Effective Anti-Recession Tips for Your Taxes

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Tips for Effective Tax and Personal Anti-Recession Steps

Ask an economist to define recession for you and chances are, they’ll tell you that it is a state of the economy where it declines for at least 6 months.  But that’s just a pretty, picture-book definition.  Recession can affect not just cities and countries, it can also affect individuals and families on a more personal level.  To help you implement tax and personal anti-recession steps, here are things you can do:

Start saving.  Now.

If you have a nest egg stashed somewhere, good for you.  Boost it with more savings.  If you don’t, it’s time to start immediately.  Implement tax and personal savings steps in order to fight the effects of recession.

Cut back on spending immediately.

If you think you need everything you buy, gather your last few weeks’ worth of receipts and rate each item according to necessity.  Chances are, there are a few things there that you’ll realize now that you didn’t really have to buy.

If you see the same pattern in most of your receipts, that’s a sign that you ought to cut back on your expenses and seriously implement a budget or spending plan.  You could, for example, cancel gym memberships and take up running or home exercises instead, buy items on sale instead of at regular prices and put off any large purchases – cars, TVs, video equipment, furniture, etc.

Take big chunks out of your debt.

Your debt can get you down and it will not hesitate to do the same thing to your credit score.  During a recession, a bad credit rating is just not something you want to have.  If you have debts in some form (loans, credit cards, mortgage, etc.), try to pay off as much of your debt as possible.  The earlier you do this, the better it will be for your finances.

Clearing your debts is an excellent anti-recession step because it helps save you money in terms of interest.  It will also give you peace of mind and the personal satisfaction of being in charge.

Consider investing?  Ask a professional.

An experienced financial adviser can help you understand the kind of options you have, given your own resources and the type of risks you are willing to take.  Recession can make investing much more of a challenge, particularly for the uninitiated.  That is why you’ll need all the help you can get in order to find the best places where to put your money in.

Know your deductibles.

Review your tax code for the types of items that you can include in your deductibles.  Remember that not all expenses can be used as deductions.  Only if you can prove them ‘ordinary and necessary’ will the tax man consider them.

Keep all receipts for deductions.

Audit or no audit, it pays to have documents that support your tax claims, especially if they refer to deductions.  Get organized regarding your files, particularly those that pertain to your business or work.  Keep things where you can readily access them and use for reference later.

Consider leasing your business vehicle.

If you want to give yourself better tax performance, a good anti-recession tip to follow is to lease that car of yours.  This will help get you better deductions compared to what you’ll receive if you purchased the vehicle.

When in doubt, always refer to a professional.

The personal anti-recession tips you obtain will usually work seamlessly but some steps involving taxes might have certain limitations.  Before implementing these steps, you might want to consult a basic taxation guide or see an accountant or bookkeeper.  They can guide you on what you can and should do based on your own unique circumstances.

Related articles

• Simple Ways to Recession Proof Your Home (taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com)
• How to Write Off Sales Taxes (turbotax.intuit.com)
• Four Tax Tips to Reduce Your 2006 Taxes (turbotax.intuit.com)
• Video: Federal Tax Deductions for Home Renovation (turbotax.intuit.com)

Tips for Recession Proofing Your Portfolio

Anti-Recession Tips for Effectively Shoring Up Your Portfolio

The economy can be hard on your portfolio.  This has happened before and it could happen again.  Now that we’re officially in a recession, what better time to pump up your resources and shore up your portfolio than to make it recession-proof now or at least weather the tough economic times?  Here are some anti-recession tips you might want to consider:

Aim for quality.

If there’s one thing that markets abhor, it’s uncertainty.  This is especially prevalent in the way investors behave when faced with companies that produce predictable figures.  This is also the reason why investors are loathed to take chances on companies that don’t perform as expected.  These companies are usually the small ones, ones that need investors’ faith the most.

To start shoring up your portfolio, try to avoid companies that will rely heavily on you, the investor.  It will be easier for you (and safer for your investment) to rely on companies that more or less show predictable growth because this points to better earning quality.  Opt for these companies instead – these are usually large firms, big players in an industry that have proven staying power regardless of the economy and have plenty of money to continue to run, do business, pay debtors, produce and make their investors happy.

