The ubiquitous Form 4506-T, not a plain piece of paper

Folks who borrow mortgage money have a lot of documents to sign at closing. One of the so-called standard forms found in use today is IRS Form 4506-T that allows the lender to obtain a transcript of your personal income tax returns.

As pointed out in the LA Times, the Form 4506-T is not just another piece of paper.

The form authorizes a loan officer or mortgage investor to get electronic transcripts from the Internal Revenue Service covering multiple years of your federal income tax filings. The IRS has supplied private tax return information to lenders for years, but the data typically were requested only at the close of escrow, and mainly for self-employed applicants or those with unusual income patterns.

While we have seen the form used at the closing table, now it seems the form is being requested twice, the first at application and the second at closing.

As the story says,

Take Form 4506-T seriously. It's a powerful tool, and potentially exposes otherwise confidential personal financial information to unknown and uncontrollable numbers of people. It is not just another part of the paper blizzard.

For the full article, go here.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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New Jersey Recording Fee Surcharge Helps Homeless

Recording Fee Surcharge now in effect in several counties with more to follow.

New Jersey's County Homelessness Trust Fund Act, P.L. 2009, c. 123, became law in September 2009. The Act permits counties to establish a Homelessness Trust Fund for the purpose of moving the homeless and formerly homeless into permanent affordable housing. In order to fund this initiative, those counties that establish such a fund may add a $3 surcharge to recording fees.

Presently, the following four counties have elected to establish a Homelessness Trust Fund and are charging the $3 surcharge:

Hudson, Bergen , Middlesex and Passaic.

Union County has established the Trust Fund but has not yet started to impose the surcharge.

The statute is slightly confusing as it says the recording of assignments and substitutions of Deeds of Trust as being exempt from the fee. (This phrase was lifted from a similar statute in Washington State.) We think the law’s intention is to exempt assignments of mortgages, and the Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic and Union County Clerks agree.

However, Bergen County does not give any credence to the intention of the statute and requires payment of the surcharge on an assignment of mortgage.

So, before you send those documents to the clerk for recording, call ahead to be certain as to the status of the surcharge in that county.

We will do our best to keep you up to date as more counties create the Trust Fund and begin imposing the surcharge.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Join Our Team

VESTED TITLE INC. is looking for talented individuals to join our team. Current position offered - Sales Representative

At VESTED TITLE INC. (VESTED), a leader in title insurance and search services in the State of New Jersey, we are committed to provide our employees an opportunity for both professional and personal growth. To facilitate a positive quality of life, VESTED provides its employees with a competitive salary and benefits package.

We provide our employees with support and training for career and professional development. VESTED encourages its employees to achieve their next career level and assists in providing the developmental tools to do so.

At VESTED, we recognize that our achievements and success in the title insurance industry is due to the talent, commitment, and enthusiasm of our employees.

VESTED is dedicated to recruit, hire and advance employees without regards to age, gender, race, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital status or sexual orientation. We are committed to providing a "discrimination free" workplace. We promote diversity in our workplace and will not tolerate discrimination in any form.

If you would like to explore this opportunity with a title insurance leader, please send your resume to sflatow@vested.com.

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Federal Estate Tax - gone or just on vacation?

Jeff Jacoby, writing in the Boston Globe, says,

"not all deaths are sad. The federal estate tax died at 12:01 A.M. on January 1, an occasion of joy if there ever was one. Allowing it to expire was one of the few sensible things Congress accomplished in 2009. Keeping it dead should be a congressional goal for 2010."

Lawyers and financial planners have become familiar with the federal tax's demise over the past 10 years; down from a tax of 55% to zero this year. However, while there is no tax in 2010, the tax comes back in full vigor in 2011 at the 55% rate on all assets over $1,000,000. We know from experience by reviewing hundreds of Wills over the past 10 years how planners had to structure estates to minimize the impact the federal levy has on families.

"Needless to say, this temporary vanishing act is wreaking havoc on estate planning, and many analysts expect lawmakers to revive the tax sometime this year, perhaps even making it retroactive to January 1. But if the goal is clarity and certainty in the tax code, a far better option would be to make the repeal permanent."

Jacoby argues for the complete abolishment of the federal tax over the whoops and hollers of the "class warriors." After all, the tax doesn't hurt the Rockefellers and the Buffets, but the family business entrepreneur.

Says Jacoby, "The estate tax is pernicious because it punishes precisely the kind of behavior society should want to reward -- work, prudence, savings -- and it rewards behavior that should be discouraged -- profligacy, overconsumption, and leisure."

What to you think?

Read the full column here.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Foreclosures Offer Deals, But Be Wary - The New York Times

The Times picks up on our article regarding buying foreclosed homes.
In Saturday's section on Your Money, the Times' Tara Siegel Bernard writes,

So you’re looking to buy a new home, and you think a foreclosed house may be the best deal. You’ve probably noticed, then, that many of the big banks' Web sites are beginning to look a bit like real estate brokerages, showcasing the many properties that they’ve repossessed.

While prices may be much lower, the Times points out

Despite the seemingly high inventory, though, anyone considering buying a distressed property should heed the classic warning: Caveat emptor, or let the buyer beware.

There are risks aplenty in trying to get a good deal in the REO market and, as the Times says, "Closing a deal in a desirable neighborhood can be hard to do."

To read the Times' take on this aspect of the real estate market, read the full article.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com
We're the New Jersey Specialists

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