Latest news with #Bryan
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
I bought my 'forever home' with 3 other people. Here's how we manage our finances.
Austin Mark and his husband decided to buy a house with another couple in 2024. Buying a house together allowed all four people to get more bang for their bucks. Here's how they split their mortgage payment and manage their finances. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Austin Mark, 39, who bought a house in July 2024 with three other people — his husband and another couple, Nate and Stephanie. Business Insider has verified Mark's home ownership. His words have been edited for length and clarity. My husband Bryan and I moved from Chicago to the West Coast 14 years ago. We decided to move back to Chicago last year, and our friends Nate Hanak and Stephanie Strother asked if we wanted to purchase property together. They're the only people on the planet who we could imagine doing it with. We have a very balanced relationship with them. We hear a lot of people tell us they've always wanted to buy a big house with their friends, and we've also heard a lot of people say we're absolutely crazy. When we decided to proceed, we started having Zoom calls frequently to ensure everybody was on the same page. Conversation one was, "Let's talk about finances." We wanted to have all of our personal finances on the table so that we knew what everyone was comfortable with. It was helpful to have a really open and honest conversation about where everybody was at. In July 2024 we found a multi-unit building that we all liked. The house was around $800,000. Each couple split the down payment 50/50, and we decided to put down 40% of the total home value. We wanted to put down more to lower our monthly payments since mortgage rates were so high. The 40% down brought us to a place where neither couple would see a significant increase in their monthly housing costs before and after buying the house. For our monthly payments now, instead of each couple paying half of the mortgage every month, we actually switch off. One couple pays the whole mortgage for the whole building every other month. It all breaks down to being the same, but it definitely simplifies things. Not everything is bundled together, though. We decided to separate our taxes and insurance. With what we are each paying, we never could have found something similar separately, even if each couple had something half the size of this house. If you buy a house with other people, it's important to treat it as a business as much as it is a living situation. We had gone through the process with a lawyer of talking about creating an LLC and then ultimately decided that it wasn't necessary because we don't intend to rent any parts of our house. Our operating agreement lays out the terms of how finances are split. The wording of our operating agreement includes all of the legal stuff that you would find in any agreement among business partners purchasing property. We have HOA meetings just like we would if we didn't know each other before doing this. We take care of things by voting. Anything to do with our individual units, like a personal aesthetic choice, is with each couple's own money. We split anything that has to do with common areas or the yard. It's a very old building, so we did run into a plumbing emergency not long after purchasing the building. We split the cost of the sewer line clean out. The property has very large trees on it, so we also paid an arborist to come and clear up the trees and split that evenly. The building at present has four kitchens, four full baths, two half baths, and six bedrooms. Each couple has a primary unit with an identical footprint, and then we have a secondary unit that's pretty different. Stephanie and Nate have an attic unit, and my husband and I have the basement unit. The two primary units have the same footprint, but they look completely different. Mine has all dark wood trim and a very old Chicago prairie style, while theirs is much lighter and a bit more modern. Their attic unit has a really cool skylight, and they like how bright and open it is, while I like playing video games in the basement. The fact that we're not sharing kitchens and bathrooms makes it really easy to feel like we're living our own lives and not in each other's space. We refer to it as the "forever home," which might have been a joke at first, but since we've gotten in here, it does feel like it's a very long-term living solution. We have a ton of space. If anybody ends up having kids, there's room to grow within the building already. Because the apartments are separate, it doesn't feel at all like we're roommates. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Spelling Bee championship finals: nine finalists compete for orthographic glory
Update: Date: 2025-05-29T22:30:36.000Z Title: Bryan will be here shortly. Content: In the meantime here is a lookahead to tonight's finals.
