Highlights from Podcast:
Market News
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY TOM KING:
1. Talk about the effects we can see from new annexation law.
2. Talk about why it is important to appeal your property taxes before June 30th
3. What sets you apart from other tax appeal experts?
4. What process do you go through to put together your appeal case
5. When do you have to inspect a property?
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY JO GARNER
- What are some of the advantages you see your clients getting at tax time from owning their own home?
- At Talk Shoppe you were talking about some of the barriers people face when trying to get a loan to buy a house or refinance one and you had some solutions to overcome these. What are they?
- .
REAL ESTATE TIP OF THE WEEK (Tom King)
Good morning, Memphis! Good morning to IHEART listeners around the country. You’re on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program and I’m your host, Jo Garner, mortgage professional with Evolve Bank and Trust. Sitting around the coffee table with us today we have Tom King, Certified Real Estate Property Tax Appeal Expert with King and Vaughan Consulting.
(Jo) It’s a good thing we have you here with us today, Tom, because our general topic is “Lower Your Property Taxes & Take Advantage Of Homeownership At Tax Time.”
But we’ll talk with you about whatever you want to discuss regarding your real estate, your home financing, your credit, your property taxes. Drag up a chair and join us on the air by calling (901) 535- WREC. That number again is 901 535- 9732.
Tom, what has been the biggest trends you’re seeing in your business over the last week or two?
(Jo) This week was a surprising one. Just as the news headlines declared the refinance boom finished, we were inundated with calls from people who had never tried to refinance their mortgages to lower rates or from people who had tried in the past but were turned down because the value on their property was too low, or for other reasons. If you have not looked at refinancing your home, your vacation home or your investment property, let me do the numbers for you on what some of your options are. In some areas we have seen values on homes going up. Some of our loan products do not even require an appraisal value.
If you were turned down due to credit and you know your credit is better now, call me directly at 901 482 -0354 and let’s see how we can improve your bank account by refinancing to better terms. If your credit is still a little bit off, my very experienced assistant, Susan Belew and I have Credit Simulator tools that can usually get your scores up fairly quickly. My direct number again is (901) 482 0354 or catch me on my blog www.mortgageloansblog.com
Last week the talk in the news was that mortgage rates would continue to rise. This week one look at the Federal Reserve minutes and the price on mortgage rates started improving, even though not at first. Conventional 30 year fixed rates came in around 4.5% with no points yesterday. FHA/VA – 3.75-4.00% 15 YEAR FIXED – 3.375% 5 YEAR ARMS – 3.0-3.50% depending on the lender IF THE DEAL WORKS FOR YOU TODAY—DO IT TODAY.
(Jo) Susan and I have had several calls from people ready to buy a house. A number of them told me they just kept putting off buying a house because they were so busy with life in general. Finally it occurred to them that, “Hey, if I am ever going to own my own house—my own piece of real estate in this world—I’d better do it NOW while mortgage rates are in the 3’s and 4’s while money’s cheap and the price of houses is still a bargain.” If YOU are trying to decide what to do with your life or what would really make you happy—here’s my suggestion—one that really helped me a few years ago to know what I wanted from life and why. Here’s the questions:
Number 1: If you could imagine a perfect NORMAL day in your life 5 years or 10 years from now, what would you be doing? What time would you wake up? What activities would you engage in doing throughout the day? WHERE WOULD YOU BE LIVING? Would you own your home?
Number 2 question to ask yourself: If I could do anything I wanted to do in this life and money were not object, what would I do?
If you will truthfully answer those two questions, you will be well on your way to discovering what makes you happy. In a lot of cases the next step is to call a realtor and a loan officer to get an idea of what houses would fit your needs and what the terms on the financing is going to look like. It would make ME very happy to get to walk with you on the journey to homeownership. Call me if you want to look at loan terms on a specific house or just in general. If you think you’ve got some obstacles, Susan and I may have some solutions for you. Call us 901 482 0354.
