Arizona trailing almost all other states in economic health….
Last week, the nonpartisan Rockefeller Institute issued their latest report on the economic health of the fifty states and the news wasn’t good. Over the past year, Arizona has seen its personal income tax collections drop by 45% — a record that indicates how much poorer Arizonans have become. Only one state has fared worse. And no state in America has lost a higher percentage of its jobs than Arizona. Read more…
Economy and Market Going to Blast Off from Here, Altucher Says
The economy is recovering nicely, says James Altucher, managing director at Formula Capital, and 2010 is going to be a huge year. Read More….
Commercial real estate is weakest sector in Fed’s Beige Book
Weak or deteriorating commercial real estate markets were reported by all of the Federal Reserve’s 12 district banks, according to the central bank’s latest Beige Book. The Fed’s regular anecdotal report found that the overall economy is still plagued by weakness in banking and increasing unemployment. Among the few bright spots in the report were observations of “stabilization or modest improvements” in manufacturing and housing.Bloomberg (10/21) , Google/The Associated Press
Commercial property faces hard times, not Armageddon
Robert Bach, chief economist at Grubb & Ellis, is one of many industry experts who reject the contention commercial real estate’s problems could bring down the entire financial system of the U.S. “These problems are focused in regional banks and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has a tested method of shutting those down on Friday and opening them on a Monday under the auspices of a bigger bank,” he said. “These are not too big to fail banks. I don’t see [commercial real estate] as an unmitigated disaster. I see it as a repeat of what happened in the 1990s. …” The Business Insider
Estate Planning for Business Owners
This article will look at some of the issues that the clients and the lawyers should discuss if one wants the business to continue after the death. Before one meets with the lawyer to plan the estate he should sit down with the beneficiaries to try to answer some critical questions, including how the business will be operated in the immediate aftermath of the death. Customers, bankers, suppliers, competitors, and predators are all very interested in what will happen with a business immediately after the death of the owner and president. Loan documents, franchise agreements, and other legal contracts often contain termination or re-negotiation clauses in the event of the death of the majority or sole business owner. One should make sure that the new leaders specified in the plan for succession are specifically granted authority to make decisions concerning the business immediately after the death or disability. If one wants the business to continue in the family, the plan should provide a legacy for children and future generations after the death or disability. At the same time, it must adequately address financial needs of a surviving spouse.
Chapter 13 Eligibility
Only individuals may file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Corporations and partnerships may not file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Any individual, even if self-employed or operating an unincorporated business, is eligible for Chapter 13 relief as long as that individual has regular income greater than reasonable living expenses, has unsecured debts not exceeding a certain sum, and has secured debts not exceeding a certain sum.
To determine whether an individual is eligible for Chapter 13, the debtor’s total secured debt must be known. There are well known secured debts such as home mortgages, home equity lines of credit and car loans. These are all liens created by agreement between the debtor and the creditor that are embodied in a legal agreement.
There are several other kinds of debts that are secured by liens on the consumer’s property, sometimes without the consumer even realizing it. For instance, there are purchase money security interests, which are lien rights that the seller retains in the goods purchased when the seller finances the purchase. If the buyer discharges his or her personal liability on the debt through bankruptcy, the seller retains the right to reclaim the goods. Many credit plans give the seller a security interest in the goods purchased. Other types of secured debts are judgment liens, tax liens, and blanket security interests.
An individual cannot file under Chapter 13, or any other chapter, if during the preceding 180 days, a prior bankruptcy petition was dismissed due to the debtor’s willful failure to appear before the court or comply with orders of the court. Additionally, an individual cannot file under Chapter 13 if a prior bankruptcy petition was voluntarily dismissed after creditors sought relief from the bankruptcy court to recover property upon which they hold liens.
Phoenix Real Estate Experts Say Housing Slump May Be Over
Karl Guntermann, the Fred E. Taylor professor of real estate at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, said his data shows an increase of about 2 percent in housing prices across the Valley in September.
Report: Construction to Increase 11% Next Year
The level of construction starts in 2010 is expected to jump 11 percent nationwide, to $466.2 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction’s annual industry outlook.
Improvements in housing and public works construction is expected to help the industry bounce back from a 25 percent decline predicted for 2009.