Blog
A Lower Payment is Your Choice
94% of purchasers last year opted for a fixed-rate mortgage at some of the lowest rates in home buying history. Yet, some of them will pay more in interest than necessary based on the time they’ll own the home. If a person only plans to b...
An Exchange Means More to Reinvest
Section 1031 exchange for rental and investment real estate is a tool that allows investors to move the gain from one property to another without immediate income tax consequences. An instant benefit is to postpone the tax due which gives th...
Is the Window Closing?
With interest rates lower than they’ve been in over 40 years, it may be difficult to think of a “window of opportunity” closing. However, it isn’t difficult to understand that it may very probably cost more to live in a home in the near...
Looking for the Largest Deduction
IRS allows taxpayers the option to take the standard deduction or the itemized deduction. The astute taxpayer will compare to see which one will result in the greatest deduction and the election can be made each year. The 2013 standard dedu...
What’s the Point?
Prepaid interest, sometimes called “points”, is generally tax deductible when a person pays them in connection with buying, building or improving their principal residence. When points are paid on a refinance, they are not a current deducti...
How’s Your IQ on the QM?
The Qualified Mortgage Rule came into effect on January 14, 2014 as one of the results to the Dodd Frank Reform Act to protect consumers from predatory lending practices. This will affect the underwriting standards that the majority of lenders...
Every Homeowner Needs One
A water meter key is like insurance; buy it before you need it. Imagine a pipe has burst and there is water flowing like a river through your home. There may a cut-off valve to each sink if it works and if that’s where the leak is coming ...
Reasonable Expectations
Coffee should be hot. Beer should be cold. Mexican food should be spicy. However, if these things are less than the standard that you expect, there are not any lasting consequences. As the value of the object in question rises, either in pr...
