Congress recently extended legislation that makes mortgage insurance (MI) premiums tax deductible for many homeowners through 2011. Families with a household income of $100,000 or less can deduct the full amount of their MI premiums on their federal tax return. Households earning up to $109,000 can qualify for a reduced deduction. That could mean $200 - $400 in your pocket! Click here for further information.

Being it's Valentine's Day I thought about sharing with you an article I read in the Martha Stewart Living Magazine issue on kissing. According to the article "Pucker Up!" a great smooch will boost your mood instantly. Your brain on kissing, a kiss sends sensations directly to the limbic system, those parts of our brains associated with love, passion, and lust. As neural impulses bounce between the brain and the tongue, the facial muscles, the lips, and the skin, they stimulate our bodies to produce a number of neurotransmitters and hormones. One of the most important neurotransmitters is dopamine. Spiking during a kiss, dopamine is responsible for a rush of elation and craving can also result in the obsessive thoughts that many of us experience with a new romance almost like an addiction. It primes us to want more, making us feel energized. People who take dopamine even lose their appetites or find that they cannot fall asleep not surprisingly, the same "...

Every agent should be familiar with The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 ("FIRPTA") which requires withholding when a foreign person or entity disposes of an interest in real property located in the United States unless the transaction meets one of the exemptions form the withholding requirement. However, what do you do when you have a short sale involving a foreign seller? Many fall into a trap thinking that there is no FIRPTA withholding in a short sale because the seller does not receive any net proceeds from the closing. This is not true!!! There is no exemption from FIRPTA withholding for a short sale simply because it is a short sale. Just because the seller does not receive cash at closing does not mean that the "amount realized" by the seller is zero dollars. Under the Treasury Regulations (Treasury Reg. 1.14451 (g)(5)), the " amount realized" by the seller for purposes of determining whether to withhold under FIRPTA is the ...