Invest in health care.

Take your pick: drugs, medicines and pharmaceuticals or health services.  Whichever way you go, you have a better means of shoring up your portfolio if you put your faith on this sector that continues to enjoy a healthy performance.

And it shouldn’t surprise you one bit: what the health care industry can offer is a staple among consumers – good health and a means to cure.  Unless someone comes up with a miracle cure soon, the health care industry will continue to thrive.  Until then, this is one more segment of the market that you might consider putting your faith on.

And yes… the fact that certain segments such as pharmaceuticals pay a lot in terms of dividends doesn’t hurt.

Stick where the crowds are.

By crowds, we mean consumers.  Consumers are the lifeblood of economies.  Without their support and willingness to spend, economies can crash and burn so easily.  As an investor looking to shore up your portfolio, here’s an anti-recession tip for you: invest where consumers bloom.

This means putting your money on industries that cater to the most basic of consumer needs, such as food and beverages, personal care and household needs.  Other than the fact that consumers have been proven to continue spending for basics even during a bad economy, these industries have also performed well during less-than-ideal economic times in the past.  You’re less likely to experience disappointment if you go where consumers go.

Diversify.

Recession always brings out the worst – and best – in people, especially investors.  Which way you wish to take is really up to you.  However, wouldn’t it be better to view the recession as an opportunity to find other means to make money?

If you want to shore up your portfolio and avoid the negative effects of a recession, consider diversifying.  But do so only by carefully considering the pros and cons of the industries that you wish to invest in.  Focus on industries that have behaved so well under pressure, particularly those that continue to stay steady even during a recession.

Related articles

• INSTANT MBA: You Can’t Be Recession-Proof, But You Can Be Recession-Resistant (businessinsider.com)
• Recession Got You Off Balance? (prweb.com)
• Simple Ways to Recession Proof Your Home (taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com)
• Tips for Buying Property During a Recession (taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com)

Parkway Realty the Name to Remember When Leasing Office Space

Leasing office space can be a challenge if you do not plan.  Understanding what is the cost of the lease to not only you but to your potential clients is important to the sustainability of your company?  For instance, if the lease is $1000 a month, but you are not in the idea location for your clients to visit your location then the lease is useless, right?

The process of locating usable, accessible space is important to the success of your business, so hire a knowledgeable real estate agent.    Parkway Realty has such knowledgeable agents.    Not only does the company have knowledgeable agents, it philosophy is about “caring for its customers.”  The company prides itself own adding little touches to its properties such as, “flags, flowers,  and fixtures.”  These items give pride in ownership of  the establishment that your potential clients are visiting and it is the hope of Parkway Realty that it will cause you to continue leasing from the company.

Parkway Realty also provides the consumer with familiarity of market trends and prices in the potential areas that the consumer maybe looking to relocate or locate to.

The most important service that Parkway Realty provide is easy to follow lease agreements.    The latter is important because different office buildings may quote lease rates using different formats.  The formats may be:

• full service
• gross lease
• triple net lease
• modified gross lease
• percentage lease

No matter which lease is offered Parkway Realty offers a short concise version of the lease to make the leasing agreement as painless as possible.   Therefore, the next time your company is looking for office space to lease give Parkway Realty a try.

Tips to Not Allowing Your Fixer Upper to Be a Money Pit

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If you decide to become a real estate investor some time in your career you will purchase a “fixer-upper”. In today market, you find a lot of homes will need some work before they are habitable. Often you will purchase these houses at a bargain price. However, it should be noted that not every house that is available for a low price is a bargain. Sometimes, people only find this out after doing a lot of work. You do not have to be one of these people if you adhere to these tips.

First you need to realize what a  “money pit” is.  It is  a house which looks like a bargain when you initially buy it, but when you soon realize the extent of the renovations that needs to be done before the property is habitable you realize that you will have to spend a lot of money.  If you are selling the property, you may not make a profit.  If you plan to live in the property, you’d  spend more on fixing it up than you purchase the property for.   Of course, by the time you have found this out, it’s already a little late.

