Yearly Archives: 2004

How to Read Many Blogs at Once

Weblogs

It took me a while to figure this out (guess I’m a little slow…) Blogs are great, but you don’t want to hop all over reading each one that you like every day.

It’s best to use a blog reader. I use Feed Demon It only costs $25. There are free readers out there too.

Once you install it, add whatever blogs interest you. Go to the blog that you like (Feed Demon as a brower that looks like explorer.) Go to the “Syndicate this Site,” “XML” or similar symbol at the blog you like, click it and then click “Add new channel” in Feed Demon. The blogs are grouped by topic in Feed Demon, like “Legal” or “Wine”. You can read each blog in each topic individually or, cooler yet, group all of those under one topic as a “newspaper.”

Real Estate Exchanges- in Reverse

Real Estate-Sales

Real Estate exchanges help you sell “investment” real estate without paying capital gains tax. (Actually, the taxes are deferred, not eliminated.)

Seller can rid themselves of investment houses, land or apartment buildings and they get 45 days to identify 3 replacement properties and 180 days to close on the new property. The seller must put the sale proceeds in an exchange escrow. I set up quite a few of these for clients.

There are also “reverse exchanges.” In a reverse exchange, you buy your replacement property first, then sell your current investment property. The problem is that an exchange accommodator must buy the property (you can’t) and then you buy it from the accommodator once you sell your current property. A reverse exchange is more complicated than a straight exchange and the fees are about 4 times that of a regular exchange. There are two sets of transfer taxes and it is difficult to obtain financing on the property that is acquired first (because you don’t have the equity from your sale yet).

All things being the sale you are better off doing a regular exchange rather than a reverse, if at all possible.

$500 Discount Real Estate Listings Grow

Real Estate-Sales

The number of “discount” limited service listings has increased greatly. A seller lists his or property with a real estate agent who does one thing only: enters the data in the multiple listing service. This gets more exposure for the property and the owner deals directlyu with other agents wanting to show the house. Most also offer a sign and a lock-box for an extra fee. The charge is about $500 to the listing real estate agent up front (but 2.5% is charged by the selling real estate agent at closing). No open houses are conducted and there is no assistance in negotiating the sale contract.

In the last month I have had several clients do this. It seems to be internet-savvy clients under age 35 or so who really like this way of selling.

The only problems are:

1. The listing agents do not take calls and that seems to frustrate other agents trying to show the property;
2. There is no “buffer” when an offer comes in (because the agent doesn’t help with the offer) and negotiating the contract is harder;
3. I had one client who signed up with a southside discount broker who did not list the home in the listing services (MAP and MLSNI) that everyone uses here and no one saw the house. He cancelled the listing when he found out.

This is part of the “unbundling” of real estate services that will continue to unfold.

Medicaid for Those Between Home and a Nursing Home

Elder Law

There is a fairly new program called the Supportive Living Program. This is a program that “waives” the requirement of skilled nursing care normally required for medicaid. It allows low-income seniors to qualify for medicaid-paid “assisted living,” where they otherwise would not qualify because of lack of medical need (medicaid otherwise requires full-time nursing care). The senior must have income of about $900.00 per month; all but $90 of which goes to Medicaid. The “asset” levels are the same as regular medicaid ($2000.00 cash, prepaid funeral, a car etc.) It can be a great alternative for a senior who needs day-to-day help and can’t stay home alone anymore, but doesn’t need the care of a full-time nursing facility.

Click here for more information.

Will Your Homeowner's Insurance Hold Up if Your Property is Vacant?

Real Estate-Purchases

If your house, or a house you inherited, is left vacant, you must be careful and do the unthinkable, that is, read your homeowner’s insurance policy. In handling estates and trusts, frequently the deceased’s home is empty and must be sold. Another circumstance that pops up alot is a client moving out of his house to rehab the house.

Most times you will find that the insurance still covers you, but theft and vandalism are not covered if the house is vacant more than 30 days.

If you are rehabbing your house, and move out, many policies still cover you for everything including theft and vandalism.

Some insurance agents state in a blanket fashion that there is no coverage on an empty home and then try to sell you a policy for $4000 or more per year in premium.

Do yourself a favor and check the terms of your insurance policy. It will give you peace of mind and save some cash.

(Credit to Terry Griffin Esq. for the above)

One of the Best Elder Law Sites on the Internet

Elder Law

In my opinion www.elderlawanswers.com is one of the best elder law site on the internet. It has general information on estate planning, medicaid planning, and an interactive section in which an elder law attorney answers questions for the public.

There is a simple, but very useful, half-a-loaf calculator that I use frequently. (Half-a-loaf is a medicaid gifting strategy in which a person, usually already in a nursing home, gifts some of their assets, knowingly creating a penalty period, but saves the rest of the funds to private-pay in the nursing home until they can apply for medicaid– after the penalty period expires- whew, that was a mouthful..) The half a loaf calculator is very helpful, as is the site itself. I do not suggest using this calculator without consulting an elder law attorney:)

Mold is in the Air

Real Estate-Purchases, Real Estate-Sales

Mold cases are increasing. More and more, home inspectors find mold in attics during the inspection.

In the last year, I have had about 10 mold cases: In onecase, the Buyer backed out of the contract. A few days later the Buyer reconsidered and signed a new contract, for $5,000 less than the last one, but accepting the property “as is.” In another case, a mold remediator was called in, the seller cleaned up the mold for about $2500 and the Buyer closed. The cost of remediating the mold is between $1500 and $8000, I have found.

If the inspector finds mold, a mold remediation company is called in to examine it, clean it up and stop the leakage that caused it in the first place. Generally, home inspectors will not do mold remediation; they just indentify a mold problem.

If you are thinking of selling a home it may be wise to inspect your attic for mold before it goes on the market. Click here for a good mold primer.

Illinois Security Deposit Hassles

Uncategorized

I just finished a rather bitter case involving a security deposit. The rules on security deposits are as follows:

1. If the property is in a complex of 5 or more units (this does not mean that the landlord has to own all 5 units, but that the complex has 5 or more units); then,

2. The landlord has 30 days to give the tenant an itemized list of damages;and,

3. The landlord must return the security deposit within 45 days of the tenant moving out.

If the landlord does not do #2 and #3 above, the tenant can file a court case for two times the amount of the deposit plus costs and attorneys fees.

If the property is a single-family house or in a complex of 5 or fewer units the above rules do not apply; you will have to look in your lease for the rules on returning your deposit.

The City of Chicago (click here for a pamphlet on the Chicago rules or here for a good summary of the Chicago ordinance)and some other suburbs including Evanston have their own very specific rules on this topic.