Taxing your Pension

Considering moving to another state? You should know that some states will tax your pension. Illinois is one of only 14 states in the U.S. that does not require retirees to pay a state tax on their pension benefits. The 14 states that do not tax pensions are: Alabama Alaska Florida Hawaii Illinois Mississippi Nevada New Hampshire Pennsylvania

South Dakota Tennessee Texas Washington Wyoming

Put it on Paper

Question: 

I had a verbal agreement for the purchase of a home. Both parties had filled in the real estate contract including purchase price and earnest money amounts. All we had to do was to get together again to SIGN the contract and give the earnest money. The seller called me tonight and said the deal was off. Didn't we have a deal?

Answer: 

Nope. In real estate contracts must be in writing. There must be an "offer" and "acceptance" and there must be "consideration" such as a deposit. "Acceptance" in this case did not occur because there is no signature.

In your case what you had was a friendly chat and a bunch of paper. What you heard may not have been what the seller heard. Without signatures on a piece of paper there is no way to know what was accepted and what was not.

While the purchase price and the earnest money are important, they are just a few of the items which a typical real estate agreement might cover.

For instance, how was the title guaranteed, if at all? Who pays for the survey? Who will pay points at closing? What was the possession agreement? Do the appliances stay or go? The list goes on and on. For your benefit, and for the seller's, the entire transaction must be committed to paper, otherwise you could wind up with costly debates for years to come.

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