Update your home's value in Google Sheets automatically

Automatically updating home value in Google sheets

See how you home values is trending without manually looking it up.

Getting your home price from zillow.com in one click

Zillow lets you pull this data with 3 pieces of information, all you'll need is

• path =  https://www.zillow.com/webservice/GetZestimate.htm?
• zws-id = X1-ZWz19zcndgfpxn_75222
• zpid = 48749425

The path tells your computer where to get the data
The zws-id tells zillow who is asking for the data, you can sign up for your own zws-id here.

The zpid is the property id, look up your property and just get the numbers).
https://www.zillow.com/homes/48749425_zpid/

Computers are silly so you need to setup the link like this for zpid 48749425:
http://www.zillow.com/webservice/GetZestimate.htm?zws-id=<ZWSID>&zpid=48749425

Once you have it all put together and working it will return some data containing this:

<zestimate>

<amount currency="USD">755996</amount>

<last-updated>10/08/2017</last-updated>

</zestimate>

Nicely done - you're using an API to pull your home data in one click

Building a custom Google Docs Add-on

Now that you have the house price all we need to do is pull it out of the data and use it in our google sheet. Google sheets supplies a nice way to do this with Script Editor and UrlFetch

Here is the Google Scripts API function required - need some clever icons to publish it though:

//Parses zestimate given a dev key and property ID
function zestimate(e) {
  var zpid = e.parameter.zpid;
  var zws_id = e.parameter.zws_id;
  var url = 'https://www.zillow.com/webservice/GetZestimate.htm?zws-id='+ zws-id + '&zpid=' + zpid;
  var xml = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url).getContentText();
  var document = XmlService.parse(xml);
  var root = document.getRootElement();
  var estimate = root.getChild('response').getChild('zestimate').getChild('amount').getText();
  return(estimate);
}

Next up: Using the zillow data in Google sheets

How to Freeze Your Credit with a Pin

What exactly is a credit freeze?

• Equifax — 1-800-349-9960
• Experian — 1‑888‑397‑3742
• TransUnion — 1-888-909-8872

These credit reporting agencies allow you to seal your credit reports and use a personal identification number (PIN) that only you know and can use to temporarily "thaw" your credit so that legitimate applications for credit and services can be processed. That added layer of security means that thieves can't establish new credit in your name even if they do obtain your ID information. A freeze gives you protection against having accounts fraudulently opened in your name, something that credit monitoring services can’t provide

Freezing your credit files has no impact whatsoever on your existing lines of credit, such as credit cards. You can continue to use existing credit regularly even when your credit is frozen.

Freezes have been available for free to victims of ID theft for some years, now all three of the major credit bureaus adopted new rules allowing non-victims to have access to credit freezes.

Residents of various states may also freeze the credit reports of their minor children. Visit the National Conference of State Legislatures to see what the law is in your state.

There is no cost to freeze or thaw your credit. It is imperative that you freeze your credit with all 3 bureaus.

To un-freeze your credit so a vendor can pull your credit history. You can call the required reporting agency or go to their website. Both options take about 5 minutes. The thaw can be permanent or for a scheduled window of time, usually a few days. How to request a credit freeze You can create and manage an Experian credit freeze online or by calling 888-397-3742. Equifax lets you create and manage a credit freeze online or by calling 800-349-9960. You can create and manage your TransUnion credit freeze online or by calling 888-909-8872

Automating Personal Finance

Tired of playing the billing game each month? 

Writing checks, licking envelopes, buying stamps, wondering if you'll be able to cover the bills this month? What a bother. Instead automate your finances. Automating your personal finances is dead simple and works brilliantly helping you win the finance game.  

1) Setup direct deposit

Don't go to the bank anymore - the free lollipop isn't worth your time. Direct deposit. Take payment via google wallet, venmo etc. And work with a bank or credit union that has an app for depositing checks (usually for free). You're not getting paid to go to the bank - break the habit and get your time back.

2) Have enough reserves to weather the storm

Save up a month or two of operating expenses. This covers the bumps in life, if a payroll check doesn't land or the bank has an issue your automation keeps on turning. Low cash flow will quickly torpedo efforts to automate your financial life. A good buffer is usually 2+ months of living expenses. 

3) Setup automatic payments with all vendors for the 1st

Setting up payments to occur on the 1st of the month is usually a call, chat, or website away from being setup. It's worth the 10 minutes to never have to worry about being on time again. Eventually you'll want to setup all your credit cards to pay the full amount on the first of every month - good bye interest payments

Typical vendors:

• Investments
• Savings
• Mortgage
• Credit Cards (we try to make all our purchases on cards and they auto pay every month)
• Utilities
• NetFlix
• Gym
• etc...

4) Trust and verify

Now that all our money lands the last day of the month and is auto payed the first day of the next month we have a very consistent snapshot of how we're doing financially every month. The automation makes our spending patterns easier to observe and has made our financial life much more predictable. When you're not taking time to write checks and pay bills you free your time and mind up to get strategic with your money. You start looking at the future instead of the now. Here are a few things to check each month to verify you're on track.

• Check credit score (free with Discover, Chase, etc.)
• Savings level is improving
• Net worth (assets - liabilities) is improving. We keep a simple sheet that shows 
• Assets 
• House
• Vehicles
• Investment 
• Cash (savings, google wallet, checking, etc.)
• Long term liabilities 
• mortgage
• loans

A blank copy of the google sheet we use is available here. I'm happy to walk you through it the first few times if you'd like 801-318-4262. Over time automating good habits pay off and you can see the proof over time with built in reports.