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Is It Time To Encourage Your Parents To Do Some Estate Planning?

What happens once your parents get older and it is time to have the “get your affairs in order” conversation? This can be an extremely uncomfortable topic to approach, but there are a few things you should know.

1. Let your parents know that you have done your will and encourage them to take care of theirs. Of course, this means you really have to complete yours.

2. Have your parents make a list of all their property and accounts

3. Make sure that your parents know that you are asking them to do this because it is in their best interest

4. A little estate planning today could save the estate from costly probate proceedings later regarding real estate and other assets.

Keisha Hosea is a local Market Expert and Chino Hills Realtor with Keller Williams Realty. She is the Team Director and CEO of KASI Homes. Keisha Hosea and the KASI Homes team offer help to home buyers and home sellers in the Inland Empire, including Chino Hills homes, Fontana homes, Diamond Bar homes, Chino homes, Ontario homes, Riverside homes, Pomona homes. With a Master of Arts Degree in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling, Keisha has worked extensively with families in transition such as divorcing couples selling homes and probate real estate. KASI Homes has helped couples in the midst of divorce along with estates selling a probate home. KASI Homes is the place where you find Real Estate Solutions for Real People. For more information call direct at (909) 261-6377. Visit the website at http://KASIHomes.com

Disclaimer-All information contained herein is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. You are advised to consult a reputable attorney for all legal advice or a reputable tax advisor.

How Do You Determine Whether To Buy A Home in Chino Hills or Rent?

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Many people are wondering with today’s staggering economic downfall, whether they should buy a home or simply rent a home. Forbes had an article, The Next Mortgage Crisis, that laid out some interesting points.

You should considering buying a home if:
1. you can afford to buy
2. you want to build equity in a home as a source of retirement security
3. you want to take advantage of the tax benefits of home ownership with mortgage interest and property tax deductions

You Should Consider Renting If:
1. you can’t afford to buy
2. you have not saved an emergency fund of at least 3-6 months worth of expenses
3. you do not qualify for a reasonable interest rate on a mortgage
4. your income is unstable
5. you like having the option of moving around frequently

What Steve Jobs Knew About A Trust That You Should Know Too

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The sad passing of an intellectual genius such as Steve Jobs leaves people with lingering thoughts as they ponder their own immortality. In 2009, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his wife placed at least three properties into trusts. A trust is an arrangement under which one person (the trustee) holds legal title to property for another person (the beneficiary). The act of placing the properties in trust may have been his way to ensure that his assets were not disclosed upon his death.The advantages of placing stock and real estate into trusts can be to minimize estate taxes upon a person’s death, and keep assets from being publicly disclosed in probate court. While most of us do not quite have the type of holdings that Steve Jobs had, many of us would rather that our assets remain a private affair upon our passing. Even if we don’t have huge holdings in Apple stock or Disney shares as the late Steve Jobs held, it is important to provide as much protection as possible.

Real estate transfers in California are recorded in county records. According to California law, wills must be filed in court within 30 days of a person’s death. Once assets such as real estate are placed in trusts, a person can write their will to say that everything is left to the trustee, she said. The assets would be then administered according to the trust rules, which are almost always private.

In 2007, a study by Harris Interactive for Martindale-Hubbell revealed that 55% of adult Americans do not have a will. This means that when these individuals die, the estate must go through probate. Probate is a Superior Court procedure to determine a will’s validity and any creditor’s claims. Probate also establishes the identity of the beneficiaries.

Undeniably, Steve Jobs was a genius in his own right. He was far ahead of his time and made some pretty smart moves in his lifetime. Steve Jobs obviously recognized that with the kind of wealth he had attained, he certainly did not want his entire estate to go through probate if he could help it.

Disclaimer-All information contained herein is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. You are advised to consult a reputable attorney for all legal advice or a reputable tax advisor.

The City of Chino Hills- Selected For One of the 100 Best Communities For Young People 2011

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The America’s Promise Alliance 2011 has selected the City of Chino Hills as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People”. This national competition that recognizes programs established by communities to support and encourage high school completion. With three previous recognitions, the City of Chino Hills has been encouraging this endeavor continuously. More than 300 communities throughout the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were nominated. The City of Chino was also selected as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People” for 2011. The Chino Valley has quite a lot to be proud of!