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The inspirational artist who had a 'love affair' with Andy Murray
**** If one morning you should ever call on the painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling for tea, don't bring her a croissant. A cinnamon bun is grand, but a croissant will be met with a (very) firm refusal. Here's hoping I took a lot more away from this film by the art historian Kate Bryan than the skinny on Hambling's pastry choices. It was an enthralling, funny, sometimes magical hour, the first of three programmes on women artists. Being on Sky Arts, it was free to view as well. Bryan was rather chuffed with the bun breakthrough. 'Oh, did I get that right?' she cried. It was the start of the seven days and she was excited but nervous. 'Famously, Maggi's not one to bare all for the cameras,' said Bryan. 'She's never let anyone spend time with her like this before,' we heard. And: 'She is famously reluctant to talk about [her work].' We got the idea. Judging by the greeting, the two were not strangers, but you knew what Bryan meant. While Hambling is a formidable presence, she balances this with a wry sense of humour, as when Bryan laughed at the artist's 'rather fierce' passport photo. 'People have said they're surprised I'm let back into the country,' said Hambling. Read more The two were coming home from Turin and an exhibition of her work from the last 15 years. With her shades, drainpipe jeans and wild grey hair (think Brian May with a bob), Hambling looked and walked like a bit of a geezer. It had been 18 months since her heart attack in New York, and she appeared on fine form. We saw inside her London home and studio, but she drew the line at being filmed working. 'I can't paint in front of a camera because it will become performance,' she said. However, she did describe the relationship between painter and subject. 'They have to sit on a table over there so my eyes are going straight into their eyes … Bit like a love affair. You hope at the end there will be a good portrait and not a broken heart.' Andy Murray with portrait by Maggi Hambling (Image: David Parry/National Portrait Gallery/PA Wire) The last such 'love affair' was with one Andy Murray. They shared a mutual interest in each other's work, he visited her studio, the two became friends and she asked him to sit for her. Hambling was nervous on the day. 'He arrived with a tennis racket he had played with as a present. He's incredibly shy. I had him pose serving. To me it was only like a couple of minutes that he stood there serving, but to him it was a lot longer. After a bit he said I can't stay like this any longer, I'm going to fall on my face.' To complete the seven days, Bryan travelled to Hambling's weekend place in Suffolk, where an installation by the artist moved the presenter to tears. 'My God she's an icon,' concluded Bryan, which Hambling might have laughed at had she heard. It will be hard for Bryan to beat this with her next films, on Lubiana Himid and the Guerrilla Girls, but a lot of fun to watch her try.
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Homewood-Flossmoor wears pink socks to honor Bryan Ahrendt's mom, Dena, who has breast cancer. ‘Our No. 1 fan.'
Homewood-Flossmoor's Bryan Ahrendt loves playing volleyball to get his mind off of real life. The senior libero's mother, Dena, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. She has gone through three rounds of chemotherapy, with another six on the docket. 'Volleyball has definitely been a way to not focus on the negative,' Bryan said. 'Especially when I go home and I see her the way she is. It's not a cool thing. It's not a good thing. 'It's definitely a good thing to focus on volleyball and have fun with the guys.' The Vikings, who honored Dena by wearing pink socks Tuesday night, went out and beat T.F. United 25-19, 25-15 in the Rich Township Regional semifinals in Richton Park. 'She's at almost every game and is our No. 1 fan,' H-F coach Mark Ciesielski said. Ahrendt, a Carthage recruit, totaled six digs Tuesday to lead H-F (28-8), while Ahmad Powell had eight kills and Surendran Heyward added seven. Caleb Madden and Will Adams each had four. The Vikings, who take on Lincoln-Way Central (24-13) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the championship match, are seeking their third regional title since 1994. Lincoln-Way Central (24-13) topped Marian Catholic 25-22, 25-15. Logan Baechtold, Dylan Brannigan and Joey Vellenga put down six kills apiece. David Barlow came through with eight kills and Carter Knueppel added seven for Marian (9-22). After Tuesday's win, H-F brought in Dena for a celebratory team photo. 'I'm glad that we were able to come out here and support her and make sure she knows she is appreciated by the Viking program,' Powell said. Few around the team knew about the situation until this week. 'I didn't want to make it public,' Bryan said. 'It was something we wanted to handle ourselves and not tell everybody.' But Bryan said his aunt proposed that the Vikings should do something for Dena, and they came up with the idea of wearing pink socks. 