(Jo) We like talking with our listeners about whatever real estate or financing or tax appeal topics they want to discuss. Today our general topic is “Lower Your Property Taxes & Take Advantage Of Homeownership At Tax Time.” What do I need to do to first to start the process of lowering my real estate property taxes?
| LOOK BACK MEMPHIS TRIVIA CONTEST: |
t’s time to play the Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest provided by notable Memphis historian Jimmy Ogle. Jimmy Ogle gives free walking tours in Downtown Memphis during the Spring and Autumn.
Go to jimmyogle.com for the 2014 Spring season schedule and locations: Our trivia contest sponsor today is Holly Wagner of Instant Barter, LLC. Where you can use barter as a tool to save your cash. Join Holly at her Instant Barter Lunch and Learn in Memphis Tuesday April 22, 2014 11 AM. To RSVP to this event contact Holly Wagner at (205) 515-1150. Holly is providing a $25 dollar gift certificate to Patrick’s Neighborhood Bar and Patio for our Trivia Winner.
Garner # 11 04/9/14
Hunt-Phelan Home
Question: Although my current address on Beale Street is outside the modern entertainment district, it once was the in the center of a district of many opulent homes located in the town of South Memphis. What is my name?
Hint: I am on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hint: When I “re-opened” in 1993, a treasure trove of artifacts from the 19th were discovered for public viewing.
Hint: Union General U.S. Grant once planned a part of the battle of Vicksburg from
Last Hint: I was first opened to the public in 1994 as an historic home attraction and later a bed & breakfast.
Answer: Hunt-Phelan Home.
Back Story: Built between 1828-1832, the Hunt-Phelan Home has a long association with the history of the incorporated town of South Memphis (1844-1850) and the Memphis itself. Completed in 1832 by George Wyatt, the house featured several architectural flourishes, including an escape tunnel. Eli and Julia Driver purchased the house from Jesse Tate in 1850. The couple made improvements, including the addition of a kitchen ell, landscaping, moving the original front portico to the side, and constructing a two-story portico of Ionic columns.
Driver’s son-in-law, William Richard Hunt, owned the house through the Civil War. Confederate General Leonidas Polk used the house as his headquarters while he planned the battle at Corinth, Mississippi. Before the fall of Memphis in 1862, Confederate officials provided a boxcar for the removal of family furnishings. Union General Ulysses S. Grant headquartered in the house from June 27 to July 12, 1862, and planned the Vicksburg campaign in the library. Gun emplacements encircled the house, and Union forces used the tunnel to relay messages. Between 1863 and 1865 the Union’s Western Sanitary Commission used the mansion as a soldiers’ home and housed Freedmen’s Bureau teachers. In 1865 President Andrew Johnson returned the house to Hunt, who began years of repairs.
Last Week: Russwood Park. Contrary to two popular myths about the naming of Union Avenue – one being that the 1850 annexation of a small community known as South Memphis (Beale Street was its “Main Street”) thus the “union” of the two towns, and the other being the Union occupation during the Civil War years of 1862-65, the Union appears on the original town plan of 1819, as the southernmost boundary.
Jimmy Ogle gives free walking tours in Downtown Memphis during the Spring and Autumn.
Go to jimmyogle.com for the 2014 Spring season schedule and locations:
Shelby County Courthouse: Third Thursday each month at 12:00 noon
Memphis & Arkansas Bridge Walk: Sundays (March 30, April 13, May 18) at 2:00 p.m. at Crump Park
TUESDAY TOURS: Tuesdays from April 1 to June 10 at 11:45 a.m. for about four blocks from a different
street corner each week
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY TOM KING:
1. Talk about the effects we can see from new annexation law.
2. Talk about why it is important to appeal your property taxes before June 30th
3. What sets you apart from other tax appeal experts?
4. What process do you go through to put together your appeal case
5. When do you have to inspect a property?
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY JO GARNER
- What are some of the advantages you see your clients getting at tax time from owning their own home?
- Tom, I am not a CPA but over the past 25 years of being a mortgage professional, I have seen from personal experience and from interacting with my clients some of the advantages given to homeowners at tax time. It is important that you check with our CPA tax professional to confirm what will work for your specific situation.
