Starting a home based business and working from home can be exciting and fun, there are many people that have started a business from their hobbies. What was once was a past time of pleasure can turn into a full time work from home business. One industry that seems to keep growing by leaps and bounds across America is antiques and collectibles.There are many across America that start each year, for the simple reason, they were introduced by their Mom or Dad or a close relative, this hobby has an infectious way about it. Once you have a true desire to collect the treasure of the past, the desire will always be with you throughout your life, once you have been bitten by the bug there is no turning back and there is no known cure.There are many people that enter this business on a daily bases, not having been associated with anyone that can show them the ropes of how to go about it or to know the value of the collectibles and antiques. Many people start out collecting just one item, such as collecting dolls or collecting western gear and cowboy spurs or western prints etc.Many will start collecting as a team, that is husband and wife. The husband will collect the items that is of interest to him and the wife will collect what is of interest to her.• Where To Buy….If you’re a newbie to collecting, you might want to know where to start first in buying your collectibles. But, before you rush of on your buying spree, you need to learn a few things first, so you don’t get taken in on your purchases, not knowing to value of the items you buy can cost you a great deal of money in the end.• Buy Low, Sell High….You always want to buy with this in mind, buy at the lowest price you can negotiate, with a view of reselling at a profit, if you have the hope of starting your own home based business. To gain the knowledge of the value of antiques and collectibles come in various ways. Buy, collect and study the antique and collectibles appraisal books, always have the books with you for reference purposes when shopping for your treasures.• Starting With Garage Sales….Garage sales are a great way to start to learn about your collectibles you want to acquire. In order to get the best buys, it is advisable for you to line up your sales a day before they start, if they start on Saturday, make your list of ones that are advertising antiques and collectibles on Friday.• You’re Not The Only Dog in the Hunt….Be mindful that you’re not the only one looking for the great buys, there is a lot a competition searching out the garage sales. To get a leg up on the competition try to be at the garage sale an hour before they open, sometimes this works and sometimes it don’t. You will meet all kinds of people, some will let your browse around and others will flat out run you off if you are an early bird.• Trash or Treasure….
When mapping out your garage sales, always take the shortest distance between the sales. When arriving at the garage sale, if they have unpacked everything then you can make a quick scan of the merchandise and see if there is something of value in the collectibles category. Be aware, there are people that think they have treasures, but in fact they have trash and need to make a run to the dump.• Expanding Your Market….When shopping for the items you want to collect, you will invariably run across other valuable collector items, don’t pass them up, you need to expand your market, remember there is a buyer for each and every collectors item, the more versatile your inventory is, the greater your market will be. Your home based business can become a reality with patience and hard work.

Are you considering starting a home based business? This article will provide you with honest information that will enable you to pick a business opportunity that’s right for you.If you’re thinking about getting started a business from home you’re not alone. In this economy many people are turning to this industry to replace jobs that they lost, provide more income for their families or achieve a better standard of living.The first questions that you need to ask yourself when thinking about starting a home based business are: What do you like to do? What are you interested in? What are you passionate about? The reason why you should ask these questions is because many people are lured into starting businesses that have nothing to do with what they are interested in and their businesses ultimately fail because they didn’t have the drive or passion to keep their businesses going.If you love what you do and are passionate about your business your business won’t seem like work at all and it will fun working on it instead of it becoming a chore to you.The next question you need to ask yourself is are you thinking about a from home business just to make money? Every business has to make money but money shouldn’t be the only reason why you’re starting your business. Your ‘why’ should be something tangible like you’re starting one to provide a better lifestyle for your family or provide for your children’s education, take a dream vacation every year, buy a new car etc.With these questions answered you should start your search by doing some research online. Use your favorite search engine, type in the word home based business and see what search results come up. Remember to find a business that offers a product or service that you have some level of experience with or passion for because if you love your business you won’t have any problem talking with people about the products or services that you have to offer.Once you find several interesting home business opportunities take your research a step further by researching the business opportunity online with the Better Business Bureau to see if it’s a legitimate opportunity or not. After you do your research with the BBB the next step is to type in the name of the business opportunity or company name into your search engine and see what search results come up.When you search under the company or product name the search results on page one will show you what feedback there is on that opportunity. You should also look for message boards, forums or any type of website with comments on the opportunity that you’re in. A word of word of warning though, many online marketers will use the word scam when doing pay per click advertising or keyword optimization for their websites so be prepared to see the word scam next to the business name or product that you’re searching on even if the home business you’re interested in is a scam or not.As you’re searching for the right opportunity you should also look out for false income statements like: “My system makes me $100,000 per month” if you see an income statement that looks suspicious like this, be on your guard and also be prepared to ask for proof or verification that the income claim is real or fake. Many people get suckered into bogus income or business opportunities thanks to false income claims and the hype that comes with them. If you do your due diligence you won’t lose money.After you’ve found several prospects for you to investigate further the next thing you should look for is does the business you’re investigating have an actual physical product or not? The reason why it’s important to have a physical product is because it’s easier to grow a business if you have a real product that people can actually use and re-order regularly.Many opportunities are classic pyramid schemes that offer no value at all other than income to the person who recruits you into the ‘opportunity’ and as with all pyramid schemes the only people who make money are those who get into the pyramid scheme at the very beginning. A lot of the income opportunities online today will offer a bundle of e-books and software if you invest but what you’re getting is usually out dated information that won’t work today.Once you’ve found a home based business opportunity that has you excited the next questions to ask are: how much does it cost to get started? Are there any reoccurring monthly fees to stay active in the business? Does the company offer any training or support? How long will it take you to recoup your investment in the business?Before you invest in the business the most important question you need to ask is will you have to do any selling? It’s important to ask this question because if you’ve never sold anything before in your life and you get into a home based business where you will have to make sales you’re going to have problems.Selling is not hard at all and anyone can start making sales even if they have no experience in the very beginning. If you don’t have any sales experience you should go to your favorite bookstore or check online for “how to” books that will teach you how to sell. You should also make sure that the home based business opportunity that you’re going to invest in offers some sort of sales training or quick start guide that you can follow to quickly start making money in your business.

