Where REGULAR people Learn to Trade

By its most common definition, a quitclaim deed is a document by which one person passes legal and financial ownership of a home to another person.

It’s also a way for an owner of a home to remove himself from the title to the property.

Often misspelled as “quick claim deed” or “quit claim deed”, quitclaim deeds have a multitude of applications, including:

• Assigning a home to a trust or entity
• Adding a partner to title after marriage
• Removing a partner from title after divorce

In order to quitclaim a property, the grantor must have the legal right to assign the property to a grantee, or else the quitclaim deed is worthless.  For example, you can’t quitclaim your interest in City Hall to your neighbor because you don’t actually own City Hall.

This is where quitclaim deeds vary from warranty deeds (or grant deeds) — the types of transfers that occur when real estate is sold.  In instances of the former, the title to a home is guaranteed to be clear.

Before using a quitclaim deed on your own home, consult an estate planning attorney.  Transferring real property can trigger ruin a will, or trigger taxes — it’s important to consult a professional for help.

There are two ways to boost your personal cash flow — increase your income or reduce your spending. The former can be a challenge but the latter doesn’t have to be.

The headline of the above video — “Cut Your Spending By $500 Per Month” — is somewhat sensational but the advice given during the video is spot-on.

From NBC’s The Today Show, the 5-minute piece offers a half-dozen ways to reduce your cash outflows each month, including:

• How to negotiate a lower credit card interest rate
• Why it’s important to go grocery shopping with “a list”
• How to “time” certain purchases like tires, linens, and clothing

It also covers saving money on a family pet.

It’s often easier to save money than to make money. This video shows how easy it can be.

Where does the money go?If you’re like most U.S. consumers, more than half of it goes to housing and transportation costs.

According to the government’s most recent Consumer Expenditure Survey, spending patterns are little changed from years prior.

More money is spent on entertainment and less money is spent on dining out.  Beyond that, the figures are somewhat static.

Meanwhile, using on the survey’s industry-by-industry breakdown, we can see how monthly housing payments and daily commuting costs impact a household’s budget.

For the budget-conscious, going out less often and bargain-shopping can help pad the bottom line, but not as much as living in a less expensive home or moving closer to work.

Even a refinance into lower rates can make a difference.

Down economies reduce consumer spending, creating a bind for retailers.  As excess inventory collects dust, companies have little choice but to drop prices in hopes of selling more product.

For the bargain shopper with extra cash right now, there are some terrific deals to be had out there.  This 4-minute piece from NBC’s The Today Show highlights a few of them.

• Wines over $25 per bottle reduced up to 50%
• High-quality diamonds reduced up to 30%
• Summer rental homes reduced up to 50%

Furniture is another discounted item.

Now, these aren’t everyday-type purchases, but when the economy turns around for good, the bargain-priced items highlighted in the video are expected to return to their former price levels.

If you have the means, therefore, consider taking advantage while costs are down.

Moving to a new metropolitan area requires adjustments.  There’s new streets to learn, new weather patterns to get used to, and new social cultures to assimilate.

There’s also new costs.

Just like home values vary by area, so does the Cost of Living.  To visit a doctor in Chicago, as an example, costs a person more than to visit a similar-type doctor in Des Moines.

Cost of Living adjustments can’t be ignored between two cities because it changes a household’s budget.

And while it’s a challenge to know exactly how far your dollar can stretch in a new town, Bankrate.com hosts a helpful Cost of Living Comparison Calculator to make the math a little easier.  With categories such as dry cleaning, groceries and beauty salon, the calculator goes extra deep into the typical costs to a household, and can help families to make more realistic budgets.

The calculator also shows the equivalent household income between any two metropolitan areas.

When finances are tight, homeowners are often forced to choose between making home repairs right away, and putting them off until finances improve.

Some repairs, though, become more expensive if not tackled on the double.  The hard part is knowing which fixes those are.

In this 5-minute piece from The Today Show on NBC, a Consumer Reports editor talks about important, must-make-them-now home repairs, including:

• Re-sloping soil for runaway rainwater
• Replacing curled and cracked roofing shingles
• Sealing damaged vinyl siding
• Replacing soft wood
• Treating mold issues — both major and minor

Maintaining a home preserves its long-term integrity and can help support resale value, too.  Not every minor fix must made today, but left unchecked, some minor fixes can turn into major ones — and that’s when costs can pile up.

