In this Issue: Biggest Real Estate Mistakes Being Made Now Tax Deductibles When Buying a Home Use Your Garage for Your Car Again (Please leave us a comment at the bottom of the newsletter.)

Biggest Real Estate Mistakes Being Made Now

With real estate rules, laws, and fees changing daily, it’s easy to make a mistake when shopping for a home or a home loan.

In her new book, Buy, Close, Move In!, award-winning real estate guru Ilyce Glink, tells readers everything they need to rebuild their financial lives to wade back into the housing market. Everything from Not Understanding the New Rules, to Not Cleaning Up Your Credit in Advance, and Forgetting to Buy Title Insurance.

In this video, she points out the biggest mistakes prospective buyers and sellers are making today, and tips on how you can avoid following suit.

Ilyce Glink's newest book is now in bookstores everywhere.

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Tax Deductibles When Buying a Home

IThere are many benefits that come from home ownership. One of them is the pride of having a property to call your own. You can do what you want with it without worrying about a landlord.

Another benefit comes from tax incentives. There are different tax deductibles you need to be aware of, just in case you do your taxes yourself and don't have a CPA or tax advisor to tell you about these items.

When you buy a home and get a mortgage, you may pay points as part of your mortgage closing costs. Points are fees paid when you apply for a mortgage loan that help lower your interest rate. The origination fee is different from points, and is a percentage of the amount you borrowed. One percent is equivalent to one point. Points are deductible expenses.

You need to qualify if you are to deduct the said points. The first condition you need to satisfy is that the points have to be deducted during the same year when the fee was paid. Another condition concerns the security you need to use for the loan. It has to be the house you are living in. Lastly, the amount you borrowed should be used to purchase a house or build it.

Other items are deductible and this includes the interest for the mortgage. The interest can be as much as one million dollars. This includes all types of properties and can be your primary residence or your secondary residence. However, each type of property has different conditions which need to be satisfied. This is why you need the assistance of an accountant or a financial consultant.

You can also deduct the property taxes. The amount varies depending on the type of property you are buying and the current tax rate. Refer to your tax bill each year to know how much you're able to deduct.

For most, it is ideal that they compute the property taxes first before they purchase the property. This is important if you want to stay within your budget. You should include the value of the land as well as the value of the property. An official tax assessor should determine the value of the property. You need to consider the tax exemptions as well.

Moving expenses may also be deductible. You need to qualify if you want to deduct moving expenses.

Tax deductibles are just few of the things you can benefit from when you purchase and own your own home. You need to familiarize yourself with the tax deductible items. Consider all the factors. Some of the factors would be the type of property you are purchasing, the value of the property and the type of financing you are using. Your financial consultant will help you with this.

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Use Your Garage for Your Car Again

Can't get your car into your garage any more? Welcome to the club. A quarter of Americans with two-car garages can't park in theirs, and another third can squeeze in only one vehicle, according to the Department of Energy.

Getting a grip on the jumble of yard tools, sports gear, and random junk is daunting. But you'll make the space more attractive and useful — and spare your car from the elements too. Just follow this game plan.

Sort through the chaos

First, toss or donate everything your family doesn't use. Group the rest by theme: yard tools, sports equipment, beach toys, and so on. Stow the small stuff in translucent, stackable, snap-top bins ($5 to $15 at most home fix-it stores) so you can see what's inside.

Can't bear to face the mess alone? For $200 to $1,000 you can hire a professional organizer to help. Or bribe a neat-freak friend to dig through the clutter with you. To keep a lid on the chaos for good, you need a real organizing system; your best choice depends on your space and budget.

Squeeze more into a small space …

The simplest solution is to put in freestanding shelving on the back wall. You can also hang shelves high enough on the side walls so they don't interfere with car doors. Most home stores offer a range of shelves, bins, and tool hooks that attach to horizontal strips. Complete wall systems start at around $250.

If space is seriously tight, put up shelves that hang from the rafters (about $70 to $100). Or install simple pulley systems that hoist bikes and kayaks out of the way ($15 to $75). You can also hire a handyman to cut an opening in the ceiling, install a pull-down ladder, and lay a plywood floor on top to create a hayloft-like storage area, but this option can be costly…(about $600 to $1,000).

… or spring for an eye-catching look

If you're lucky enough to have a wall at least three feet away from the nearest vehicle, it's worth spending extra money on an attractive storage system that you can also modify to suit your needs. Steel cabinets, workbenches, racks, and tool drawers that sit on locking casters– no installation needed ($100 to $800 apiece where these items are sold).

The best-looking, most flexible option is to cover the walls with horizontally grooved paneling onto which you can slide various shelves, racks, cabinets, hooks, ball caddies, and golf-bag racks. A single wall of GarageTek's product costs $2,500 to $3,500 (garagetek.com ). That's a splurge — but it's money well spent to turn your garage into useful space, gain control of your stuff, and put your cars back where they belong.

Happy organizing!