Estate Planning Techniques

Heidi Scott is the owner of Schuyler Brown Land Title in Mt. Sterling, Illinois. An Illinois-based attorney, Heidi Scott is an expert at estate planning, tax law, and real estate.

Besides deciding the fate of your assets after death, estate planning also entails safeguarding your assets during your lifetime and resolving any potential issues that may arise in the future. When conducting estate planning, attorneys make use of several approaches.

Firstly, transferring a property to a trust for a defined number of years effectively avoids paying estate tax on a property. This trust is called a Qualified Personal Residence Trust. It allows you to give property without paying taxes while reclaiming possession later. The property’s gift tax value is often a fraction of what it would have been if the owner had retained it until death.

Similarly, a Family Limited Partnership allows people to bestow lifelong gifts without giving up control by assigning non-voting or limited partner shares in a family limited liability firm. These are essential family businesses that assist in decreasing estate taxes by lowering the amount of a person’s estate. As a bonus, gifts and assets delivered through these organizations are shielded from creditors.

Challenges Facing the Real Estate Industry

Heidi Scott is an Illinois-based attorney who served as the Illinois GBA’s President from July 2005 until June 2007. The owner of Schuyler Brown Land Title in Illinois, Heidi Scott specializes in estate planning, tax law, and real estate transactions.

With the current global economic instability, the real estate industry is faced with several challenges. The following are specific problems facing the industry that need solutions:

1. Expensive Housing

Rising building costs result in even costlier housing, making it increasingly difficult for individuals, especially Millennials, to find affordable housing in cities; West Coast cities such as Seattle and San Francisco are worse affected. According to data from CNBC, the current housing shortage could become the worst ever in the history of the United States. Real estate professionals will have to create more affordable housing solutions to bridge the increasing housing deficit for millions of Americans.

2. Deteriorating infrastructure

This is the critical challenge confronting the real estate business; according to data from APEX Commercial Group, critical infrastructure such as bridges and roads influence where businesses choose to build or relocate. When businesses decide not to invest in a specific area, private home buyers will also not move there because potential homeowners often base their decisions on dependable transportation, among other infrastructural needs.

3. Technological Innovations

The Counselors of Real Estate cited the lack of acceptance of modern technologies as the second most significant factor affecting the real estate business. The sector is failing to adapt to new technologies, such as innovative technology in homes and online applications that allow buyers to buy properties without using an agent.