Why Is a Living Trust So Important?

Having a living trust is an important topic. That's why I've brought in Michael Crupi of The Trust Pros to help me explain the benefits. 

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Why is it so important to make sure your home is in a living trust after you buy it? Today I'm joined by Michael Crupi from The Trust Pros to help me explain this topic.

As Michael says, when you get fire insurance, it insures against the potential hazard of your home burning down, but there's not a contingency built in for other types of hazard in your life, and that's where a living trust comes in. You want a living trust to have a plan to cover all other contingencies. Also, in the unlikely event that something happens to you and your spouse, you'll have a written plan that says exactly what will happen in the event of some other catastrophe. 

So what's the difference between a trust and a will? 

As Michael says, a will covers just one contingency, saying "If I die, here's where my stuff goes." A will also guarantees that your estate will be overseen by probate, meaning California courts will oversee your estate. They will send letters out asking if anybody wants to contest the will, and if anyone does, it can tie up your estate for years. Everything is public knowledge when you have a will. A living trust makes that all go away. 

With a living trust, estate transition is instant and private without any court intervention.

The transition of the estate to the beneficiaries is instant and private and there's no intervention by the courts, Michael added. In addition, there's a whole section of living trusts that covers other issues that a will doesn't cover. For example, a will has a power of attorney for financial, where you put someone in charge and say "If I get sick and I can't run my business, then my spouse will run it." Well, if your spouse is also sick, then you'll appoint someone else to run the business of your life and pay the expenses. 

There's also power of attorney for medical, where you make all decisions in advance and input that contingency, so that way, if your spouse is no longer here or incapacitated, you choose an alternate to that person. There's a whole component to a living trust that a will doesn't even touch on.

Thanks to Michael for joining us to talk about this very important topic. If you have any questions for him, you can reach him at 866-993-0299 or email him at MichaelCrupi@aol.com. He'll actually make a visit to your home!

As always, if you have any questions about the greater Los Angeles market or you're looking to buy or sell a home, you can always give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to help!

The City’s Plan to Fix Broken Sidewalks

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Uneven and broken pavement might be a very familiar sight in your neighborhood. For that very reason the city of Los Angeles intends to roll out a new program this July - the Fix & Release Sidewalk Repair Program.

The LA city council recently unanimously endorsed a plan that will spend $13 billion over the next three decades to fix broken sidewalks in LA. The city estimates that there are more than 4,500 miles of broken and unsafe sidewalks that cost the city millions in lawsuits every single year.

The city plans on repairing sidewalks next to residential, business, and industrial buildings, regardless of whether the damage was caused by a tree planted by the city or not. Once repaired, the city will offer a 20-year warranty to sidewalks for residential properties. Business and industrial properties will only have a five-year warranty because of the excess of foot traffic and wear and tear.

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City council recently endorsed a plan to spend $13 billion over 30 years to fix sidewalks in LA.

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A repair spending gap will be put in place to ensure even spending and to avoid spending too much in one single sight. The final ordinance will put caps based on certain parcel sizes and types. There will be rebates, so that property owners will be encouraged to fix their own sidewalks within the city. The rebate will only be offered for a limited time. To receive this rebate, homeowners must make the repairs themselves in the first three years of the program.

The rebate would be about half the average cost per square foot. One city councilman estimated it would be about $15 per square foot. One nice thing is that the city will be waiving permit fees. If you don’t want to wait up to 30 years for a repair, you can do the work and get the rebate for about half the cost of doing the repair.

The city will begin certifying and keeping records for which sidewalks are in good condition and what works they’ve been able to do so far, and to ensure they’re compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Fix & Release program is really a fair solution to a problem that’s been plaguing LA for decades, and it’s a far cry from the hidden point of sale program that they were trying push through initially.

If you have any questions about this program or would just like some more info, give us a call or send an email and we’ll happily send some out to you!

What You Need to Know About Earthquake Insurance in Porter Ranch

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Today we are happy to be joined by Zachary Schneiderman of Schneiderman Insurance, who is here to talk to us today about some of the common myths and misconceptions of earthquake insurance. As we all know, we live in earthquake country, and in light of all the recent earthquakes we’ve seen over the past few weeks, we thought this would be a good topic to discuss.

There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to earthquake insurance, but it’s an important item to have if you’re a homeowner in the area. If you don’t carry earthquake insurance and your house is affected, you are going to be responsible for 100% of the costs, and may even have to take a loan out from FEMA.

Now, if you have a 10-15% deductible that earthquake insurance typically has, that’s all you will have to borrow. When you’re looking at making a loan payment after an earthquake, it’s a lot better to only have to pay 10-15% back over time than 100%. If you can afford it, it makes a lot of sense to have.

One thing that’s important to note is the recent changes that have come to the California Earthquake Authority. This organization started after the 1994 earthquake, but they haven’t made a lot of changes to their coverages and options since then. In addition to the 10% and 15% deductible options they had in the past, they have added 5%, 20%, and even 25% deductibles as well.  Another thing they did was raise their limits. In 1994, $25,000 in loss of use coverage was a lot, but not so much anymore. Their loss of use coverage goes all the way up to $200,000 today.

Another important thing to note is that if you have certain items like a pool house or detached garage, the California Earthquake Authority does not cover that and you’ll need to get coverage from an outside company.

Thank you to Zachary for joining us today. If you have any questions for him, feel free to give him a call at (818)322-4744. If you have any other questions for us, we are always available to chat via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you!