- But here are 6 tax advantages for homeowners that I found in the USA Today publication from March 6th 2014:
Mortgage Interest-Claiming mortgage interest is the biggie, and one of the most common deductions among taxpayers. In some cases you can take the interest deduction on multiple loans and properties as long as the total is under the $1.1 million dollar cap. USA TODAY warned readers to be careful of claiming a mortgage interest deduction on home equity loans that haven’t been used to improve the property.
Mortgage Insurance and Taxes Count, Too– In addition to mortgage interest, private mortgage insurance is also deductible in some cases. USA Today warned not to mistake private mortgage insurance with regular homeowners insurance. Private mortgage insurance only protects the lender and not the borrower.
Local and State Property Taxes can also be itemized on federal tax returns.
If You Are Going Green, unless Congress extends existing tax credits for residential energy efficiency, 2013 is your last chance to claim up to $500 in green energy credits. There are some exceptions on claiming this though. Check with your CPA.
Cancellation of Debt—if you have had some mortgage debt cancelled, don’t forget to make it part of your tax return so don’t overlook it. That’s because if you fail to report the debt forgiveness, it could result in a big change to your overall tax liability and hefty penalties from the IRS. Check with your tax professional to get more information on when to file this.
Selling Your Home Unlocks Tax Breaks– Of course, for homeowners who have taken advantage of a resurgent housing market by selling their homes altogether, there are also tax implications. If you sold a home in the past year, costs including title insurance, advertising and real estate broker fees can also be claimed on your return. You can also claim certain repairs to reduce your capital gains on the sale, presuming they were made within 90 days of the sale and clearly for the intent of marketing the property. And after the sale? If you had to find a new home because of a new job that is located more than 50 miles away from your old home, you may be able to deduct your reasonable moving expenses, too. Talk to your tax professional for more information.
Casualty Losses– Especially given the very harsh winter weather we’ve seen recently, it’s important to note that when disaster strikes you are able to claim a tax break for any significant. Check with your tax professional of course. If you want to see the link to the USA Today site I just quoted you can go to my blog post for later today at www.mortgageloansblog.com
I quoted from the USA Today 3-6-2014 article http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/03/02/irs-taxes-deduction-homeowner-mortgage-interest/5863865/
- At Talk Shoppe you were talking about some of the barriers people face when trying to get a loan to buy a house or refinance one and you had some solutions to overcome these. What are they?
- First, clients will tell me they don’t have any money to put down. My assistant and I are very good treasure hunters and we can find money from people in places they never thought to look! Particularly for clients who have not owned a home in 3 years or more, there are a multitude of down payment assistance programs available. If the seller pays the closing cost and prepaid taxes and insurance for the buyer, then normally the down payment assistance pays the down payment and they get in for zero down or very little.
- Even if you are not a first time homebuyer, we have the 100% VA loans and the 100% USDA loans. We can possibly use a bank loan secured on a different asset to give you the funds you need to close with very little money down on the house you really want. In many cases you can borrow against a retirement fund without penalty. Gifts from family are nice.
- The second barrier is showing enough income to qualify for the loan you need to buy or refinance a home. If you have only been on your job a few months, we can only count your guaranteed base income and not the commissions that you hope to average over the course of the next several months.
- If you have a great salary but write off on your taxes $10,000 or $20,000 dollars in unreimbursed employee expenses, the loan officer has to deduct this amount from your pay, so when you are with your loan officer, be sure and tell them about any losses showing on your tax returns.
- If you are self-employed and you have a lot of income that you control but, after write-offs, you only show very little, let Susan and I review ALL PAGES of your last 2 years tax returns and business returns. We have found tens of thousands of dollars worth of income in the BACK PAGES of the tax returns. If there is a way, we can find it to help our clients get qualified for what they want to accomplish.