Disclaimer-All information contained herein is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. You are advised to consult a reputable attorney for all legal advice or a reputable tax advisor.F

City of Chino as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People”

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The America’s Promise Alliance 2011 has selected the City of Chino as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People”. This national competition that recognizes programs established by communities to support and encourage high school completion. This is a fourth time recognition for the City of Chino. More than 300 communities throughout the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were nominated. The City of Chino Hills was aslo selected for this perstigious award.

Our Mortgage Payment Increased Due To Our Impound Account. How Can The Mortgage Company Do This?

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My husband and I own a home. Several months ago, we were informed by the bank that there was an issue with the way that our mortgage had been initially calculated and that escrow did not include the property amount of taxes when creating the loan. As a result, our mortgage payment has now increased $400 more than it was initially. How can they do this?

When you elect to have an impound account, escrow typically calculates how much your escrow impound account will cost by dividing the annual property taxes and/or insurance by 12 months. The resulting figure is the dollar amount must be collected each month. This is to ensure that there are sufficient funds to pay your property taxes and/or insurance when they are due.

A deposit of two to six months worth of property tax and/or insurance payments is placed into the account when the escrow impound account is initially set up. However, because property taxes can be adjusted annually and insurance rates also change, sometimes there is not enough of a pad in the account to ensure there is not a shortfall of funds. Unfortunately, this is somewhat of a common occurrence and there is not a huge way around it besides paying your own taxes and insurance without an impound account. By paying them outside of am impound account you are responsible for paying each as they come due and therefore avoid the possibility that enough was not calculated by the mortgage company towards your monthly installment into the impound account. This issue is not related to Riverside County tax laws but rather to the aforementioned issues with impound accounts.

Getting an impound account removed from your mortgage payment can, however, be a little cumbersome with the mortgage company.

The City of Chino Hills- Finalist For 100 Best Communities For Young People

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The City of Chino Hills- Finalist For 100 Best Communities For Young People

The America’s Promise Alliance 2011 “100 Best Communities for Young People” has notified the City of Chino Hills that it is a finalist. It is a national competition that recognizes programs established by communities to support and encourage high school completion. With three previous recognitions, the City of Chino Hills has been encouraging this endeavor continuously. A live webcast of the event will be held on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 from 8:45 to 9:30 a.m. at the Chino Hills city council chambers.

Disclaimer-All information contained herein is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. You are advised to consult a reputable attorney for all legal advice or a reputable tax advisor.

What Are The Limits for Small Estate Probate Procedures in California?

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Effective January 1, 2012, the limit for small estates in California has been increased from $100,000 to $150,000 in California. Therefore, property valued at not more than $150,000 that would normally need to go through probate can be collected by inheritors through simplified probate procedures or by using an affidavit (sworn statement) to collect it without any court proceedings. The limit for transferring real estate of small value (property valued up to $50,000) can be transferred to inheritors by filing an affidavit in superior court. Also effective January 1, 2012, a surviving spouse can use an affidavit to collect up to $15,000 in salary owed to the decreased spouse.

How Do I Sell A Probate Home?

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Seeking out professionals with adequate knowledge of probate and real estate is crucial when determining how to sell probate real estate. It is important to work with professionals who understand what you are going through emotionally and what your business needs are.

Assuming that you have already filed the petition for probate, the Superior Court will issue the type of authority granted to the executor. “Limited authority” means the executor must have court supervision for selling real estate of the estate and other acts. “Full Authority” means the executor is allowed to sell the estate property without going through court confirmation. The next thing is to make sure you are issued Letters Testamentary. Letters Testamentary are necessary because these are the documents that allow the title company to accept the signature of the executor to transfer title to the new buyer. Your real estate professional should be well versed on court procedure so that they understand the flow and that they also understand the current real estate market.

Why Do We Have To Be “Cross-Qualified” By The Sellers Lender If We Are Already Pre-Approved With Our Own Lender?

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“Cross- qualification” is when a lender examines assets and income of a borrower without doing a complete pre-qualification necessarily. Sometimes a seller will require that a buyer be “cross-qualified” with the lender of their choosing for several reasons:
1. To ensure that the borrower has indeed been pre-approved and can purchase for the amount specified
2. To ensure that in the event the buyers lender finds that they are unable to provide the loan, the sellers lender can complete the loan and thus save the sale of the home.We’ve encountered a pretty tumultuous Real Estate market in many parts of the Country recently and many people are just looking for any added assurances they can get. As a buyer, don’t despair if you are asked to get “cross-qualified.” It actually may even be a benefit to you when you least expect it.