Category: Seniors

Submitted by: Nat Criss

As with any financial tool, it makes sense to periodically analyze your insurance holdings to make sure that you are on track towards your goals and adequately protected from downside risks. Many insurance industry professionals suggest an annual review of your policies to make sure that you have the coverage you need. Follow these steps to complete an annual insurance check-up:

1) Do some comparison shopping to verify that you are not overpaying with your current carrier. While you’re at it check into your current company or those you’re considering. Most if not all states have insurance departments where you can research various companies to see if they have any pending issues. The Better Business Bureau can be another great resource to help you investigate the track records of providers.

2) Look for additional savings and inquire about raising your deductible. Bringing your deductible up from $500 to $1,000 could equate to significant savings in your annual premiums. Another money saving tip can be getting quotes for multiple policies from the same carrier. Many insurance companies offer multi-line discounts so keeping your home and auto policies under one roof may lead to serious savings.

3) Maintain a good credit score to make yourself an attractive customer in the eyes of an insurer. Why? Insurance companies are like most businesses. They like to have their bills paid on time and do not want to spend time and money chasing down customers for payment. A customer with a low risk for default may enjoy lower premiums as a result.

4) Check with your current carrier to see if your existing policy can be adjusted to either add protection or scale back your existing coverage. If you are like many homeowners in the United States, your property value has likely taken a hit the past five years.

5) Ask about available discounts. Some carriers reward you for improving the safety of your home. Adding a home security system and dead bolt locks can protect your property from unwanted guests. Smoke alarms and sprinkler systems can help reduce the cost of fire damage. Of course some of these items are more cost prohibitive than others but there is no denying that they can help save your life and personal possessions.

When choosing a provider be sure to ask if they offer discounts for long-term customers. It may take you a handful of years to reap the benefits. But, in doing so, you may save big over the long run by not bouncing from carrier to carrier to save a couple dollars every year. One final money saving tip may be to see if you can save money each month with electronic bill payments. More and more companies recognize that mailing out bills, paying the associated postage, and having someone manually process those payments is not a good use of their funds. Thus, companies are offering incentives to help move their customers towards electronic delivery and payments.

While saving money on your insurance coverage is always nice, be sure that you also select a quality provider with a proven, stable track record.

About the Author: Nat Criss is a marketing professional who helps consumers connect with companies building their brands online. Find more insurance information at

ncinsurancequote.com

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isnare.com

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Submitted by: Joanne Musa

If you believe the hype that you here about tax lien investing, you would think that you just go to a tax sale, buy some liens and make loads of money in a few months. But if that were true than everybody would be doing it! If you ve actually started to invest in tax liens then you know that there is some work involved in order to be successful. You know that you have to do your due diligence on tax sales properties. And you know that those double digit interest rates that everyone talks about can be bid down at the tax sale.

There are actually 6 things that you need to know about the state and/or county that you are investing in when you re starting out in tax lien investing.

1. The default interest rate

2. The bidding process

3. The redemption period

4. The tax lien expiration period

5. How subsequent taxes are handled

6. Additional Penalties

These six things make a huge difference in your profit and make tax lien investing very different in different states. Let me give you three examples from states that are all bid down the interest states, but because of the other 5 factors that we mentioned investing in each of these states is quite different.

In New Jersey the default interest rate is 18% and the interest rate is bid down at the sale. But it is quite a different process from other bid down states because in NJ the interest rate can be bid down to 0% and then premium is bid for liens. That means that you do not get any interest on the certificate amount and you do not get any interest on your premium. The redemption period is 2 years and the lien expires in 20 years. So why would investors pay premium for liens and not get any interest on the lien amount? Investors are willing to pay premium for tax liens in New Jersey because once you are a lien holder you have the right to pay the subsequent taxes on the property if the owner doesn t pay them. And you get the default interest rate (18%) on your subsequent tax payments. You also do get a penalty of anywhere from 2-6% on the lien amount when the tax lien is redeemed, depending on the amount of the lien. I ve simplified the process a little, but that s basically how it works in NJ.

Florida is similar to New Jersey in that the default rate and the redemption period are the same. But bidding in Florida is a little different than in NJ. In Florida you do not get to pay the subsequent taxes on your lien. If the owner doesn t pay the taxes, the property will wind up in next year s tax sale. The interest rate is bid down at the tax sale, and the lien expires in 7 years. Bidders will not bid the interest down to zero, but will frequently bid down to .25%. They do this because they will get the 5% minimum penalty when the lien redeems.

In Arizona, the default interest rate is 16%, and the interest is bid down like in Florida and New Jersey. But the interest is rarely bid down to 0%. The redemption period is three years and the lien expires in 10 years. You can pay the subsequent taxes but you only get the interest rate that you bid at the tax sale on your subsequent tax payments. Some counties in Arizona actually force you to pay the subsequent taxes in that if you don t pay them they will sell your lien with the current lien in the next tax sale. The interest rate in Arizona counties is rarely bid down to lower than 6% and most bids (at least in the online tax sales) are awarded at or close to double digits. Part of the reason that investors in Arizona are not willing to bid down to very low interest rates, like in Florida, or 0% as in New Jersey is that unlike Florida and New Jersey, there is no penalty in Arizona. And there are additional costs for purchasing liens and for paying subsequent taxes, which you do not get back when the lien redeems. It s the cost of doing business with the county tax office.

So you see that tax lien investing, even among, these states which have similar interest rates, bidding procedures, and redemption periods is very different do to how they treat subsequent tax payments, and whether they have penalties or not. There are also states that have very different bidding procedures, redemption periods, expiration periods and treatment of subsequent tax payments, which can change the game quite a bit.

In Maryland for instance, the default interest rate varies with the county. Premium is bid at the tax sale but it doesn t all have to be paid unless you actually get to foreclose on the property. The redemption period in some counties is only 6 months, and the lien expires in 2 years. You do not pay the subsequent taxes unless you foreclose on the property. There are no additional penalties that the investor will receive when the lien redeems except for payment of some legal costs if the foreclosure has been started.

So you can see that it is really important to know about these 6 factors in the state and county that you are investing in. Know the rules before you bid and you will be able to build a profitable tax lien portfolio!

About the Author: Find out more about the basics of tax lien investing, like what is the difference between a tax lien and a tax deed, where s the best place to invest and how to get the tax sale information in the Tax Lien Investing Basics course at

TaxLienInvestingBasics.com

.

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