Wills in business in COVID-19 era
Shielding assets with solid wills during COVID-19 era? Overlooking FHA, VA and USDA loans. First-time buyers might be cash-strapped in this environment of rising home prices. And if you have little saved for a down payment or your credit isn’t stellar, you might have a hard time qualifying for a conventional loan. How this affects you: You might assume you have no financing options and delay your home search. What to do instead: Look into one of the three government-insured loan programs backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA loans), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA loans) and U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA loans). Here’s a brief overview of each: FHA loans require just 3.5 percent down with a minimum 580 credit score. FHA loans can fill the gap for borrowers who don’t have top-notch credit or little money saved up. The major drawback to these loans, though, is mandatory mortgage insurance, paid both annually and upfront at closing. VA loans are backed by the VA for eligible active-duty and veteran military service members and their spouses. These loans don’t require a down payment, but some borrowers may pay a funding fee. VA loans are offered through private lenders, and come with a cap on lender fees to keep borrowing costs affordable.
There are endless benefits to remodeling your kitchen and any real estate agent will probably tell you that the kitchen plays a big role in making a sale. Although it may cost a few thousand dollars to replace or remodel your kitchen, it is proven that you will probably get 85% of your money back. If your kitchen looks dated or worn out, buyers may try to knock off $10,000 or more off your asking price when it would have only taken you a few thousand dollars to upgrade the kitchen. The fastest and cheapest way to make a kitchen upgrade is to include new cabinet hardware and add a fresh coat of neutral color paint. By making this upgrade, buyers will be able to envision their own style using a blank canvas.
When a state of emergency was declared in Ontario, and other provinces in March of this year, probably no one expected that four months later we would still be looking at working remotely and arranging client meetings by video means or in socially distanced settings. For some estate planning lawyers, the rush of clients looking to update wills or prepare them from scratch was almost overwhelming. For others who were wanting to “give back” by offering free or minimal cost services to front line health care workers, there was little interest from the workers themselves. Read extra details on Coronavirus.
However, the advice remains that wherever possible, Wills and Codicils should continue to be executed in the conventional way, ie with two independent witnesses present in person with the will-maker. It is acceptable for this to be done with the parties a short distance from each other, whether outside or in adjacent rooms, or through a window or open door of a house or vehicle. Wills and Codicils can be validly executed within existing law as long as all parties have a ‘clear line of sight’ of each other throughout the signing process.
Have an Emergency Fund: If you lost your job tomorrow would you have enough money to live off while you look for a new one? If not then you’re not alone. This study found that although Americans are doing a better job at saving, around 24 percent of them (57 million people) don’t have an emergency fund. Now I don’t want to be a negative Nancy or a Debbie downer, but emergencies happen all the time. They may not happen to you, but it’s always good to be prepared. You can’t predict an emergency, but you can prepare for one. The best way to do so is to set up an emergency fund of 3-6 months living expenses. That means if you lost your job tomorrow, you’d be able to live off your emergency fund for 3-6 months while you look for a new one. Net worth can seem like a tricky topic, but it’s quite simple. Your net worth is how much money you are worth. If you were to sell everything you own, then pay off everything you owe, how much money would be left?
A lot of discussions have taken place over the past seven months or so in light of COVID-19 and the market reaction to it. The purpose of this client briefing is to share some observations with you from our recent experiences across our deals in the United Kingdom: Lenders are currently showing a degree of flexibility in their approach to defaulting and/or potentially defaulting borrowers. This is prevalent specifically in scenarios where the relevant events of default, and/or potential events of default, have been triggered by events outside the control of borrowers or where the loans were fundamentally performing pre COVID-19. See additional info on https://techbullion.com/wills-and-covid-19-safeguarding-your-assets-during-a-global-pandemic/.
