Rao bulletin 1 September 2015 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles

• 
  Rates can be negotiated. If you are a seller and a contract calls for a 6% commission, you can ask whether the agent will take less. “Offer 4%,” suggests Bob Nettleton, a social media editor for a natural health products website, who negotiated the commission when he used a real estate agent to sell his home. Or, he says, offer 2% if you find the buyer on your own and just need the agent to help with the standard process. He added that other factors, such as home price and how many services you expect, may also affect how much you can negotiate on the commission. While some worry that a smaller commission gives an agent less incentive to sell the house, it may be relative. After all, a $300,000 house doesn’t necessarily take twice as much work to sell as a $150,000 one, even though it nets double the commission. If someone saw your home on the Internet and called an agent to see it, the agent may not be any less likely to show it even if the commission is lower.
  
• 
  Another alternative is to look into services such as Redfin, ListingDoor or local flat-fee MLS agents that don’t use the traditional commission structure. And of course, some DIYers (or FSBOs — For Sale By Owners — as they are referred to in the industry) are using Craigslist, Zillow and similar sites to market their homes themselves. But before you automatically think cheaper is better, there can be times when you get what you pay for. Tom Scanlon, a financial advisor with Raymond James in Manchester, Conn., tells this story: “About 20 years ago, we were trying to sell our home. It just wasn’t moving. My wife suggested we drop the price $10,000 to move it. I did the math and called my Realtor. I told her I wanted to rip up our contract. I then told her I wanted to INCREASE her commission to 7%. She drove right over to our house with a new contract. Two days later, the house was sold for very close to the asking price. All of the other agents saw the 7% commission and jumped on it!”
  

Buying or selling real estate is a costly financial transaction, and the commission is just one part of that. Negotiating a real estate commission may pale in comparison to the extra money you’ll pay over the lifetime of a mortgage if your credit isn’t excellent. Someone with poor credit can end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more in interest, than someone with great credit (this tool estimates your lifetime cost of debt, based on your credit standing). Buyers should review their free credit reports and check their credit scores (something you can do for free on Credit.com, with updates every 30 days and get an action plan for improvement, if needed) several months before they start house hunting, in order to give them time to fix any mistakes that arise. And for sellers, working with a buyer who has already been preapproved can help you avoid the headache of a deal that falls through due to financing glitches. [Source: http://blog.credit.com | Gerri Detweiler | July 20, 2015 ++]

• 
  Look for sites that offer coupons or coupon codes. Popular sites include http://www.retailmenot.com and http://www.couponcraze.com. For deals on eating out and entertainment, check out https://www.groupon.com or (in most parts of the country) https://www.livingsocial.com.
  
• 
  Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson suggests following companies you like on Twitter and liking them on Facebook. Many offer special discounts and advance notice on upcoming deals at their stores through social media. Another way to get coupons and discount codes is by signing up to be on companies’ email lists.
  
• 
  When shopping, you can often determine whether the price on an item has been reduced as much as it can be by looking closely at the price tag on the store shelf. http://lifehacker.com offers a chart showing secret price codes used by major retailers that can help you figure out if you’re getting a really good deal or just the regular price. You can also install an extension like http://couponfollow.com/checkout on your browser and get automatic coupon codes for a wide range of retailers. Although these coupon codes provide extra discounts mainly to online purchases, some are also applicable in stores.
  
• 
  Stacy also recommends combining negotiating with online tools: “I’ll pull out my smartphone and show a store manager how much something costs online,” he says. “Now, they don’t always match that price, but they will often give me a discount.”
  
• 
  Another way to comparison shop without having to make the trek to dozens of stores is to let an online price-tracker do your legwork. These tools allow you to enter products that you may want to purchase, and they alert you — by email or other means — when the price drops at any of the stores they track. Stacy used price-tracking software to get his Wi-Fi speaker — and saved $50 in the process. There are many such sites. http://appcrawlr.com helps you search for the price-tracker that most meets your shopping needs, whether at a store or online.
  

