Robert R. Rowley PS

Attorney at Law


Author: Robert R. Rowley PS

Nearly half of all home sales all-cash deals

Nearly half of all home sales all-cash deals

All-cash deals hit a record 43 percent of home sales during the first three months of 2014, according to RealtyTrac. That’s up from 19 percent a year earlier and the highest level reported since RealtyTrac began tracking the deals in early 2011. The jump is due to two main factors: strict lending standards that make […]

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Are You Too Busy? How to Know Your Limits – WSJ.com

Are You Too Busy? How to Know Your Limits – WSJ.com

  A person’s capacity to manage a lot of tasks and activities is shaped by genetics and early experience, says Amit Sood, a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn. Some people inherit a tendency to be more reactive to stress and overload. Those who receive plenty of early nurturing and […]

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Short Sales and Foreclosures Could Bring a Nasty Tax Bill

Short Sales and Foreclosures Could Bring a Nasty Tax Bill

If you had mortgage debt forgiven in the last year by your lender, check the mail. Your lender should be sending you a 1099-C form in the mail right about now. The 1099-C lists the amount of debt your lender wrote off. Hard as it seems to believe, struggling homeowners have had it easy for the last seven years […]

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From The ‘Department of Obviousness’ – New Study Finds Foreclosures May Raise Blood Pressure

From The ‘Department of Obviousness’ – New Study Finds Foreclosures May Raise Blood Pressure

A recent press release from the American Heart Association, released on May 12, 2014, described how a research study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation linked an increase in blood pressure to living near a foreclosed property. This may be the first time compelling evidence has been brought forth illustrating how the negative effects of the U.S. […]

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Easy Chart Regarding Effectiveness Of Asset Protection Trusts – Forbes

Easy Chart Regarding Effectiveness Of Asset Protection Trusts – Forbes

The Mortensen opinion provided the first judicial interpretation of Bankruptcy Code Sec. 548(e) as applied to a transfer to an asset protection trust (“APT”). Since that Opinion was released, many practitioners have asked me whether APTs “work.” My unsatisfying lawyerly answer is, “Maybe, depending on the circumstances.” The chart below gives the general circumstances in […]

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Why I Don’t Use Land Trusts For Client Asset Protection | Robert R Rowley

Why I Don’t Use Land Trusts For Client Asset Protection | Robert R Rowley

A “land trust” is an arrangement sold by promoters to try to provide some asset protection to real estate. The idea is that the real estate will be owned by a trustee, instead of the real owner, so that the real owner’s name will not show up in the county’s property records. In reality, land […]

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Section 8 Rentals: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Section 8 Rentals: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Jim Ingersoll Do you remember the Clint Eastwood western movie, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”? Renting to Section 8 tenants is pretty much the same. Some landlords love Section 8, and some landlords try it and find it is bad and ugly to deal with. With Section 8 tenants, you are guaranteed on-time rent every […]

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USING SELF-DIRECTED IRA FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS – ISSUES AND PITFALLS

USING SELF-DIRECTED IRA FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS – ISSUES AND PITFALLS

Attached is a great lengthy newsletter (Winter 2013-2014) from the Washington State Bar Association’s Real Property Section analyzing the issues and concerns with using an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) for purposes of investing in real estate and other business assets and estate planning pitfalls.  A very technical review of the IRS tax code. [gview file=”https://rowleylegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014-RPPT-NEWSLETTER-SELFDIRECTED-3.pdf”]

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Time to Get Rid of Cable TV? There are hundreds of TV channels and people watch about 17 of them.

Time to Get Rid of Cable TV?  There are hundreds of TV channels and people watch about 17 of them.

 

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Yes – You Can Even Buy A Lawyer At Wal-Mart!

Yes – You Can Even Buy A Lawyer At Wal-Mart!

Shoppers at a handful of Wal-Mart stores in the Toronto area can consult with lawyers whose offices are conveniently on site. The law offices are staffed by Axess Law, which aims to offer fast and affordable legal services to Wal-Mart shoppers, the Toronto Star reports. The newspaper visited a bright-orange Axess office at a Wal-Mart […]

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