Daily Archives: August 27, 2006

iTunes and Netflix Replace my TV, Long Beach

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Frankly said, I cannot pay Charter $50 a month for commercial breaks every 6 minutes and very poor TV show quality.  If I could chose which channels to bundle, I wold change my mind.

Recently, one good news I heard was that the State of California was trying to force the cable companies to offer more choices in what consumers really want.   In other words, asking the cable companies to have us, consumers have only the channels we want.  That would make me change my mind since there are only 6 or 10 channels at most I would want to pay for.

However, iTunes is replacing my TV at the moment, which we dumped three years ago in favor of spending more time together and reading.  Sure I missed Scrubs at first but when Monk appeared on iTunes, something told me I could buy my movies and TV series soon and avoid paying Charter a high monthly fee and most of all, avoid brainless commercial breaks, and be tempted to watch American Idol?  Nah!  Never!  No can do.

So I tested the water and bought a few old songs, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, old sixties Status Quo and next Steely Dan.  I downloaded a few pilots which were so-so.  There was something about a moon being broken in half.  It was OK as most pilots take a while to develop their characters.  When will iTunes have Star Trek?

Next step is Netflix.  Though I wonder if they really have all the Star Treks and Twin Peaks I really want.  My what a society we have.

More 1031 Exchanges On The Horizon, Long Beach

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To cash in your real estate investment and forgo the tax bill in some cases, some people trade into another property.  Though 1031 Exchanges isn’t new, with a slowing market it is  enjoying a renewed popularity and all you need to do is sell one property, buy another with certain restrictions and time limits.

A section of the tax code known as 1031 allows investors to make a "like kind" exchange of investment properties and defer, and even in some cases avoid, capital-gains taxes.  You can exchange into new properties of equal or greater value, while deferring the tax hit.

Here is a quick example; an individual purchased a duplex 10 years ago for $150,000 now worth $500,000. Selling the property would get him $52,500 in capital-gains taxes.  However in a 1031 exchange, the $500,000 could be used as a down payment for another more expensive property.  The most common way is known as a deferred or delayed exchange must be identified within 45 days of the sale closing, and a deal must be completed within 180 days.

As usual, use a good Realtor who is well versed in 1031 Exchanges.  They will guide you through the stringent yet lucrative ways of this system.

You can read more on this subject here.