"If you're in a poker game and you don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy".  Warren Buffet Today's Bloomberg:   The Reading, Pennsylvania school district must pay $230,000 to Deutsche Bank because it is on the losing side of a wager on long-term interest rates. Excerpts from the article:“It was all done in a [...]

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on a proposed ruling that will largely eliminate the tax benefits of a private annuity trust.  The ruling disallows the tax-deferral and instead requires immediate tax payment on the present value of the annuity payments.  Private annuity trusts are a highly specialized tool that have been over-marketed as [...]

I recently had lunch with a real estate broker, who was gloating over the sale of a $600,000 “starter” house. The buyer was currently serving a seven-year prison sentence. How do you buy a house from prison?  Stated income, on a 100%, interest-only mortgage.  The builder paid the closing costs.  In fact, said the broker, [...]

The following is from a brochure we distribute to commercial real estate brokers, for clients evaluating their tax and reinvestment options as they reposition in the current market:  The Tenant-in-Common industry has exploded since the IRS clarified the guidelines for a 1031 exchange.  Each year, an increasing volume of TIC properties are marketed through the [...]