 11.69 |
| Hong Kong | 17.00 | 7.76 | 2.19 | 3.89 | -49.83 |
| Hungary | 830.00 | 217.47 | 3.82 | 190.04 | -12.61 |
| India | 89.00 | 53.40 | 1.67 | 20.38 | -61.83 |
| Indonesia | 27939.00 | 9767.50 | 2.86 | 6397.18 | -34.51 |
| Israel | 14.90 | 3.72 | 4.00 | 3.41 | -8.40 |
| Japan | 320.00 | 91.07 | 3.51 | 73.27 | -19.54 |
| Latvia | 1.69 | 0.52 | 3.28 | 0.39 | -24.90 |
| Lithuania | 7.80 | 2.54 | 3.07 | 1.79 | -29.81 |
| Malaysia | 7.95 | 3.08 | 2.58 | 1.82 | -40.96 |
| Mexico | 37.00 | 12.74 | 2.90 | 8.47 | -33.49 |
| New Zealand | 5.20 | 1.20 | 4.32 | 1.19 | -0.98 |
| Norway | 43.00 | 5.48 | 7.84 | 9.85 | 79.56 |
| Pakistan | 290.00 | 97.67 | 2.97 | 66.40 | -32.01 |
| Peru | 10.00 | 2.56 | 3.91 | 2.29 | -10.54 |
| Philippines | 118.00 | 40.60 | 2.91 | 27.02 | -33.45 |
| Poland | 9.10 | 3.09 | 2.94 | 2.08 | -32.61 |
| Russia | 72.88 | 30.05 | 2.43 | 16.69 | -44.46 |
| Saudi Arabia | 11.00 | 3.75 | 2.93 | 2.52 | -32.84 |
| Singapore | 4.50 | 1.23 | 3.64 | 1.03 | -16.56 |
| South Africa | 20.90 | 9.05 | 2.31 | 4.79 | -47.10 |
| South Korea | 3700.00 | 1085.48 | 3.41 | 847.19 | -21.95 |
| Sri Lanka | 350.00 | 126.45 | 2.77 | 80.14 | -36.62 |
| Sweden | 40.56 | 6.35 | 6.39 | 9.29 | 46.27 |
| Switzerland | 6.50 | 0.91 | 7.12 | 1.49 | 63.14 |
| Taiwan | 75.00 | 29.50 | 2.54 | 17.17 | -41.79 |
| Thailand | 87.00 | 29.76 | 2.92 | 19.92 | -33.05 |
| Turkey | 8.45 | 1.77 | 4.78 | 1.93 | 9.39 |
| UAE | 12.00 | 3.67 | 3.27 | 2.75 | -25.19 |
| Ukraine | 19.00 | 8.14 | 2.33 | 4.35 | -46.58 |
| United States | 4.37 | 1.00 | 4.37 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| Uruguay | 105.00 | 19.28 | 5.45 | 24.04 | 24.70 |
| Venezuela | 39.00 | 4.29 | 9.08 | 8.93 | 107.93 |
| Austria | 3.39 | 0.74 | 4.60 | 0.78 | 5.33 |
| Belgium | 3.80 | 0.74 | 5.16 | 0.87 | 18.07 |
| Estonia | 2.70 | 0.74 | 3.66 | 0.62 | -16.11 |
| Finland | 3.75 | 0.74 | 5.09 | 0.86 | 16.51 |
| France | 3.60 | 0.74 | 4.89 | 0.82 | 11.85 |
| Germany | 3.64 | 0.74 | 4.94 | 0.83 | 13.09 |
| Greece | 3.30 | 0.74 | 4.48 | 0.76 | 2.53 |
| Ireland | 3.49 | 0.74 | 4.74 | 0.80 | 8.43 |
| Italy | 3.85 | 0.74 | 5.22 | 0.88 | 19.62 |
| Netherlands | 3.45 | 0.74 | 4.68 | 0.79 | 7.19 |
| Portugal | 2.95 | 0.74 | 4.00 | 0.68 | -8.34 |
| Spain | 3.50 | 0.74 | 4.75 | 0.80 | 8.75 |