'It made a big impact,' Bryan said. 'She was bawling on the way here. She really appreciated it. 'She's an emotional person, but this really touched her because she just cut off all of her hair because of chemo.' While he's on the court, Bryan has proven to be valuable to the Vikings. 'Bryan is our quarterback and the leader on the court,' Ciesielski said. 'After every game, he's hoarse. He's screaming and he's letting everybody know where everyone should be. 'He's the glue that keeps us together on the court.' The Vikings, who beat Lincoln-Way Central 25-22, 25-16 on May 8 at home in the SouthWest Suburban Conference, opened the regular season with a 13-match winning streak. Since May 13, they're on a five-match streak. Powell, who is going to Ohio State for academics, missed a month of the season. Now that he's back, H-F is rolling again. He was all-state last season but decided to concentrate on an engineering degree. 'It wasn't tough to decide to quit volleyball because I knew that I want to get a good education,' Powell said. 'Ohio State has everything that I need. 'I won't have volleyball, but that's cool. I can always go to the games or join club volleyball.' Powell, however, said he will miss playing alongside Ahrendt. 'Bryan is one of the most passionate people I know, on and off the court,' Powell said. 'He always has a smile for his teammates. He always gets on us when we're doing bad. 'Sometimes, he's the bad cop and I'm the good cop, and together we make a good team.' As that team, Ciesielaski confirmed he was glad Dena could be honored before the season was over. 'It's a neat thing,' he said. 'We just want her to know that we support her and she's a part of our family and she's not fighting alone.'
Extra.ie
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Bryan Dobson announced for new role after RTE retirement
Bryan Dobson's first job following his retirement from RTÉ has been announced. The former RTÉ news anchor announced his retirement from the newsroom last year, presenting his final newscast on RTÉ Radio One's News At One program on May 3, 2024. Now, just over a year on from his retirement, Bryan has announced his latest step in his career — chairing the new State Commemorations Advisory Committee. Bryan Dobson's first job following his retirement from RTÉ has been announced. Pic: RTE Bryan will be joining Professor Marie Coleman, former Ministers Éamon Ó Cuív and Heather Humphreys, Dr Audrey Whitty, Professor Paul Rose, and Orlaith McBride on the committee, which will guide 'future commemorative efforts.' Bryan's role as chair will be to make rulings on procedural issues and to monitor the group's progress. 'The Decade of Centenaries was a period of deep historical and national significance,' Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan said of the formation of the committee. 'As Minister, I am proud of how we, as a nation, commemorated that complex and formative chapter always with respect, sensitivity, and scholarly integrity.' Bryan retired from RTÉ last year, with him set to chair the new Commemorations Advisory Committee. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos 'Today, we build on that legacy by establishing a new Commemorations Advisory Committee to guide future commemorative efforts.' Bryan worked in RTÉ for 37 years before announcing his retirement last year, and spoke candidly about his career with the national broadcaster on the Late Late Show after his final broadcast — including revealing that he was actually blacklisted from the broadcaster due to his work in pirate radio. 'I was headhunted by a producer in RTÉ to go and be interviewed as a reporter,' Bryan explained. 'In I came, I was interviewed and so on, and I got a call from the editor who was managing all this, Leo Enright, and he called me to say 'we have good news and bad news — the good news is, you've got the job. The bad news is, we don't have any money.'' Bryan spoke about his career beginnings on the Late Late Show, where he added that he was initially 'blacklisted' from RTÉ due to his work in pirate radio. Pic: RTE 'Some things in RTÉ just never change' Bryan joked to a massive laugh, before saying that after fixing the budget they wanted to hire him again a few months later — but due to his pirate radio past, he was actually on a blacklist at RTÉ. After Mr Enright pulled a few strings and got him a job in the BBC on Radio Ulster, and after a few months of Bryan working in the BBC, he was contacted again by RTÉ with a vacancy. 'I said 'Leo, I thought I was blacklisted because I was a pirate,'' Bryan said, before being told ''don't worry about that. you've been laundered by the BBC.' 'I said I'd think about it, I thought about it, and I decided to stay put. I stayed in the BBC in Belfast for three fantastic years — I didn't study journalism, I wasn't in a journalism school or any college, but I really got my grounding in the BBC in those three or four years.'
