A surprising number of home buyers make an offer for a house that includes some items of the seller’s personal property – they want to keep certain furniture, pieces of artwork, a pool table, a boat at the dock, etc. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it does create some complexities that you should be aware of. For instance, lenders typically won’t include the value of the “extras” in a mortgage loan – it’s simply too
A new Federal Housing Administration initiative will make it easier to qualify for a mortgage loan through the FHA. This is good news for borrowers with lower incomes or an imperfect credit history, since FHA loans are often available to people with credit scores as low as 580 and down payments as low as 3.5 percent. Here’s the background: As part of its crackdown after the housing bust, the federal government adopted rules saying that if
Did you know that it may be possible to avoid paying immediate capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property? That’s true if you’re planning to sell the property and invest the proceeds in another property shortly afterward. For instance, suppose you own a condo as an investment, and you plan to sell it and use the proceeds to buy another investment property. You might be able to treat the sale and the subsequent purchase
One reason many potential homebuyers have always found mortgages to be intimidating is that lenders send them lengthy, complex “disclosure” forms that are confusing and hard to understand. This can make it more difficult to figure out exactly what you’re getting into, and whether one mortgage product is really better than another. Starting a few months ago, though, the federal government has been requiring new, simplified forms to make shopping for a mortgage easier. The new
Most married couples who buy a home take out a mortgage together. Frequently, they need both spouses’ income in order to qualify. But in a surprising number of cases, it can make sense for the couple to own the home jointly, but for only one spouse to obtain the mortgage. Here are some advantages to this arrangement:
August 1, 2016, is the deadline for filing retirement or employee benefit returns (5500 series) for plans on a calendar year. (The usual due date of July 31, 2016, is a Sunday.) You’ll also want to note two IRS updates regarding Form 5500. First, the compliance questions are optional. Form 5500 includes new compliance questions for 2015 tax years (returns with a due date of August 1, 2016, for calendar year filers). Because the questions were
According to recent statistics, budget cuts, staff attrition, and a heavy workload for IRS employees mean your chances of undergoing a tax audit are less than 1%. Does that sound like a non-event to you? Don’t be lured into a false sense of security. The statistic is a blended rate covering many types of incomes and taxpayers. Here are some of the reasons returns were audited.
Planning can help you achieve a comfortable retirement. Here are five suggestions to consider.
In May, the Department of Labor updated the rules for paying overtime. Under the new rules, salaried employees who earn less than $913 per week ($47,476 per year) will be eligible for overtime pay. That’s double the annual exempt amount of $23,660 from previous rules. In addition, the total annual pay for an exempt highly compensated employee is $134,004 (up from $100,000 previously). These amounts will be updated automatically every three years beginning in 2020. The
Have you ever considered writing down a list of all your assets (with account numbers, passwords, and so on), as well as debts and recurring payments? Making such a list and putting it in a secure place can be a godsend if something ever happens to you and you become incapacitated, because your family will have a much easier time looking after your affairs. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, a middle-class couple
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