The Pareto Principle is a statistical concept most commonly known as the 80/20 Rule.It says 80 percent of the effects come from 20 of the causes.

Apparently, the 80/20 Rule applies to foreclosures, too — at least according to data compiled by foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Based on data from May, 11 states accounted for 80% of the country’s foreclosure activity. The remaining 20% was spread across the 39 others.

That’s 80/20 almost to the tee.

The disparity goes deeper that that, though.  The top three states in RealtyTrac’s list — California, Florida, Nevada — were home to half of May’s foreclosure-related actions.

Clearly, foreclosures are concentrated in certain geographies.

But, no matter in which state you live, foreclosures still impact you.  This is because mortgage lenders are often national companies, lending in all 50 states.

When home loans go bad — in any state – lenders respond by increasing downpayment requirements and by adding new borrowing hurdles.  If you’ve applied for a mortgage in the last 18 months, you’ve experienced this phenomenon personally.

On the other side, if you’re a home buyer in a foreclosure-heavy state, you’re finding terrific value versus several years ago.  It’s one reason why Existing Home Sales in the West Region are up by 19 percent from last year, for example.

Tighter mortgage guidelines since late-2008 are forcing home buyers to make bigger downpayments.  Anecdotally, the change has led to a surge in buyers taking gifts of cash from family members.If you’re among those accepting a cash gift from family, it’s important to know that you can’t just deposit the money in your bank account.

There is a proper way to accept a cash gift and it requires 3 distinct steps:

1. Complete and sign an acceptable gift letter
2. Document the gifter’s withdrawal of funds with teller receipts
3. Document the giftee’s deposit of funds with teller receipts

See, mortgage lenders pay close attention to gifts-for-downpayments.  For one, lenders have to make sure that downpayment cash is “clean” (i.e. not laundered).  And, secondly, they want the gift to really be a gift and not a loan-in-disguise.

This is why lenders will often require that a signed, dated letter accompany the home loan application.

As an example:

I am the [relationship to recipient] of [name of recipient] and this letter serves as evidence that I am gifting [name of recipient] [amount of gift] to be used for the purchase of the home at [complete address of property].

This is a gift — not a loan — and there is no expectation of repayment.

Signed,
[Signature of gifter]

To further appease lenders, gift recipients should make sure that gift funds are not commingled at the time of deposit.  If the gift is for $12,000, for example, the bank’s deposit slip should indicate that a $12,000 deposit was made — nothing more, nothing less.

Don’t add a random $50 check to the deposit, in other words.  If you have a separate deposit to make, make it as a subsequent transaction with its own receipt.

It’s also worth noting that gifting funds between family members can create both legal and tax liabilities.  If you’re unsure about how donating or receiving a gift may impact you, call or email us directly.  If we can’t help you with your questions, we can refer you to somebody that can.

Suze Orman recently appeared on The Today Show and gave 5 minutes of practical money management advice.  Not everyone’s a fan of Ms. Orman, but this is an interview worth watching.

The segment’s theme is “What should you do first?“, pitting real-life financial scenarios against each other, including:

• Pay off credit card debt, or save for an emergency?
• Pay off student loan debt, or pay off credit card debt?
• Save for retirement, or save for a child’s college tuition?

The advice is practical and relevant to most homeowners’ lives and, although financial tips are never one-size-fits-all, there’s some real gems in the segment.

Watch the entire interview at The NBC Today Show website.

According to the American Resort Development Association, there are more than 4 million timeshare owners across the United States.  There are ample buying opportunities, but what if you want to sell your timeshare?

In this 4-minute piece with NBC’s The Today Show, Barbara Corcoran talks about the difficulties today’s timeshare sellers face with respect to a down economy, revealing sales strategies in the meanwhile.

Among the advice:

• Know what your share’s worth, then lower it by 20%
• Don’t overlook obvious marketing techniques
• Consider auction sites to sell a timeshare
• Donating to charity open up tax breaks

Selling timeshares is always more difficult than selling a “regular” home; and today’s recessionary economy doesn’t make it any easier.  Watch the complete clip for more tips on selling timeshares at MSNBC.com.