All Forum Posts by: Xing Zhu

For a short sale involving a bidding war, the bid price is the most important factor, and then it is whether it is a cash offer. You also have to be pretty quick.

Can you just call your insurance company?

I filed a small claim for water leak recently. I was told that the insurance only pays if the damage was sudden, and if it was gradual then it would be considered as a maintenance issue and they wouldn't cover. I was told by the contractor the insurance company recommended that my case was on the borderline. The adjuster from the insurance company asked quite a few questions and finally decided to pay. The final bill is over $9000 and I paid $1000. I received a letter later that they increased my deductible from $1000 to $1500 due to this claim, but as a result, my premium might go down as they stated in the letter.

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Roy, you are absolutely right. However, if the area is very cold, I'd prefer to invest a little bit more for a dual fuel system. As you know, when temperature is very low, the heat pump becomes inefficient. The auxiliary heat, if used often, it can be expensive as it works just like regular heaters.

In NC, heat pumps work very well, a lot cheaper than propane in my experience.

Assuming you must go electric, if the area is not too cold, you can install a heat pump, which is far more efficient than room heaters. You may also qualify for a tax credit.

The easiest way to track the cash flow from each property is to set up a dedicated bank account for each property.

My county always over estimates the value of my house to collect more taxes. They do it here every year.

You really need to know what are included. For example, a condo I own has a monthly HOA due over $1000. It includes:

Water, electricity, cable, domestic phone calls, internet, and a master condo insurance policy.

Since this is an oceanfront property, the master policy includes a flood insurance, which is expensive if you buy on your own. The monthly HOA of course also takes care maintenance of the common area, the building cleaning, the elevators, the swimming pool, the hot tub etc.

As you said you were 99% sure that they were wrong, I assume you understood your tax filing well. Then you don't have to hire anyone. Just write a short explanation to them and the problem may be resolved. IRS does not care much about such a small discrepancy either.

It is also possible that a form was missing in your filing.

I do not argue with IRS for small discrepancies.

I don't think EM is a substitute for POF. POF alone does not force the buyer to honor the contract. EM does not force the buyer to honor the contract either, but at least, in case of defaulting, the seller keeps EM.

In China, EM is on both sides. If the buyer puts in x amount of EM, in case the seller would not honor the contract, the buyer gets 2x amount back. It happened to a friend of mine, he regretted that he did not put in more EM that he had a choice to do so.