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From / Date: |
Question / Answer: |
| 7859. |
Diane
Stanwood, WA
Age: 62
Jul 30, 2010
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Renting vs. Buying a home
I have two large dogs, a horse, a cockatoo who chews and screams and I play the bagpipes. What are the chances that I find a place to rent? I live on five acres,have a nice home and a home based business that earns me about 20,000 a year. My mortgage is 1100.00 a month. That includes taxes and insurance. Don't you think that some situations warrant buying rather than renting even if it requires a mortgage? Even if I handed the keys back to the bank when I leave this place I am better off compared to what I could rent for 1100 a month. I'm not a very good candidate as a renter. I could not tolerate the lack of freedom if my landlord told me what I could and could not do. I agree that people that need a place to park their car and a closet to hang their clothes in are wise to rent but this is not an acceptable lifestyle to all people.
...
Obviously, many (but not all) of my suggestions have exceptions. For example, I myself have been a home-owner since 1998, even though I've moved a number of times. Why? Because I pay cash for each home and I can afford to walk away from one if I have to. But many of my readers are not in this position--and neither was I until later in life.
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| 7858. |
Atlas
Cumming, GA
Age: 42
Jul 30, 2010
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Detergent uses GPS to follow you home with prizes
Jack I am a big fan of your work! Longtime reader of HTBI. I thought your readers would be interested in this aggressive marketing ploy currently being attempted in Brazil. Unilever's Omo detergent is putting a GPS device inside their product that will track you to your home. All part of a campaign to promote their brand I suppose. Below are some juicy excerpts from the article. I wonder what would happen if they tried this in the United States? Cheers!
. . . Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international "Dirt is Good" positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.
. . . The GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil, and Mr. Figueiredo has teams in 35 Brazilian cities ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home "within hours or days," and if they're really close by, "they may get to your house as soon as you do," he said. Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit, he said.
. . . In a big web component, the site experimentealgonovo.com.br (Portuguese for "try something new") goes live in August, and will include a map showing roughly where the winners live, pictures of each winner and footage of the Bullet-Omo teams hunting down the GPS-enabled detergent boxes, knocking on doors and surprising consumers.
Submitted Link #1: http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=145...
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| 7856. |
Drake
LA, CA
Age: 35
Jul 29, 2010
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Tech Support Nightmare
In the article below, how many mistakes were made? When did it all start to go wrong? How can teenagers learn from this one? How is blinding stupidity not painful?
Submitted Link #1: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/deta...
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| 7855. |
Rob
Orange County, CA
Age: 39
Jul 29, 2010
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Farmers Insurance / LLC
I have two NM LLCs. Purchasing a home with one and a car with another.
Went to Farmers Insurance today to get insurance for my business which is a CA Corp. Agent said I can get a discount on all other insurance. So I asked how they handled autos purchased under an LLC. He says, "We do it all the time. I'll need the name of the LLC and the name of the member because it's the person who is being insured." Actually that made since to me because in the past before getting a quote they needed to know MY (the individual's) driving history. Tickets? Accidents? I declined the service until I can find out more.
I'll try using AAA as most have suggested. But again, if the car is in an accident, isn't the check written out to the LLC and how the heck to do you cash it to repair the vehicle?
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| 7854. |
Rob
Orange County, CA
Age: 39
Jul 29, 2010
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Purchasing CA home with LLC and Insurance
Buying a CA home with NM LLC.
Need to insure home through AAA.
Let's assume all goes well.
Five years later my property is damaged and I make a claim. Doesn't the check get written to the LLC? How would I cash it?
Or do you purchase the home in the name of the NM LLC and then put the insurance in your name?
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Tha latter. My home is owned by an LLC, and I made a claim two years ago. The check was made out to me. No problem.
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| 7853. |
Everett
Panama City Beach, FL
Age: 58
Jul 29, 2010
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Cell Phone Stronghold Bag
Some readers might be interested in using this product instead of taking out the batteries in their cell phones.
Submitted Link #1: http://www.idstronghold.com/Cell-Phone-Stronghold-...
