Wills in business during COVID-19 era? Draining your savings. Spending all or most of their savings on the down payment and closing costs is one of the biggest first-time homebuyer mistakes, says Ed Conarchy, a mortgage planner and investment adviser at Cherry Creek Mortgage in Gurnee, Illinois. “Some people scrape all their money together to make the 20 percent down payment so they don’t have to pay for mortgage insurance, but they are picking the wrong poison because they are left with no savings at all,” Conarchy says. How this affects you: Homebuyers who put 20 percent or more down don’t have to pay for mortgage insurance when getting a conventional mortgage. That’s usually translated into substantial savings on the monthly mortgage payment. But it’s not worth the risk of living on the edge, Conarchy says. What to do instead: Aim to have three to six months of living expenses in an emergency fund. Paying mortgage insurance isn’t ideal, but depleting your emergency or retirement savings to make a large down payment is riskier.
One way to kill a sale immediately is to have a potential buyer walk into your home only to be welcomed by the smell of a strong pet odor or your pet itself. No matter how adorable your pet is, do not assume that everyone is a pet lover and some people may even be allergic to them. You should also be extra vigilant about any pet odors by having your rugs steam cleaned in addition to vacuuming and washing surfaces. There should be no evidence of any pets in the home. Make sure to remove any bowls full of dog food, kitty litter boxes, doggy bones, or pet toys. Before scheduling a tour, you may want to take your pet to a friend’s house or rent out a pet hotel for the day.
Most estate planning lawyers have had some increase in the numbers of clients wanting to create or update wills and they have worked out ways of meeting with clients in settings where social distancing can be observed, outside on patios or driveways, with masks, sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and separate pens. Most provinces have allowed remote signing of wills and powers of attorney in some form or other, but the consensus from a lot of professionals seems to be that remote signing procedures should be a last resort when it is completely impossible to meet in a live setting. When remote processes are used, they must be identified as to timing, since it is quite likely that once the emergency measures are lifted, at least some of the new techniques introduced during the emergency will be rolled back. See additional details on Coronavirus.
Electronic signatures and counterpart documents are not permitted and all sessions should be recorded if possible. A special ‘attestation clause’ explaining that the Will has been witnessed virtually is advised and further guidance is expected to follow from professional bodies. This more convoluted and long-winded process carries more risk of the Will being ineffective, e.g. if the will-maker dies before the process has been fully completed. However a Will is signed, the basic formalities must still be observed, ie the will-maker must understand what they are doing and not be unduly influenced by anyone; witnesses should also have the requisite capacity and must not be beneficiaries or spouses/civil partners of a beneficiary. Professional advice should ideally be sought in all cases.
Pay Yourself First: This personal finance tip is another common one that can have a huge impact on your finances. When you pay yourself first, you’re investing in your financial future; you’re investing in future you, and future you will thank present you for doing so. So, why not just pay yourself at the end of the month? That’s a lot easier, right? Well, the reason why paying yourself first works so well is that once that money is sent to a savings account, you’re a lot less likely to spend it. If you wait until the end of the month to pay yourself, you might not have any money left! Future you will be very sad with no money. Make future you happy by investing in yourself! PS. The best way to pay yourself first is to do it automatically. Set up an auto-deposit with WealthSimple and you’ll never have to think about saving money again – it will just happen.
Examples include retail tenants requesting payment holidays from their landlords (landlords being the borrowers under loan agreements) which has in turn triggered potential breaches with respect to interest cover ratio covenants. Lenders and borrowers are generally seeking to stabilize their lending arrangements. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a large number of enquiries as to whether a material adverse effect (MAE) under a loan agreement could be invoked to refuse funding or in some cases to call an event of default. See even more information at https://techbullion.com/wills-and-covid-19-safeguarding-your-assets-during-a-global-pandemic/.