There are many property management companies in the marketplace today. All companies have their own charges and fees that you must incur to contract their services. The truth is that the only management companies that you should hire with are the companies that are FREE.

I know everyone believes there is nothing that is “free” and this is true in general but not from every perspective. When I refer to Free property management, I am talking about a company that provides added value to the properties that it handles. A value that would be unlikely to be reached by the owner managing the property themselves. Let’s examine the value of good real estate management. Value can be expressed in many terms such as equity, lower turnover, higher rents, lower maintenance costs and most importantly, time. Time is the most important asset that exists. Simply put if you had all the money or goods in the world but you had no time to enjoy them, you don’t have much.

Many property owners have full time jobs, family obligations, and little time to manage the property they own to maximum efficiency. Some of these owners work long hours in an attempt to “save” money by not hiring a property manager. After we examine this practice we will see that in most cases the property owner is actually losing money, and more importantly losing time.

The old saying “Time is money” will be a cornerstone of our analysis. Let’s say the property owner in our example is an employee at XYZ Corp and is paid $20 an hour. A general price for property management is somewhere around 10% of collected rent. So we will pretend this owner owns a two family rental property and each unit rents for $700. That means the fee for professional management of this property will be in the area of $140 a month (10% of 700= $70 per unit, times 2 = $140). That equals 7 hours of income for the owner. So if managing this property takes more time than 7 hours a month, or the management of the property interferes with the work of the owner than the owner would actually be better off with a professional property manager.

The time analysis shows that there is not a lot of money to be saved by managing the property yourself, especially if you could use your time towards work you are paid for. However, the time analysis does not show the complete benefits of property management. If managing property was easy and predictable there would be no property management companies. We all know that real estate repairs can pop up seemingly out of nowhere and late tenants can turn into evictions at any time. The main cost occurs during these times, when you need to evict tenants, repair the property, advertise and attract new tenants, and lease the unit to get rental income again. These are the times when property owners with other obligations really lose time and money. You see if a property owner is unable to manage the issues efficiently and loses just one month of rental income, they would have lost enough money to pay for close to a full year of professional property management in many cases!

Good property management will allow you more time to create income or spend time with family and friends. More time is a good enough reason to hire a property manager but that is not the end of the benefits. In addition efficient management will be able to pass savings on to the owner for routine repairs and maintenance through network contractors and vendors. They will be able to make smooth transitions from vacancies to new qualified tenants and maximize Cashflow. So I will conclude by urging property owners with other obligations to strongly consider professional management, because sometimes the cost of trying to save money is just too high.

In 1995 the Arizona legislature authorized a husband and wife to hold title to their home (and other real property and even personal property such as stocks and bonds) as community property with right of survivorship (“CPWROS”).

Prior to this 1995 Arizona real estate law a husband and wife either held title to their home as community property (“husband and wife”) or, most commonly, as joint tenants with right of survivorship (“JTWROS”). Community property had the tax advantage of a step-up in basis of both halves of the home when the surviving spouse sold the home, but had the disadvantage of requiring probate. JTWROS had the tax disadvantage of a step-up in basis of only the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in the home, but had the major advantage of transferring title to the home to the surviving spouse without any requirement of probate. The purpose of the 1995 legislation authorizing CPWROS was to have the “best of both worlds,” namely, after the death of the first spouse a step-up in basis of both halves of the home, but without probate.

The following simplified example will illustrate the importance of a step-up in basis of both halves of the home. A husband and wife buy a home for $40,000 (each has a basis of $20,000). Ten years later the husband dies and the home is now worth $100,000. The wife then sells the home for $100,000.

If the home is JTWROS property, only the deceased husband’s one-half interest will be deemed by the IRS to have a step-up in basis, and the wife will have a taxable gain of $30,000 ($100,000 sale price less deceased husband’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000 less wife’s original basis of $20,000).

If the home is CPWROS property, both halves will be deemed by the IRS to have a step-up in basis, and the wife will have no taxable gain ($100,000 sale price less deceased husband’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000 less wife’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000).

In addition to the tax advantage of owning real property as CPWROS, as opposed to JTWROS, CPWROS real property can only be sold or mortgaged with the consent of both the husband and the wife. JTWROS real property can be sold or mortgaged by either spouse without the consent or even the knowledge of the other spouse.

If a husband and wife want to transfer the title to a home or other real property from JTWROS to CPWROS, they should contact the title insurance company that insured the title at the time of closing. The title insurance company will normally prepare the necessary transfer documentation for a minimal fee, generally less than $250.

Note: Since 1997 a husband and a wife have the $500,000 capital gain exemption on the sale of a principal residence. This $500,000 capital gain exemption is generally available after the death of one of the spouses if a joint tax return is filed and the principal residence is sold in the year of death. Otherwise, the $250,000 capital gain exemption is only available. Therefore, a husband and wife holding title to their home as CPWROS is not as important as with other types of real property, unless there has been significant appreciation of at least $250,000 in the value of the home.