Columns

During this past holiday season I kept seeing ads and hearing stories about the holiday traditions that people maintain. Everything from when to put up the tree to how to decorate it were enthusiastically debated, along with what to serve on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. All this discussion got me to thinking about Roseland and the traditions its residents maintained. I’m sure one thing we can all agree on is that the good people of Roseland were all traditionalists. I easily recall the annual tradition of the Gately’s Peoples Store sponsoring the Michigan Avenue Christmas parade. I remember that …

So you want to prepare your home for the spring market, but don’t have the funds to complete major projects like installing new kitchen cabinets or remodeling basement? The most inexpensive options always begin with paint. Check out the paint department of your local hardware store. Many will sell a returned pre-mixed can of paint at a steep discount. Find a neutral color and spruce up your walls quickly and inexpensively. And to boost your curb appeal, don’t forget to splash a fresh coat on your exterior doors. And why not apply some wallpaper to your bathroom or entryway? It’s …

The mortgage industry recently made a change to their minimum down payment for conventional loans from 5 percent to 3 percent. This would allow a borrower with good credit to buy a $200,000 home with a down payment of $6,000 instead of $10,000. Currently FHA offers a minimum down payment of 3.5 percent, but their closing costs and monthly mortgage insurance is a lot higher than what they would be for a conventional loan with 3 percent down. FHA allows for lower credit scores where conventional loans usually do not. What the industry has discovered is that borrowers with good …

I have used a number of GPS devices over the years to find my way while driving. I won’t mention the brand names but there were three different manufacturers, plus two different apps on my phone. They all claim to find the fastest route from point A to point B, but they all tell me to go a different way. Sometimes, they don’t get me where I need to go at all. I usually figure this out when I see the “Welcome To Kenosha” signs! There can only be one “fastest way” to from A to B but they all …

What is an elder law and what do elder law attorneys do? The answer to the first part of the question is simple enough: It’s a law that impacts the lives of seniors. First, what is elder law? Simply put, it’s a law that impacts the lives of seniors. The answer to the second part of the question is a little more complicated. Elder law attorneys use a wide array of tools and strategies that are designed to meet the goals and objectives of our clients at every step of the older years. We handle issues from traditional estate planning …

“Valentine’s Day was met with the same excitement no matter which grade school you attended. St. Anthony’s, St. Louis, St. Salomea, Pullman, Poe, VV, Scanlon or Gompers — it didn’t matter — the exchanging of Valentine’s cards was always a big deal and for some, a terrifying ordeal. My guess is that it became less of an ordeal for those who rarely got a Valentine once the nuns/teachers made sure that the kids brought enough cards for each student. For me, there are only a couple of Valentine’s that I remember. I recall the time my sister Tootsie and I …

Many real estate transactions fall apart for one simple reason: miscommunication. A lot of times, folks in the real estate industry speak to their clients in a language they don’t understand, using terminology that goes right over their head. Here are a few terms you should know when dealing with real estate. The first one is the MLS. The MLS or Multiple Listing Services is a magical place where anyone looking for a property may search. The MLS is an online database used by a majority of Realtors and brokerage firms to make a property available to the general public. …

At the time of his writing in Mid-November, Interest rates are a lot lower than where I had expected them to be for the end of 2014. The Federal Reserve has now completed the third and final round of quantitative easing, or QE, ending its longstanding policy of buying bonds to artificially push rates down. The government’s bond-buying binge was aimed at lifting the economy out of the worst recession in years. With the Fed now absent from the bond-buying arena, one would think that rates would be a lot higher because now only market forces are dictating where interest …

I have spent the past month going through the Cook County marriage index on Familysearch.org. My parents think I should go out and date more! At any rate, the Cook County marriages are indexed on familysearch, and on Ancestry.com, and on cyberdriveillinois.com up to 1900. Familysearch will allow me to search by groom or bride easily. Or so I thought. I have raved in at least a couple of columns about how you can search for Giuseppe Rossi and find Joseph Russo thanks to new search technologies. I have to amend that slightly. After spending the last month looking for …

This month, I’d like to highlight seven ways to maximize government assistance for nursing home costs. 1) Make sure that you have powerful powers of attorney. A standard power of attorney is weak at best. For example, they do not authorize the transfer of assets in order to qualify for public benefits. The ability to transfer assets to a spouse or caregiver child is an important consideration but must be done with the advice of counsel so as not to incur Medicaid penalties. 2) Know exactly when to apply for Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare, or VA Benefits. If you panic …