3. Use a discounted gift card you bought online (but be wary) - The cards come from people who have a gift card for a specific retailer, but will sell it for less than face value in order to get cash. So, for example, you may be able to buy their $50 Eddie Bauer gift card for $40. But if you go this route, you need to be mindful of scams. Some of the more popular sites for buying gift cards include: http://www.giftcards.com/discount-gift-cards, which claims you can save 35 percent off of retail and covers more than 100 merchants; http://www.cardpool.com, which also claims 35 percent savings and free shipping; and https://www.cardcash.com, which deals with 550 merchants and also offers up to 35 percent off. A word of caution: Gift cards have been the target of many scams over time. The web site http://www.scambusters.org/giftcard.html provides a run-down of the most common ones and tips for protecting yourself from them. And, if the goal is to save money, heed a word of advice from www.scambusters.org/giftcard.html: Make sure you spend gift cards as you would cash and not like free money.

• 
  You get a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS. In the most recent version of this scam, the "IRS agent" informs you that you are being sued for unpaid taxes. She/he may give you a fake badge number and name.
  
• 
  The "representative" tries to pressure you into paying a fee by using a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. If you don't pay up immediately, the "IRS agent" will sign a warrant for your arrest. No matter how much the caller threatens you, don't fall for it!
  

1. Be wary if you are being asked to act immediately. Scammers typically try to push you into action before you have had time to think. The IRS will give you the chance to question or appeal what you owe.

2. The IRS doesn't call, text or email. The IRS won't call about payment or overdue taxes without first contacting you by mail.

3. Don't wire money or use a prepaid debit card. Scammers often pressure people into wiring money or using a prepaid debit card. It's like sending cash: once it's gone, you can't trace it. The IRS says it will never demand immediate payment, require a specific form of payment, or ask for credit card or debt card numbers over the phone.

4. If you owe taxes or you think you might, contact the IRS at 800.829.1040 or irs.gov. IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there is an issue.

5. If you know you don't owe taxes. Report the incident to the Department of the Treasury at 800-366-4484 or tigta.gov.

• 
  You answer the door, and it's a construction contractor. He says that he's just completed a job down the street, and he has a truck of leftover asphalt. Rather than take a loss on the supplies, he claims that he's offering driveway repaving at a cheap price. He quotes you a rate, and it's far below what the job typically costs.
  
• 
  This sounds like a great deal, but don't fall for it. Once they start working, these scammers will "find" an issue that causes them to significantly raise the price. If you object, the con artists may threaten to walk away from the job, leaving you with a half-finished driveway. In another version, the scammer accepts an upfront payment and then never returns to complete the job.
  

Driveway paving is far from the only version of this scam. Homeowners have also been taken in by similar techniques involving roofing, painting and other scams.

• 
  Work with local businesses: Make sure the contractor has appropriate identification that tells you it's a legitimate company. Check out businesses at BBB.org.
  
• 
  Check references: Get references from several past customers. Get both older references (at least a year old) so you can check on the quality of the work and newer references so you can make sure current employees are up to the task.
  
• 
  Make sure it's legal: Confirm that any business being considered for hire is licensed and registered to do work in your area. Also, if in doubt, request proof of a current insurance certificate from a contractor's insurance company.
  
• 
  Get it in writing: Always be sure to get a written contract with the price, materials and timeline. The more detail, the better.
  
• 
  Watch for "red flags": Say no to cash-only deals, high-pressure sales tactics, and on-site inspections.
  

Property tax is administered by county officials and officials of several state government agencies.  Although the Department of Tax and Revenue plays a major role in the administration of this tax, less than one-half of one percent of the property tax collected goes to state government.  The primary beneficiaries of the property tax are county boards of education.  Property taxes are paid to the sheriff of each of the state’s 55 counties.  Each county and municipality can impose its own rates of property taxation within the limits set by the West Virginia Constitution. Property is assessed at 60% of fair market value.

Seniors who are 65 or older and who experience a property tax increase of at least $300 on their owner-occupied West Virginia home over the past year may qualify for the Senior Citizen property Tax Deferment if their income was no more than $35,000.  The credit must be approved by your county assessor’s office.