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Have you ever wondered how to pull a couple hundred extra dollars a month from your rental properties, or even a couple thousand? Achieving top dollar for your rental isn’t as hard as it may seem. First off, never skimp when remodeling a rental property. Many times, folks will install a brand new kitchen, but will not want to spend the couple of dollars extra to replace the flooring. Along those lines, if you do plan on leaving the old carpet, have it professionally cleaned. Painting can also go a long way. Remember to keep the colors neutral but not …

It is normal for families to pack a lunch, bring a flowerpot and gardening tools, and drive down to the cemetery to visit the grave of a loved one. They may plan to spend a good portion of the day. In most cases, people know where the person is buried without section and lot numbers. They just wind to the left and turn right at the tree. It’s four rows in and six graves over. Easy. They go every Mother’s Day or Memorial Day, plus the loved one’s birthday, or maybe on the anniversary of their death. They go several …

Today, the world is quickly changing, and medical care can be both impersonal and expensive. But one area that has not changed with the times is estate planning. Traditional plans are designed to focus on just a couple of things and, when creating them, most people tend to take the easy route. Often times, people are in good health and think, “There’s nothing wrong with us now; we want our estate plan to be very simple.” In those cases, their estate plans only really focus on who will get what when they die. The truth is, most of us are …

Last month I talked about the information that can be found on two documents that are filled out when an immigrant applies for citizenship: The declaration of intention, and the petition for naturalization. The information is quite similar, with the petition containing data about the spouse and children as well as the immigrant himself. Since I wrote that column, I have spent a lot of the past month looking for records of any relative in my file who was born outside the United States and who likely spent time here. I have found out quite a bit of new information …

If anyone is thinking of buying property this year, they should consider doing it sooner rather than later. The Fed is beginning to take the foot off the bond pedal by buying fewer and fewer mortgage bonds, allowing for mortgage rates to rise. They started in December when they reduced their purchases from $85 billion to $75 billion in mortgage and treasury bonds per month,” he writes, “and they’re telling us that they are going to continue to ‘taper’ their purchases every six weeks until they are buying $0 in bonds. What does this mean to a consumer? You will …

For many of us, our cellular phone never leaves our sight. Why not use it to help with your next real estate purchase? Years ago, a Sunday consisted of driving around wasting gas in an area in which you were looking for a home in. You would look for the “Open House” signs and tour the property. Many were not what you were looking for, though, and many Sundays were wasted. Nowadays, all you need is a smart phone! There are many applications for real estate that feature basic settings like alerts when a property becomes available, whether that property …

At the time of this article was written, the unemployment rate had just dropped to 7 percent and the economy’s three-month average of job creation was approximately 180,000 per month. While this number was far from being great, at least it was moving in the right direction. On Feb. 1, Janet Yellen will become the first female Federal Reverse board chairperson. While she is known for being less concerned about inflation and willing to keep rates down longer, other economists are convinced that the Fed will have to start reducing its bond purchases, which will undoubtedly increase interest and mortgage …

Many in today’s market are encountering a problem. Do you sell your home first, or do you buy your new home, and then sell your original home? Each comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Selling first may put you under a stringent deadline to purchase a new property. If the sale is going smoothly, this may only leave you days to find a new home in order to avoid storage and living accommodation fees. Those fees can double your moving cost and then some since you are in effect moving twice. I recommend looking for properties with a qualified broker …

Anyone who was born in America can take his citizenship for granted. Many others who were born in Italy and elsewhere and moved to America had to decide whether to become an American citizen or not. Many Italian immigrants to American 100 years ago presumed they would only stay here long enough to make money to send home, and then return to Italy when they were rich! That dream eluded the vast majority of Italian immigrants, and many settled in American permanently. At some point, when the reality settled in that they would not return to live in Italy, they …

Do you expect Medicare to pay for your rehabilitation in a nursing home after a stay in the hospital? Then you better know about this rule! A problem often occurs when someone goes into the hospital for surgery and then goes immediately to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) for rehabilitation (rehab). Most people assume that the rehab stay in the SNF will be covered by Medicare. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily the case. Medicare mandates that a patient must spend at least three consecutive days, meaning three midnight stays, in a hospital as an inpatient on admitted status in order …