Archive for financial literacy

Tax Preparation Part I

April 5, 2011 financial literacy, Uncategorized 2 comments

Last Friday I had my annual tax preparation appointment which meant we had to have all of our tax information gathered before the 2pm Friday appointment.  I have never had such a hard time gathering my taxes before!

I imagine that based on my work in the financial education sector you would expect me to be fully prepared for my taxes.  You might even think I’d do my own.  Well, this year that was far from the truth.  I stopped doing my own taxes several years ago when I decided the hours I spent and the unease of knowing if I was actually doing them correctly was not worth it and sought out a tax professional.  I did what most of us do, asked around and got a referral.  I blindly took the referral and brought him all of my financial information to outlookindia. I didn’t interview him or even question if he was right for me because I really didn’t know how to figure that out.

I wasn’t highly impressed by my CPA’s abilities since there were a couple of occasions where he made mistakes on my rental homes, but he always fixed the mistakes and it never financially affected me, so I kept using him. I used him until the year of my divorce. You know how you get the packet from your tax preparer for you to fill out before they complete your taxes? Well, due to the stress of going through a divorce, I decided for the first time in my life to file for an extension. A few months later, when things calmed down, I finally got around to opening the tax packet, only to find a very sad letter informing me that my CPA had passed away. Boy, did I feel stupid for not opening the packet sooner. I continued to use someone else at the firm until this year after I got remarried. And speaking of legal matters, when it came to my divorce proceedings, finding a competent alimony lawyer was paramount.

My husband utilized a firm down in California to do his taxes and I didn’t really have a connection or was really impressed by the firm doing my taxes so we decided to find a new CPA.  Once again we asked around for a referral and took the recommendation of our financial advisor.  And once again I had no idea what to ask or what would indicate if this person was right for us.  I just handed over the financials, expect that I’ll get my returns and bill in a couple of weeks and then do the same thing again year after year. Recently, I came across a Bullion Max Company Review that caught my attention, prompting me to reconsider our approach to finding a reliable CPA for our tax needs. However, before firing someone, you need to be delicate and make sure that it is done through the proper channels. Workers have access to several resources that can help them in appealing against unjust termination.

It wasn’t until yesterday when I was talking with a supporter of Financial Beginnings, Nelson Rutherford from Alten, Sakai & Co, that I realized I really have been going about this all wrong. He is joining us as our tax and financial planning expert at our panel discussion, Unraveling the Mysteries of Your Money, this week and we were discussing some talking points. He told me how so many consumers wait until the last minute, throw everything together and take it to any CPA that will take them, but they forget one key aspect. PLANNING!

Now I did not admit to Nelson that I was one of those people and quite honestly always have been. You might be wondering why I didn’t go to Nelson since I know him and think highly enough to consider him an “expert” for my panel. I felt like it was mixing business and personal too much. Though I don’t imagine him seeing my nonprofit salary check stub would scare him away from continuing to be a donor.  I did however refer my grandmother to Nelson.  She too had gone to the same tax preparer for 30 years and every year complained how she made mistakes, but never did anything about it until the tax preparer retired this year.

So I’m taking a new approach for the future!  I’m going to try out this whole planning thing that Nelson was talking about.  More to come on how I’ll go about it.

The Evolution of Managing My Money

March 21, 2011 financial literacy, Uncategorized No comments

While I was moving into my new home I found a box with some of old notebooks from about 10 years ago which I used to keep track of my finances in. It was an eye opener for me how differently I managed my money then. I used to spend hours planning out money for the coming months, writing down each paycheck and the bills that would be paid out of it, logging my loans and deducting the principle each time I made a payment, and hand writing out my budget.

In addition to the notebook I would also enter every transaction into Microsoft Money, categorize it appropriately and carefully watch how I was tracking to my budget during the month. This made it incredibly easy for me to do my taxes at the end of the year or identify areas that I could cut back on to create more funds in my budget. It was Microsoft Money that informed me that I was spending $80 a month at the coffee cart by my house and that I should kick my coffee habit.

It made me think how my money management has changed over the years. I no longer keep a notebook or use Microsoft Money. Being recently married we still are working to find the groove in how to handle our money and we’ve been able to create some processes and find some tools that have really helped us. Still, I am realizing that possibly due to having time and a larger comfort level in what I’m doing I am not spending the time and keeping the same level of details I did 10 years ago. Since I’m one of those that really enjoys working out my budget and scrutinizing over where each penny I spend goes I wonder if I should maybe revert back to my old ways a bit?

Tenants in Foreclosure- Are they really out of foreclosure?

March 6, 2011 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized 2 comments

Now settling into my new home I am beginning to get back into my normal Sunday routine of drinking my coffee and reading the paper. There are only a few sections that I read; the front page, the business section and the travel section.

Brent Hunsberger has two great articles today. The article on the front page, Hundreds of Foreclosure Sales Halted http://blog.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/mte/mt-comments.cgi caught by eye because the home that I recently rented and recently moved out of was in foreclosure.

The article talks about how lenders have withdrawn hundreds of foreclosure sales since February after there have been several questions on the legality of the process.