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| 7852. |
Chuck
West Monroe, Loisiana
Age: 50
Jul 29, 2010
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Flash Cookies
I use Firefox and have the privacy settings default to erase cookies and all files on closing the browser. If you have Flash installed on your computer ( for Youtube or other video), many websites set cookies (called LSO cookies) within the Flash player. Firefox cannot erase these cookies and you can be fully tracked by them.
There is a Firefox plugin called Better Privacy that will allow you to manage these cookies - or erase them completely on closing Firefox. The first time I ran it I had almost 700 cookies on our family Windows computer.
I highly recommend everyone use Free Open Source software whenever possible, even use Linux as an operating system, if they have the ability.
Submitted Link #1: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/662...
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| 7851. |
John
London, UK
Age: 33
Jul 28, 2010
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Hackers to get eavesdropping lessons on cell calls - Reuters
Readers of Chapter 11 of How to Be Invisible will recall that scanners on cell phone frequencies are prohibited in the US by law.
However according to this article, it appears that it may now be possible to build such a device with other hardware and some open source software for as little as $1,500:
"A security expert said he has devised a simple and relatively inexpensive way to snoop on cellphone conversations, claiming that most wireless networks are incapable of guaranteeing calls won't be intercepted."
Submitted Link #1: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66Q6NS201007...
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| 7850. |
leonard
columbia, sc
Age: 36
Jul 27, 2010
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prospective nominee for private bank acct.
I am trying to set up a private bank account with the help of a nominee.I have a trusted friend who meets many of the requirements, most importantly being judgement proof. He has relatives in a far way state, so a ghost address would be easily attainable. Also, nominee has a very common first and last name. However, the prospective nominee does currently have a bank account and would not be willing to close it. Also, he is on disability insurance and is rightly concerned about opening another bank account. Any suggestions? Because of the commion name, would a personal account still be fine even with the existance of the other bank account? Or, should I use the nominee to set up an account thru an llc and have him resign from the llc at a later date? Thank you.
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You know your circumstances, we do not. These are questions best answered by yourself.
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| 7849. |
Sabrina
Sacramento, CA
Age: 34
Jul 27, 2010
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Transfering a CA property to a NM LLC
I want to transfer my existing property in California to a NM LLC. I will only be using the LLC for privacy. My questions are (1)do I have to register the NM LLC with the CA Secretary of State? (2) Will my property be protected for insurance purposes if I do not register the NM LLC in CA?
Thank you
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(1) Apparently not. See post #7843
... (2) State Farm tells me yes. I own my own home in an LLC but insure in my own name.
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| 7848. |
beverly
dallas, tx
Age: 41
Jul 27, 2010
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LLC address?
When opening a NM LLC the address of the principle office...is that in the state I'm operating? We actually have a address in Nevada but operate in TX. which address should I send in my order?
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If you order from Rosie, for example, she will form the LLC herself, using her personal address in Spain's Canary Islands. This is the address that will go up on the NM public website. She will then sell it to you, and you will use your own ghost address for the LLC when buying a car, property, or whatever. The only address you give her is where you want your documents mailed to. This address is strictly private--no one else will see it.
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| 7847. |
beverly
dallas, tx
Age: 41
Jul 27, 2010
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how to be invisible
How do we file paperwork for our nm llc to own our wyoming llc? We want the extra layer of privacy protection listed in HTBI book where one llc can own the other llc.
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I am not familiar with the current form you fill out each year for your WY LLC, but I assume it asks for the owner. If so, list the NM LLC.
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| 7846. |
Cliff
los angeles, ca
Age: 30
Jul 27, 2010
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Vehicle in a NM LLC
What is the difference between gifting a vehicle to a LLC and "selling" it? I understand that you would need to pay sales tax if you sold it, but are there any privacy ramifications for gifting it?
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This was answered in a previous post. (Selling the vehicle outright gives you an extra layer of privacy.)
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| 7845. |
Ken
Santa Cruz, CA
Age: 35
Jul 26, 2010
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Home Phone and DSL with Verizon
Phew, just went through the ringer trying to get 'private' phone service with Verizon.
Last time I signed up for phone service (ATT), they immediately updated the credit bureaus to my service address (not at all what I wanted) and I got a torrent of junk mail as well as the discomfort of anyone typing me into Google and finding my address. I'm smarter this time.
