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Filed under: Real Estate

There are no shortage of books out there for first-time home buyers, but Alison Rogers’ Diary of a Real Estate Rookie: My Year of Flippin, Selling, and Rebuilding — and What I Learned the Hard Way is easily the most interesting I’ve read, probably because it hasn’t a how-to guide filled with platitudes like “don’t buy the first house you see.”

As the title would suggest, this isn’t a how-to guide at all. Instead it’s a former real estate writer’s tale of her first year as a real estate agent/aspiring investor — it’s a quick and funny read (I finished it in one sitting), and it’s a remarkably candid expose of all the problems that prospective home buyers can face in dealing with agents. The book begins “More than six million Americans move each year. If anecdotal evidence is anything to go by, more than 5.9 million of them hate their real estate agent.” She describes the unethical tactics that many of her competitors use to inflate their incomes at the expense of clients. Sprinkled throughout the narrative are informative sidebars like “tricks to keep from overpaying”, “the greatest rental search tip ever” (definitely worth the price of admission), and “five tips to ease the pain of selling.”

In addition to being a valuable guide for rookie buyers, this is also probably the first book anyone contemplating a career as an agent should buy.

At 212 fun-to-read pages, you can’t go wrong with this book if you’re interested in…

WalletPop:

Filed under: Sex Sells, Bargains, Home, Real Estate, Technology, Relationships

Late last week, I wrote a post about Craigslist’s recent emergence as a prostitution clearinghouse. I thought that one post should do it; after all, how much can be said about the online purchasing site and its forays into the sex trade?

Apparently, more than I thought.

According to the New York Daily News, Craigslist has begun featuring posts that halve the distance between rental listings and prostitution solicitations.

Generally, the advertisements offer rental spaces in highly-desirable, pricey areas like the Upper West Side and the Financial district. The prices are ridiculously low, sometimes even free, as long as the roommate is willing to model, bestow “benefits” at least once a week, or otherwise barter for the rent. My favorite listing was offered by an amateur photographer who “would be willing to let the right girl live there for FREE in exchange for her being “…at my call to be my model. [She] must be attractive and sexy, like a 9 out of 10 [and] very thin, size 0 or 2.” Excuse me while I have a flashback to Breakfast at Tiffany’s!

Anyway…given our increasing reliance on the internet as a means of buying, selling, marketing, and socializing, I guess this shouldn’t be surprising. After all, we’re talking about a city where women are willing to date in return for a free meal; can rent really be all that far behind? While the whole thing strikes me as a little skeevy, the same could…

taxgirl® - tax news, tax info and tax policy:

Who really benefitted from the economic stimulus plan?

Tax professionals for sure.

H&R Block, the nation’s largest tax preparer service, reported a banner quarter. The company prepared taxes for over 23.5 million clients - due largely to the rush for rebate checks.

This means that H&R Block posted a profit this quarter, which was good news for investors. Profits from the company were up more than $625 million for the same period last year.

So, at least someone is happy about the stimulus plan…

(Hat Tip: Talk Stock Trading)

Tags: economic stimulus, economy, H&R-Block, rebate, tax, tax rebate

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taxgirl® - tax news, tax info and tax policy:

Wesley Snipes has filed a request in federal court for permission to leave the country for two trips while his appeal on tax evasion charges is being considered.

Snipes has requested to go to London to sit in on the editing process for his new horror flick Gallowwalker.

Snipes has also requested permission to fly to Bangkok to film the action thriller Chasing the Dragon. Production is set to begin on that film in early September and last about 8 weeks.

Snipes had been scheduled to report to federal prison on June 3 to serve a three year sentence for failing to file tax returns but is free on bail pending an appeal.

Snipes’ attorneys argued for the request, claiming:

He has never presented and does not currently present a risk of flight. Further, the circumstances of the work, surrounded by a cast of other actors and film and production professionals as well as Mr. Snipes’ contractual obligations to complete these films provide additional assurances that he does not present a risk of flight; were he to abscond under these circumstances, it would destroy his ability to earn a living for the rest if his life. Mr. Snipes will of course voluntarily return after his work on this film, as he has done each time he has been granted permission by this Court.

It is essential that Mr. Snipes complete these two projects to satisfy his civil tax liabilities and provide for his family.

I would…