What Is a Short-Term Lease? A lease agreement is typically considered short term if it is signed for a duration of six months or less. A month-to-month lease is a common type of short-term lease, but short-term leases can also be weekly leases or any random duration of time that both the landlord and tenant agree to. The main difference between a short-term lease and a long-term lease is flexibility. The landlord can change the terms of short-term lease as long as they give proper notice....

Learn how much commission agents typically make, what that looks like in action, who pays the commission, and how buying a house versus a commercial property may be different. How Much Commission Do Real Estate Agents Make? Most real estate agents are paid by receiving a percentage commission on the sales price or rent of each property that they help a client sell, buy, or lease (rather than a flat fee for a transaction, for example)....

“That’s wonderful,” Ogas told them. “But they’ve already evicted me.” Six days earlier, Ogas had been kicked out of the one-bedroom apartment where she lived in Fort Worth, Texas. She put her possessions in a storage unit and moved to a room in a house belonging to a friend of a friend. It was a situation the 58-year-old former healthcare marketing professional had never thought she would find herself in....

D-Keine/E+/Getty Images How a Statement Credit Works A statement credit reduces your outstanding balance by the amount of your redemption, similar to a refund. For example, if you have a $100 balance and redeem your rewards for a statement credit of $5, your outstanding balance goes down to $95. Essentially, a statement credit lets you spend less money on your outstanding credit card balance, which can be especially beneficial if you’ve accumulated a high amount of rewards....

Time Limits for Negative Information By law, credit bureaus are only allowed to list negative items for a certain amount of time. For most negative information, the time limit is seven years or seven years plus 180 days for a charge-off. Bankruptcy, however, can stay on your credit report for up to 10 years. Normally, you don’t have to do anything to remove old debts from your credit report after the time limit has run out....

Rent-to-Own vs. Seller Financing While renting a home with the goal of owning it and seller financing both involve paying the owner of the home while you live there, you will find some distinct differences between the two methods of purchase. Rent-to-Own With most rent-to-own programs, the buyer has the “option” to buy the home at some time in the future. The buyer lives in the home as a renter. The renter has the right to purchase the home someday but is not obligated to do so....

The credit was fully refundable. Eligible taxpayers were able to obtain an additional federal tax refund of up to $7,500 in 2008, even if they had no other tax liabilities, so it was a very advantageous credit indeed. But those who took the credit in that one year are obligated to repay it. The History of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit The credit was worth up to $7,500 for homes purchased in 2008, or $3,750 for married individuals who filed separate returns....

The Average P/E for the S&P 500 Index and How to Analyze It The price-earnings ratio, also known simply as the “P/E,” of the S&P 500 Index, can be used as a general barometer for determining whether stocks or stock mutual funds are fairly priced. For example, an above-average P/E on the S&P 500 may indicate that stocks in general are overpriced and thus near a decline. If the P/E on the S&P 500 is below its historical mean, it may indicate a good time to buy stocks or stock mutual funds....

You don’t want to include the list on your resume. Create a separate list you can upload with your job application, if requested, and have one ready to share with the hiring manager during or after your interview. Here’s information on how to provide a list of references to a prospective employer, how many references to list, what to include, and how to format a reference list. How Many References to List Typically, employers ask for three references, but that number can vary....

How to Handle a Second Interview To make it through the next round, you’ll need to be comfortable with both the standard interview questions and the curveballs, while paying special attention to topics that are most likely to come up in this phase of the interview process. Match Your Credentials to the Job Before the interview is the right time to match your credentials to the employer’s job requirements. Even if you did this prior to the first interview, do it again using the information you learned from the hiring manager....

This article compares two of the most common types of IRAs for business owners: A SEP IRA and a Roth IRA. SEP IRA vs. Roth IRA for a Small Business: What’s the Difference? An IRA allows you to set aside money for retirement, either tax-deferred until your retirement or after-tax at the time of the contribution. A SEP IRA is part of a simplified employee pension (SEP) plan that allows you to put money into an IRA (specifically, a SEP IRA) using your business earnings, with tax-deductible contributions....

Giving sufficient notice will give your manager time to plan for your departure, begin the hiring process, and make sure that your responsibilities are covered. It will also allow you to wrap up current projects or arrange to transfer your responsibilities to a colleague or your replacement. Here’s information on what to do when you need to resign without much (or any) notice, what to tell your employer, and examples of short notice resignation letters....

Below are several examples of broad objectives that are reframed as specific, SMART goals. As you review the sample SMART goals, notice how each example outlines several subgoals, or specific actions, that need to take place in order to accomplish the overall goal. SMART criteria can also be applied to each of those smaller goals in the same way as shown here. Broad Goal Example: I Want to Start a Business Specific: I will sell handmade cards through Etsy....

You might find that you’re putting off saving money yourself if you’re grappling with a bunch of credit card debt or other obligations that you feel need to be taken care of first. The problem is that if you wait on saving money until every penny of debt is gone, you have lost valuable months and years of investing time and compound interest. The following pointers can help you find ways to squeeze in a few easy savings tricks that will start accumulating money in an almost painless fashion....

Rates are still relatively low by historic standards, but when combined with soaring sale prices, higher borrowing costs are increasingly discouraging homebuyers, polling shows. (The Balance’s daily data only goes back to April 2021 and the yearly highs and lows only as far back as 2020, but we do know the highest the 30-year average got in 2020 was 4.71% in March, while the lowest it went was 2.89% in December....

How Tax Brackets Work Your income tax rate primarily depends on two factors—your income and filing status. Income tax is a progressive tax, which means the tax rate increases as your income increases. Income limits for tax rates also change depending on where you’re a single filer, married filing jointly or married filing separately or a head of household filer. 2022 Tax Brackets For Single Filers For single filers in 2022, every dollar of taxable income between 0 and $10,275 is taxed at a 10% rate....

Skyrocketing mortgage rates, which hit two-decade highs in November, have thrown cold water on a hot housing market that saw prices shoot up 42% since the pandemic’s onset as homes became less affordable to many prospective buyers. The decline in affordability has forced many would-be homebuyers out of the market, smothering sales and hurting prices. Some housing economists predict only a modest decrease in prices next year, while others see a crash coming....

The jump was driven largely by increases in exports, and an increase in government spending, among other things. But looking at the total picture of the U.S. economy, so far this year we aren’t growing, but rather keeping our heads above water, as third quarter growth erases the losses we saw in the first and second quarters. Even with the third quarter gain wiped out by previous quarterly losses, today’s GDP figures do point to the resilience of the economy, especially at a time when many were concerned that the U....

Median one-year-ahead expectations for the annual rate of inflation fell to 5.7% in August from 6.2% in July—still relatively high but far lower than the actual inflation rates we’ve seen all summer, with prices up 8.5% in July from the year before. Three-year-ahead projections fell from 3.2% to 2.8%, not far from the Fed’s target rate of 2%. Meanwhile, more respondents believe their incomes will rise, as median expectations for rising income hit a record high of 3....

Types of Sell Orders The most basic way to sell a stock comes through what’s called a “sell order.” Once you know you’re going to place a sell order, you’ve got to decide what type of sell order you’d like to place. The main types of sales-related orders include: Market orders: These orders are sold nearly instantaneously at the current market price. The benefit is that orders are executed as quickly as possible....