- The third barrier that we can overcome is credit issues. My assistant and I have trained on the Credit Simulators (like flight simulators). By using the Credit Simulation tools we can look at your credit report and suggest ways you may be able to raise your credit scores by 20 or 30 points over a course of a few weeks with the least amount of investment on your part. A client told me once–he said his credit card was stolen, but he decided not to report it. The thief was spending less than his wife did.” But the card was maxing out and causing his scores to suffer. If you keep your balance owed on credit cards UNDER 30% of the total credit limit, it will boost your credit scores. If you owe OVER 50% of the total credit limit, it can really hurt your credit scores. If you’re a realtor and you have a customer like this, we may be able to help your client with a work out plan to can get them in a house in a matter of weeks rather than months.
- The fourth barrier is problems with the house needing repaired or a title issue. This is where an experienced realtor or closing attorney. Pat Goldstein is a good example of an experienced realtor < Tom comments here with a short real life story regarding when he encountered repair issues on a house and how a good realtor found a solution>
- (JO) Your answer to the repair requirements can be easily fixed by negotiating the seller of the property to pay it or agreeing to put money back into an escrow account in some cases to make the repairs after closing. If the repair list is massive, then we may need to switch you to one of our Renovation and Repair loan programs. Title issues, most of the time, are managed or cured by an experienced closing attorney.
REAL ESTATE TIP OF THE WEEK (Tom King)
If there is time, Jo can mention some extra tips to increasing your credit scores—
Keeping balances under 30% of total credit limit on revolving accounts.
Stay away from 12 months same as cash new accounts if you need your credit score to be high over the next few months
Keeping small balances on older accounts scores better than using brand new accounts.
JO’s announcements: Talk Shoppe offers free education and networking to anyone interested in real estate or in business. This Wednesday 9AM to10AM at DeVry University 6401 Poplar Ave 6th floor in Memphis Lloyd Caldemeyer of Benefit Help will be giving valuable information about “Health Care Reform for 2014” . These events are free. Breakfast snacks are catered by Eric Meyers of the Confectionery Memphis and Organo Coffee is served by Reco Johnson www.betterlifebettercoffee.com
Next Saturday right here on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program we’re going to be talking with Sheriff Bill Oldham and Evolve Bank’s Dan Springer. Join us next Saturday 4-19-14 9AM to 10AM CDT on News Radio 600 and IHEART radio. For the podcast of today’s show and our other shows, go to www.mortgageloansblog.com
Transitional Songs: “Tax Man” by the Beatles; “Taxes Everywhere” by Matt Cline; “Me and The IRS” by Johnny Paycheck
Tom King, Appraiser for over 35 years. Certified Shelby County Real Estate Property Tax Appeal Expert with King & Vaughan Consulting. (901) 487-6989 www.golowertax.com
Holly Wagner, Instant Barter, LLC 205- 515-1150 www.instantbarter.com
Jo Garner’s Bio
Jo Garner is a mortgage officer with extensive knowledge in tailoring mortgages to her customers who are refinancing or purchasing homes all over the country. She offers conventional, FHA, VA or other loan programs for refinancing and purchases.
Jo can help you look at rent vs buy, when it makes sense to refinance, how to get the best deal on your home purchase financing.
Jo Garner has been in the real estate/financing business for 25 years in Memphis, TN. She got her start in Portland, Maine where she first began her real estate career. She received her real estate education from the University of Southern Maine and was personally mentored in San Diego, California by Robert G. Allen, author of Nothing Down, Creating Wealth and The Challenge.
On moving back to West Tennessee in 1987, she went into business buying and selling discounted owner-financed notes secured on real estate. In 1990 Jo went to work for a residential mortgage company and has been a mortgage loan officer for over 20 years. Her goal is to offer excellent, affordable service to her customers, tailoring the loan programs to the specific needs of her clients.
In addition to her work in the mortgage field, Jo Garner is the primary sponsor and founder of Talk Shoppe in Memphis. She hosts the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program on News Radio AM 600 WREC in Memphis and on IHEART radio 9A to 10A CST every Saturday.
For real estate financing solutions, plug into the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program. You can find mortgage rates, FHA Streamline refinance with no out-of-pocket costs, refinancing options, home purchase loan programs, answers and real estate, money-saving tips and more.