1. I gave Verizon my first initials and last name. I denied providing my SS#, and told them I do not want my credit pulled, and that I would be happy to provide a deposit instead.
2. The friendly phone agent said that she would have to work with the 'Credit Verification' department, and got them on the line.
3. The Credit Verification people tried to bully me into revealing my SS#, DOB, and doing a credit check. They also refused to open an account without my legal first and last name. So I gave them my first name, and a fake DOB.
4. The Credit Verification department STILL used the credit inquiry database to 'confirm' my identity ... so that 'someone else can't open phone service in your name'. I have NO IDEA how they confirmed my identity with the wrong birthdate, but it went through just fine. The 'identity verification' questions were clearly wrong and completely irrelevant to me and my personal data. Odd.
4. I got an unlisted phone number, and just in case had the initial agent change the account information BACK to my first initials instead of first name. I also told them to opt me out of any information sharing and gave them a billing address to send all documentation to in a different state.
Next time: I'm opening a BUSINESS account using my LLC, and making up a name etc. as the nominee.
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| 7844. |
Frank
Arlington, VA
Age: 47
Jul 26, 2010
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The IRS does not authorize the use of nominees to obtain EINs.
FYI - I didn't know until today.
The web page cited was "...Last Reviewed or Updated: November 05, 2009"
Submitted Link #1: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=...
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| 7843. |
Danny
Livermore, CA
Age: 32
Jul 25, 2010
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7763, 7764, 7770
Some exceptions to avoid the minimum franchise fee in California:
If this is of interest to you, be sure to read the whole document to have a complete understanding.
Page 2, Left Column:
Foreign corporations must be “doing business'” in California in order to be subject to the franchise tax. For example, foreign corporations that make deliveries of inventory warehoused in California based on orders taken by employees or independent contractors in
California are “doing business'” in California. As such,they are subject to the franchise tax even though they might not have an office or a regular place of business in California. Get Public Law 86-272 (September 14, 1959;
73 Stat. 555; 15 U.S.C. 381) and FTB Publication 1050 for more information on the types of activities that are
protected from state taxation.
Submitted Link #1: http://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/1063.pdf...
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| 7842. |
john
Miami, Florida
Age: 50
Jul 25, 2010
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Forcing people search sites to include ghost addreses
I just did a search of my self on peekyou.com and was wondering if it's possible to have my ghost addresses show up as a current or past address?Thanks
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Past, no. Current, yes.
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| 7841. |
john
Miami, Florida
Age: 50
Jul 25, 2010
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Insurance claims and llc's
I'm about to quick claim rental property to a nm llc. After I do this, and at some point in the future if I have an insurance claim, will the insurance company issue a check to the llc?...if they do, I won't be able to do anything with the check.
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I am not an expert in real estate but I've heard negative comments about quitclaim deeds. Check with a Florida expert on this one.
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| 7840. |
David
Concord, CA
Age: 32
Jul 25, 2010
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Credit Cards and Domestic Travel
Mr. Luna,
I thought this might interest your readers.
I noticed a while ago that many hotels and car rental companies require you to give them a credit card even if you're paying in cash. This of course produces a paper trail.
To overcome this, I purchased a $1000 Visa Gift Card. A friend produced a new card (issued in the name of a bank that doesn't exist) and copied the mag-strip information from the gift card to the new card.
Visa Gift cards are run as credit cards anyway, so there is no difference in procedure. When the card is "pre-authorized" for the typical $300-$500, it is accepted (because it has more than that available).
Since my name isn't actually attatched to the card in any way, there is no paper trail what-so-ever.
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| 7839. |
Alex
Chicago, IL
Age: 40
Jul 24, 2010
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Postal Return Address
For the return address, why not simply restate the "to" address but in a slightly different way (i.e. Billing - ABC Co. instead of the 2 lines with Attn: and then the company name)---The postal workers won't notice it and it's guaranteed to get where you want the mail to go (so long as you know the "to" address is correct). I never use anything other than the "to" address and no problems/issues whatsoever. Just make it slightly different, and abbreviate a lot more, for example. Even for packages, you can do this---the postal worker may notice but won't say anything---never has... If he/she ever does, claim it's a self-addressed envelope/package because of travel.
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