Problem with real estate investment is that it drains your cash regularly as in maintenance expenses, property management fees, mortgage interest, insurance and a property tax. Property tax is usually one of the big ticket items. Game strategies A few things I picked up from my favorite video game “Build-a-lot”, a real estate investment simulation, include ...
Having a Swiss bank account is not so much fun these days. IRS got a firm grip on this matter, and that started when the Swiss bank giant UBS gave in. The weakest link UBS AG is one of the Switzerland’s largest bank. It provides financial services to the wealthy people around the world. ...
IRS surely has done a good job rocking the boat. For many Americans living overseas or foreign people living in the U.S, the news about FBAR got themselves a solid issue to worry about. File or no file? It hasn’t been much an issue before because it isn’t a common knowledge, so there must ...
Just got off phone with my credit card company about a questionable bank fee. The lady manager was tougher than usual and my guard was up. I was surprised that getting waiver on such a small fee would take a little war with a manager level employee. That used to be a job ...
There is an untold secret for those own real estate investments. They can save tax big time! Excuse me. Let me take it back because it sounds too much like a selling tactic for a get-rich-quick book. I am talking about 1031 like-kind exchange, and this is not a super secrecy ...
At tax time, there are always a few people who like to quiz me about the deductibility of items on their real estate closing statements. When I look through the items listed on the long HUD-1 form, aka Settlement Statement, I am unusually amazed by the creative terms used by different loan agents or ...