After months of my calling the trustee several times to continually hear that the home I was renting was still in foreclosure and then finding the day that I closed on the purchase of a new home that the case was closed. I was so surprised since by my estimation the home had a negative equity of approximately $200,000. I couldn’t image how the landlords who now lived out of state would be able to maintain this as a viable rental. Still, after hearing that the foreclosure case was withdrawn I assumed they must have worked something out with the bank. Now I’m questioning that. Do you think it was one of the homes that Bank of America withdrew?

Tenants in Foreclosure- The Final Chapter

February 23, 2011 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized No comments

Oh this feels so good! I’m happy to have this be my last in the Tenants in Foreclosure series which I’ve been living and writing about since last April. We officially moved into our new home last weekend. We are moving out the remaining items we have in our rental and will do our final cleaning.

On the 5th of February I called the trustee to find that the auction of the home was postponed by only two weeks until the 18th. I decided that I wouldn’t run the risk and only paid for rent through the 18th of the month. Upon follow up of the auction the trustee informed me that the home was no longer up for auction at all. It appears the landlords may have been able to work out some sort of modification.

So all’s well that ends well right?

Tenants in Foreclosure- Feb

February 7, 2011 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized No comments

I called the Trustee on Friday to see if my home got auctioned and come to find that it again was postponed. The different aspect this time though was they only postponed it by two weeks where all of the previous dates have been 30 or more days out. So I was posed with a questions….Do I pay for a full month’s rent or do I just pay for the 18 days that I know they will own the home?

We decided that it would be best to prorate the rent and pay for the 18 days that we know they will own the home and then on the 18th of the month we’ll call again to see if it was auctioned. I’m think this has to be coming to a close soon since it has been in foreclosure since April of last year and this time they only postponed the sale by 2 weeks. I did let the landlords know why I did not pay the full rent and did not receive a response from them.

More to come later in the month.

Purchasing a home with permit issues

February 3, 2011 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized No comments

Its official, we are in escrow! We found a house to purchase and will get to soon leave our foreclosure nightmare behind. On Sunday I notified the landlords that we would be moving out and it felt so good. I also let them know that again I would be calling to make sure the home was not sold at auction on Feb 4th before paying the February rent.

That asked that we be sure to leave the house nice and have the carpets clean. Really? Of course we will leave the house in good repair, but it just irks me hearing them dictate what I need to do after all of the grief they have put us through these last 10 months.

It’s been a hard search finding the right how. Yes, there are a lot of homes on the market, but many are vacant and need repairs. When you are already putting 20% down on the home it’s hard to be able to find additional funds to repair the home.

The home we found is perfect for us and will make us happy for many years to come. There are some areas of concern that we have had to address during this process though. The first being that the home behind our new home is a foreclosure sale and is for sale for $180,000 less than the home we are purchasing. The home is slightly larger with a smaller less usable lot and needs some repairs, but still this is a large concern that our home’s value will decrease right after we move in due to the sale of this home. There really is nothing we can do about this, but with the market we are in it’s very unsettling.

The second issue that we have had to deal with is that the home we are purchasing was recently remodeled and there may be some permit issues. Most of the repairs were done by the homeowner and it appears that the permits may have been forced by the county because the work was being done by the homeowner without permits. The permits were closed out just days before the home was put on the market after being open for nearly 3 years.

Of course I did not think to look into this until our inspection came back with several electrical issues. I spoke with several inspectors at the county to find our more information. I encourage you do this if you ever have questions. They are very easy to reach and very helpful. I was able to find out about all of the permits and complaints filed on the home by going to www.portlandmaps.com. It lists all of the inspectors that were assigned to the permit and gives their phone number. I asked the electrical inspector how the home could pass inspection with so many items not being up to code. I was told by one inspector that there was over two years from when he saw the electrical work and gave the okay to drywall over. He said that there was a great potential that more was done in that time that he would not have seen at the final inspection time because everything was closed over.

I asked if the homeowner doing these repairs on his own left us open for any liability and he said that when you purchase a home you purchase any permit issues that may arise even if we did not initiate or do the work.

Did you know that when you purchase a home you are also purchasing any permitting issues the home may have?

My friend was a contractor and had a customer who had recently purchased the home and was doing some plumbing which required a county inspector. When the inspector came out he noticed that the home had a finished basement, but this was not on file with the county. All of the work had been done without permits. The customer had to hire my friend to rip out the entire basement and start all over bringing the whole thing up to code. It cost him about $30,000. He did not realize that when the box on the disclosures said that some repairs had been done without permits that it would mean he’d be open to such a huge liability. Yikes!

Tenants in Foreclosure- January Update

January 10, 2011 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized No comments

Tenants in Foreclosure- January Update

Well, I feel like I should just copy and paste any of my posts from the last several months because it’s all the same. The auction date for the sale of the home I live in and rent has once again been postponed a month.

The day after Christmas my husband, daughter and I were all in the family room playing rockband and having a great time enjoying what Santa brought when I look out the window to find a strange car pulling up to the home and snapping photos. Really? You can’t take the Christmas weekend off?