Before buying a house which requires work, it is always advisable to have a inspection of the property by the contractor that does your rehab work.   If the contractor you have do the inspection of the potential property is an employee or subcontractor that you use you may save money on purchase a property that you will have to put a lot of money into to make it habitable.

Therefore, the biggest piece of advice is hiring a contractor before hand, check his reference, and have the contractor bid on small jobs to get a feel for cost and establish a working relationship before using the contractor in your real estate business on a regular basis.

Related articles

• Would You Buy a Fixer Upper? (casasugar.com)
• Ask the Reader – a Fixer Upper Home Or … (moneyning.com)
• Should you buy a fixer upper [infographic] (holykaw.alltop.com)

What to Consider if You Are Thinking of Filing a Property Tax Appeal on a Commercial Property

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Has your Chicago property tax increased? Is your property commercial or industrial?   If it is either you may be interested to know that you may be eligible to file a property tax appeal.

You may be wondering how is my property classified as commercial or industrial.  If a multi-family unit has over 4 units, it is commercial. Commercial property also includes office buildings, industrial property, medical centers, hotels, malls, retail stores, shopping centers, farm land, multifamily housing buildings, warehouses, and garages.    Industrial properties, on the other hand, are factories, warehouses, heavy manufacturing buildings, industrial parks, light manufacturing buildings, and research and development parks.

Once you have ensure that your property meets the above criterias to consider a commercial or industrial property, you must understand several terms that appear on the property tax bill.

You may need to know what is meant by the term assessed value.  Assessed value is determined by converting the fair market value.  To convert the fair market value, the assessor applies the appropriate assessment ratio.  To determine the ratio, the assessor utilizes the internal sales divided by the available rental data for the area.  Then, there is a mass appraisal given for the area.  The mass appraisal for the area is equivalent to the mass appeal for the area.  It is important to note, that the assessor does not do a personal inspection of the property during this determination of assessed value.  However, if an appeal is filed the assessor has to do a personal inspection of the property to determine the error in the value.

The latter is one of the first items that you look at to determine if a property tax appeal is necessary.  It is especially important to determine the latter if you recently purchased the property.

Next, determine if the description of the property is correct on the property tax bill.  If you have an apartment complex and it states that there is a gas station on the bill then there is a reason to file an appeal.

Next, determine if the square footage of the property is correct.  You can look at an appraisal that you may have, the blueprints for the property, or have the property measured by a Realtor or a license appraiser.

Still yet, there may be an error in the lot size.  If the lot size is incorrect then that could also cause the property tax to be more than it needs to be.

If you recently had a decrease in tenants, then you may have a reason to file a property tax appeal.  This is a little tricky because the determination of this reason is if your decrease is 25% or more than the previous year.

If there was a hardship such as, road construction, flood , fire, looting,  new construction, that caused the loss of income and tenants then you may be eligible to file an appeal.  If any of the above reasons are applicable to your property then contact

• the Cook County Assessor Office
• the Cook County Board of Review
•  the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board
•  the Circuit Court of Cook County to file the appeal.

Related articles

• Getting a fair appraisal in a tough market (sfgate.com)
• How to Lower Your Property Taxes (online.wsj.com)
• Businesses upset at fee increase for tax appeals (kansas.com)

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Tree Houses Not Just For Kids Anymore

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The last time you were thinking of expanding your living space were you looking at a tree.Well, you probably were not; however, you may want to consider it.

There are no limits to the complexity of a tree house.A tree house can have all the amenities of a home on a foundation.It would just be in a tree.

To begin building your dream tree house you must built it on a solid foundation.The best or idea scenario for building a structural sound tree house is having:

• Four trees evenly spaced with each tree supporting a corner of the structure.You could also have three or even two trees, but four trees is the best scenario.
• It is best to use bolts and steel hangars when securing the floating point of load to the tree.It is recommended to space the bolts eighteen inches apart to even out the load.

To find out more about hardware and especially tips on making a tree house into a home or work space visit www.treehouses.com or www.treehouseworkshop.com.

Related articles  about tree houses

• Tree Top House (neatorama.com)
• Treehouse Photos: Awesomely Unusual Creations (huffingtonpost.com)
• dass: tree house hotel (designboom.com)
• Mobile Tree House (neatorama.com)