Kendyl's Open House

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Not much happened today, so here is a little treat from my “How To” archives

Saving Important Records

We all know that some papers must be saved, but we don’t want to end up in a dark, cluttered house, surrounded by way too many cats and never ending stacks of paper! The question is, how long must we hang on to bank statements, tax returns and receipts? Take a look at this handy dandy chart and then use it to decide what will stay and what you can toss.

**Who can tell me what song contains the title of this post? Hint, it’s a song from the 80’s….**

It’s fall and that means it is time for Daylight Savings to end.  Sunday, Novemeber 5, the clocks “fall back” one hour. 

The end of daylight savings time is also a great time to do your semi-annual home maintenance chores.  I downloaded a great home maintenance calendar from Microsoft. 

 There is an entire year’s worth of “to-do” items, but I selected just the fall items for your “honey-do” list this fall!

Most people want to know - is it better to put your real estate into a living trust or a will?.   This is the question I have heard the most oten over the last fifteen years.  

For most people the answer to the question is easy. Preparing a will is like preparing to pay the legal system $20,000 at a future date.  Preparing a living trust saves this $20,000 because a living trust avoids probate fees.  Someone who does nothing or someone who prepares a will condemns their family to pay probate fees to transfer the property. Your family pays the same probate fees if you do nothing or if you prepare a will.  

PREPARING A WILL IS THE SAME AS DOING NOTHING In short, preparing a will is the same as doing nothing.  Some of my clients save even more money.  On a $600,000 home the full probate fee would be $30,000.  The probate fee is charged on the full market value of the property, not just the equity.   A million dollar home would generate a full probate fee of $46,000. 

SIMPLE TRUST VS. COMPLEX TRUST If you decide to set up a trust, you need to make sure you have the right trust.  Most people need just a simple trust, but some married couples need a complex trust.  A married couple needs a complex trust if their net worth plus life insurance is over $2,000,000. A married couple with assets over $2,000,000 pays a 45% tax on the amount in excess of $2,000,000.  A married couple with assets of $3,000,000 would pay federal estate tax of approximately $450,000.  All of that estate tax could be eliminated with a complex trust.  I just want to tell you - in over 2000 client meetings, I have never heard a client say they were doing their living trust too soon.  Everybody procrastinates on setting up a living trust or a will.  The important thing is to get started. 

For more information, please visit my website at www.billwais.com or contact me by e-mail at wgwesq3@aol.com 

William G. Wais

Law Offices of William G. Wais

100 W. Broadway, Suite 900

Kermit is green. He is awesome. It’s awesome to be green.

These days, it is awesome to be green when it comes to our homes. Recycle. Compost. Use solar energy. Keep the thermostat at 68 in the winter (brr).

That’s where today’s post comes in. Over the weekend I saw Ed Begley Jr. filming a commercial for his new “green” cleaning products. If Ed Begley Jr. were any greener, he would be Kermit.

(By the way, I encourage you to take a look at Virgil’s Hardware. They have everything you need, friendly staff and quite a few things specifically for our older homes. Plus, they had Ed Begley Jr. and environmentally friendly products. Sweet!)

Green homes are the new rage in Real Estate. We more conscious than ever of energy efficient features in our home - from energy star rated appliances to solar heating to dual paned windows. We know these features are good for us and good for the environment - but did you know they are good for your resale value also?

I am in the process of getting my EcoBroker certification to learn how to market homes with “green” features more effectively and for more money. As I proceed through this course of study I will write articles here that will share the best and most useful tips for homeowners in Glendale.

Is your home especially green? I would love to hear about it! I want to have a great database of the greenest homes in Glendale. Then maybe I can market them to Ed and his friends…

Did you know that your home needs regular attention? It does. An unloved, ignored home is an unhappy home. And, on any given day, at least some of us have a nagging suspicion that there are important things we have ignored and the house will turn and bite us.

Here’s a blog post from Alex Dobuzinskis from the Daily News

An apartment fire happened yesterday in Glendale at 1225 Mariposa St., in unit #7. The fire broke out shortly after 12 p.m. Plumbers working in the apartment were “sweating” a pipe with a blowtorch and that started a fire, according to the Glendale Fire Department. Residents were evacuated and the Fire Department extinguished the fire in about 30 minutes. The fire caused about $70,000 in total damages. In its press release, the Fire Department had this to add about the fire:

The apartment building was equipped with operable smoke detectors which activated and alerted the occupants, allowing them to evacuate safely. This is an example of the importance and effectiveness of working smoke detectors.

So there you go. Unless you count on your family pet to save you when a fire breaks out, keep those smoke detector batteries powered up.

I have an idea! Let’s make the Daylight Savings Time clock switch the same time that we do all those important maintenance chores. Stay tuned to this space and I will get you an awesome checklist just before we switch back to regular time.