This time the topic is living trusts.
The music is #40 (In Yugoslav Style) from Mikrokosmos, by Bela Bartok.
MP3 File
"I, and others in my age group are getting older"
Governor Stickland along with state and federal representatives, announced the launch of the "Own Your Future" campaign. via WTVN-AM Columbus
You might want to steer clear of these highly leveraged stocks.
Tiny Blinkx spots a different way to pull ad dollars out of Google?s video stash.
Real estate transfer taxes vary greatly in the Chicagoland area. Here is a list (in PDF form). Note, however, that this list doesn't include any changes since July of 2007. For instance, it's missing the recent change (effective 4/1/08) to Chicago's transfer taxes. Traditionally, Chicago's tax was unique in that it was assessed only against buyers -- most transfer taxes are paid by sellers. Chicago now has a transfer tax for buyers AND sellers, at the following rates:
For buyers: $7.50 per $1,000.00 of purchase price
For sellers: $3.00 per $1,000.00 of purchase price (this is in addition to the combined county and state transfer tax of $1.50 per $1,000.00 of purchase price)
According to this article, Chicago now has the highest transfer taxes in the nation!
I used to recommend (somewhat facetiously) moving from Chicago to Oak Park, as Chicago only taxed buyers and Oak Park only taxed sellers. The result would be a pretty huge savings on the opposite move (from Oak Park to Chicago -- Oak Park taxes sellers at a rate of $8 per $1,000.00):
Transfer Taxes (prior to 4/1/08)
assuming sale of $400,000 home and purchase of $500,000 home
Sale in Chicago, Purchase in Oak Park: $600.00 (just county and state transfer tax on sale)
Sale in Oak Park, Purchase in Chicago: $7,550.00 ($3,800 for sale plus $3,750 for purchase)
That's a difference of almost $7,000! Of course, the difference is now smaller -- the tax hit for a "sale in Chicago, purchase in Oak Park" scenario as of 4/1/08 is $1,800.00.
Note that you can still find "bargains" from a transfer tax perspective, as municipalities like La Grange and Hinsdale have no transfer taxes whatsoever. You can use the above list and a little research to check on the municipality to which you are planning a move.