The next day the landlord sent an email informing us that they are approaching the end of their modification period and the bank is doing its final review so not to be surprised if somebody comes by. I guess he didn’t realize that we’ve been living with theses monthly drive byes.

The landlord again was kind enough to again send a “friendly reminder” that the rent was due by the 5th. I had to fight by the urge to give a snide remark letting her know that the reason the rent is not being paid on the 1st as it was for a year before we fell into the situation they caused is because we have to wait and see if the home is sold. We have to spend our time calling the trustee to see if the landlord is in fact entitled to the rent.

So, I hope to have a better update soon since they are supposed to be near the end of the modification process. I really can’t fathom how this is going to work out for them since by my estimation they are about $200,000 underwater.

Tenants in Foreclosure- December Update

December 14, 2010 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized One comment

With this going on for eight months now, I bet you are all losing interest right? My home, which I rent, has been in foreclosure since April is never going to sell right? By now, I have no idea.

The last sale date that was given by the trustee was December 3rd. On the 5th my landlord gave me a “friendly reminder” that my rent was due. I called the trustee to find that the sale date has been postponed once again with a new sale date of January 3rd.

Quite honestly I wish the bank would just auction off the house already. If it did sell at auction then I would no longer have a rental agreement with my landlords and could quit paying them money each month. I have no idea where the money I’m sending it going and that really bothers me.

Based on the research I’ve done if the home did sell at auction the rental agreement would become void. It would be up to the bank or new owners to work out a new agreement with us. They might even offer the “cash for keys” which I’ve heard so much about and since we plan to move anyway, why shouldn’t we benefit a bit from the whole ordeal? If it did sell then how long would it take for the bank or the new owners to contact us? From what I’m hearing it’s taking quite a while for anything to be done on these foreclosed homes. So until that happened I’d have nobody that I owed rent to. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me!

If only it had sold at the beginning of December. That would have made for some extra funds for my Christmas shopping

The banks are changing the rules- Fees! Fees! Fees!

November 30, 2010 financial literacy, Uncategorized 2 comments

I got a notice today from my bank that the rules are changing. Though they “truly value” my business, they have to let me know that my free checking account is no longer free. There will now be a $10 a month service charge! “But wait” you say “there must be a way to get out of it”. There are some ways to get out of the monthly service fee, but unfortunately I do not qualify for any of them.

How can I avoid the $10 monthly service fee?
• Have a direct deposit of $500 or more,
• Or keep an minimum balance of $1500
• Or keep an average balance of $5000 combined in the accounts I have with them

Since I work for a small nonprofit we do not have direct deposit, though I miss the days when my paycheck would magically appear in my account. I utilize these accounts to run my rental and handle my day to day expenses and do not keep a lot of cash in them since interest rates have been averaging less than .25%.

In order to get the best of both worlds my husband and I operate our join expenses and emergency savings account out of our credit union accounts. This works out well since the branches are less conveniently located for the credit union, but we find the fees to be lower and interest rates to be higher. So we operate our daily expenses out of the more convenient bank accounts we have individually and then utilize the credit union accounts for the joint bills. The system worked great until I go this notice!

So what do I do? Do I transfer all of my accounts to the credit union in order to avoid the fee, but then have to deal with finding a branch every payday, when the rent comes or get other checks (I will be so sad to see my deposit by my phone function go)? Do I take the $10 a month hit? Do I transfer $5000 over to ensure I don’t get a fee, but then get next to nothing in interest? Do I look to see if I can get a better deal with another larger bank and hope they don’t change their practices shortly after?

Tenants in Foreclosure- Story gets national attention

November 29, 2010 financial literacy, Tenants in Foreclosure, Uncategorized No comments

My blog has now sparked interest from national media!

A couple of weeks ago I was awoken as my phone rang at 6am with an unfamiliar out of town phone number. So I did what any reasonable person would do and let the call go to voicemail. Later when I came into the office and listened to my work voicemail (yes, I transfer all of my work calls to my cell) I found a voicemail from Kelli Grant from Smart Money waiting for me.  Grant was intrigued by my story which Brent Hunsberger wrote about in the November 7th Oregonian article, Surprise! Renters in foreclosure have rights, and let me know that she wanted to include some quotes from me in her upcoming 10 things article.

After returning to my office this morning after a long holiday weekend I find a Google Alter email letting me know my name appeared in her recent article, 10 Things Your Landlord Won’t Tell You. Go figure, the #1 thing was “This building is in foreclosure.”

I have to say I love the national media attention, but do wish that it was for a different reason. Reading Grant’s article I was truly shocked to read that “Renters accounted for 40% of families facing eviction from foreclosure in 2009, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.”

No update from me on my situation. The next scheduled date for the home I live in to be sold at auction is this Friday December 3rd. I’ll be sure to update you once I’ve called the trustee to get an update.


What do you think is happening? Do you think the home is really being modified? Is the bank just postponing the sale date for some reason to benefit them? Have the homeowners have filed bankruptcy causing the delay?

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