Your brother will maintain your cost basis in the gifted shares, and you will have to file a gift tax return which will reduce your tax free estate upon death. 2.

Growing organically sounds great, but it doesn't work on FB anymore, not unless you are posting clickbait titles like "I went to the coffee shop for a cup of coffee, you won't believe what happens next!"

I would say it's a C or D area, but it's a great location for a rental as there are a lot of convenient shopping and grocery around and a lot of investors buying in the area.

He does 80% clothes and it's pretty much a one-man shop.

spent a lot of time thinking about this and came up with a few ideas..[ ] 100 stamps[ ] Upgrade a fixture in the house[ ] Paint one room of the house, any color but black. [ ] One time 10% percent rent reduction[ ] Babysitting (you have to make all arrangements, up to $35)[ ] 4 Movie tickets[ ] $30 Amazon gift card[ ] A box of mail order item like "nuts/baklava/oranges/etc"[ ] 1 Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory[ ] House cleaning coupon ~ $50

If you *intend* to shop something you're capable of buying and performing on yourself then this is a different matter altogether.There is a comment in the thread above about this being a religious war.

If this were not the case people could pull out equity and purchase vehicles, take family trips, go on shopping sprees, etc and still be able to deduct for these lifestyle changes.

As to a small company, closing companies are highly regulated, insured and bonded, even if it's a one man shop, it's the title company that insures and they are approved through the state insurance commissioner, so I suggest you just make sure they are authorized agents of the title insurance company and if so, you really have very little risk, your checks should be disbursed the same day of closing if you close in the morning, so they can get a final clearance.

I have $35,000 for a down payment but it was a gift from my parents.

Before I go mortgage shopping, I get my credit score, put together a balance sheet and a schedule detailing my DTI ratio.