The state is looking to increase revenues for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, and is considering tax breaks as a means to encourage people to use it as a burial method. Joining the ranks of Timothy Leary and James Doohan could end up saving you money.

You can read the LA Times article about it here.

Recently, the IRS announced that they are extending their amnesty program for Americans with foreign assets who have never declared these assets. For Americans living in Canada who were unaware of the need to file, this is welcome news. The former amnesty program expired in September 2011; this new amnesty has no expiration date, which will allow Americans living in Canada who were unaware of the consequences of not filing the chance to bring themselves current with their US taxes. You can read an article about this in the Globe and Mail.

If you are an American citizen, you should see an accountant to ensure that your filings are up-to-date.

Some realtors will sign agreements with you that if your house doesn’t sell, they will agree to purchase it from you before the end of a set time period. You should always be quite careful when signing these types of agreements though, and have them properly reviewed by your lawyer to ensure that you are happy with all of the terms. This case is a good illustration of that.

David and Tanya Idzan were selling a condo in Edmonton. They listed it with Jack Broadfoot, and explained to him that they were selling because they had bought a new build house. They signed an agreement that stated that the property was to be sold no earlier than January 2008, as their new home would not be ready until then. At the same time that they signed the listing agreement, Jack had them sign a Guaranteed Sales Agreement that listed the proposed purchaser as Fountainhead Financial Inc. The GSA included, among other things, that Fountainhead could elect to either have the existing mortgage discharged or could assume the mortgage; the price would be $225,000, as opposed to the $254,000 that it was initially listed at.

The condo had not sold by early 2008, at which time the Edmonton real estate market had fallen significantly. After several price reductions, the Idzans decided that they would be better off selling to Fountainhead under the GSA than continuing to reduce the price of the condo. However, when the closing was about to occur, Fountainhead’s lawyer indicated that they wanted to assume the mortgage – which was not allowed by the Idzans’ lender. The condo eventually sold for $185,000.

As it turned out, the Idzans had explained to their realtor that their mortgage was not assumable. They would have to pay it out on closing of their condo in order to comply with their lender’s requirements. The realtor had overlooked this and included this term in the GSA. Because of this inconsistency, the court found that the realtor had been negligent and awarded the Idzans $25,000 in damages. Essentially, the realtor had included a term in the GSA that was impossible for the vendors to fulfill from day one.

You can read the entire case, Idzan v. Broadfoot, here.

“61 percent of men do not have a Will versus 53 percent of women

22 percent of Americans over the age of 65 do not have a Will

92 percent of Americans under the age of 35 do not have a will

32 percent of Americans would rather do their taxes, get a root canal, or give up sex for a month than create or update their Will”

What is most shocking to me is the statistic about people under age 35. I may be in the extreme minority, having had a will since I was 18, but it is incredible that so few people of my generation feel a need to protect themselves. The cost of a will is not prohibitive, and many estates lawyers will allow clients to spread out payments over a certain period, on a case-by-case basis. There is so much knowledge out there that there is simply no excuse for not having a will properly drafted, especially if you have children or any assets. What are you waiting for? Make those of us with wills the majority!

1. Falling in love with the show home
2. Trusting the floor plan
3. Not getting a lawyer involved until after you sign the contract
4. Not getting an inspection from a professional
5. Accepting delays without any questions
6. Forgetting that you will be moving into a construction zone
7. Thinking that you have a warranty [note: Ontario is one of three provinces with mandatory warranties in place]
8. Procrastinating in submitting a claim under your warranty
9. Not reviewing estimated closing costs in the agreement
10. Buying at the wrong time – meaning both after the VIP sales are gone, and pre-build before a change in the market

 There is a lot of truth to all of these points. Buying a new home has a lot of allure to it: you can to customize your house in whatever manner you like. What you need to be aware of is that all builders are not created equal, and, more importantly, builders are in the house-building business to make a living, just like the rest of us. If they can get a buyer to pay for something, they will, and there is nothing illegal or really even underhanded about it.

I see a lot of agreements come in for new homes where the builder has pushed a lot of costs onto the purchaser, such as hydro meter installation, Tarion enrolment fees, Law Society levies, etc.; without proper review of the agreement by the purchaser’s lawyer, the purchaser will be stuck with them. Sometimes I feel like a broken record, but ultimately, if you want to protect yourself, be sure to put in a condition on solicitor review of your agreement and pay a lawyer to look it over before you’re stuck with a house you don’t want any more.

As an estate planning lawyer, I advise my clients on a regular basis about the benefits (financial and otherwise) of leaving money to charitable organizations. Joseph Flom lived this.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

The moral? If you want to have your offer subject to your lawyer’s approval, be very certain that it is just to make sure there is nothing of concern legally. Don’t try to use it as a scapegoat for getting out of a deal that you simply don’t like any more. And if you truly want lawyer approval, try instead for lawyer input and have your lawyer get involved with the offer – then you don’t need approval at all.