One of the conundrums facing people for bankruptcy is what protects their assets best. In fact, bankruptcy court does not care if consumers all along have been "good Samaritans" and because of income reduction or job loss they have been forced to file for bankruptcy. The more assets such people have, the more creditors get paid. Consequently, it behooves such individuals to ensure they understand the legal ramifications of filing for bankruptcy and what chapter 7 and chapter 13 entail.... Read More

Purchasing your condo at auction is replete with risks ranging from difficulty securing financing to problems with subcontractors suing you for work done for the general contractor. Let us explore this land mine in more detail and further educate ourselves.... Read More

One of the factors to take into account before getting married is the status of your taxes after getting married.  Some of tax questions to ponder could relate to the timing of your marriage such as the difference between getting married on or before December 31, 2010 or on January 1, 2011. In addition, it is important to know which filing status might suit you the best. Let us explore further such questions.... Read More

The deficit commission appointed by President Obama has recommended rolling back mortgage interest deductions to cut back deficit bedeviling our country. Although it is unclear if the recommendations in their current form are to be adopted, the mere mention of once sacrosanct subject could be interpreted as both lofty and ludicrous. Let us explore the specifics of such proposal and further evaluate its efficacy in cutting back deficit.... Read More

Volatile economy, frozen credit market, high unemployment, competitive marketplace, fear of inflation or deflation, lackluster consumer spending, and fearless aggressive creditors are just some of the challenges businesses are experiencing on a daily basis. Nonetheless, there are ways to defy such vicious environment with patience, prudence and action. Let us explore some of them.... Read More

The short answer is probably not necessarily so. In these uncertain economic times, some people with cash in hand might be snapping up real properties hoping each time to obtain some kind of discount or accommodation from the seller. Nonetheless, not all cash offer sales are likely to elicit discounts or accommodations from a potential seller. Let us ascertain the rationale.... Read More

The federal government wants us to work, not to sit idly at home, by providing us incentives, even in the form of child care tax breaks. Nonetheless, like any other bureaucratic legislation, this tax break comes with complexities and imponderables. Let us simplify this rather complicated yet useful tax incentive through explanations and examples.... Read More

Some of the latest data suggest lenders might be loosening their spigots when it comes to jumbo loans. Nonetheless, problems still abound for such borrowers ranging from relatively large down payments to slow processing times, to name a few. Let us further explore this important topic.... Read More

Selling your business is often times a complicated process. It requires preparing your business to sell from the moment you decide launch. Selling your business could even be more complicated than selling your house. There are documents to prepare and actions to take to make your business as attractive as possible to potential buyers. Let us review this in more depth.... Read More

One of the conundrums of lending world is two incompatible accounts of statistics told by banks and regulators. Banks offer statistics that small business lending has improved compared to previous fiscal quarters. However, regulators notably the Federal Reserve without disputing the numbers put out by banks has been asserting lending to small business compared to previous fiscal quarters has declined. Now, the conundrum is how could small business lending be increasing and declining concurrently... Read More

In these extremely tough economic times, businesses cannot obtain capital funds from lenders, creditors or other sources such as friends or relatives. As such, this behooves small businesses to know where they could find help, whatever small it is to survive and maintain their business. Small Business Administration (SBA) has a micro-lending program in which it seeks to facilitate lending of relatively small amount of money - up to $35,000 - to small businesses. Let us explore it further.... Read More

The foreclosure crisis engulfing the real estate market has far reaching implications for all of us. In fact, many of us might not have realized the havoc this fiasco could wreak upon not only those whose houses were wrongly foreclosed, but also upon those of us owning a house and those thinking about purchasing one. In fact, such ramifications could increase mortgage interest rates, title insurance costs and consequently make it harder to purchase, maintain or refinance existing ones.... Read More