Financial promoter, wife plead not guilty: Judge grants request from Wade Cook for public defender

Financial promoter, wife plead not guilty: Judge grants request from Wade Cook for public defender

Well-known financial promoter Wade B. Cook and his wife pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges of concealing nearly $8.9 million from the Internal Revenue Service.

Cook, 56, and his wife Laura, 52, who own a home near Fall City, were charged in federal court last month.

Throughout the 1990s Wade Cook established himself as an author and speaker on investing. He has written dozens of books and conducted hundreds of seminars on asset protection, stock market investing, real estate acquisition and avoidance of income tax.

Vacation home not exempt from real estate taxes

Vacation home not exempt from real estate taxes

DEAR BOB: I own a beach condo, which I rented out last summer through a rental agency. This summer I want to use it as my second home, but periodically allow family and close friends to use it at a reduced rental rate to help with expenses. Am I required to pay tax on that rental income? –Alice H.

DEAR ALICE: If you rented your beach condo for more than 14 days in 2005, you are required to report that rental income and deduct applicable expenses on Schedule E of your 2005 income tax returns. However, if the rental days were less than 14, you can keep the rent money and Uncle Sam doesn’t care.

Rents increasing as office, industrial space remains scarce around S. Florida

Rents increasing as office, industrial space remains scarce around S. Florida

Office and industrial space will remain scarce across South Florida this year, leading to higher rental rates and giving landlords even more leverage than they have now, two leading real estate brokers say.

“I think people who have historically signed three- to five-year leases will want to lock into more long-term deals,” he said Wednesday. “Rates are only going to go up.”

Californians plan exit strategies

Californians plan exit strategies

Some simply can’t afford a home. Others own homes and are taking advantage of the strong real estate market to cash out and move to nicer homes in Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Oregon and beyond.

Ray and Sue Manzo have been told their Moreno Valley home could sell for $350,000. If all goes as planned, they’ll use the profits from the sale of their home to retire early and escape Southern California’s smog and rat race. Their eyes are set on a $190,000 3,200-square-foot home outside of Raleigh, N.C., where they plan to golf, grow their own vegetables and do ceramics.

Coast still waiting for storm repairs

Coast still waiting for storm repairs

In the weeks following Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, Treasure Coast residents with roof and screen damage counted themselves lucky if they could get roofers and screen repair companies to answer the phone.

They gladly wrote checks for deposits and gratefully took their place in the long line of jobs, bragging to desperate blue-roofed friends that they actually had a contract for repairs.

But more than a year later, some are still waiting and others who were hit hard by Hurricane Wilma are just beginning to squint at the fine print on their contracts, wondering whether they should call the police or a lawyer or both.

Southern Business: Marina space dwindling in U.S. hot spots

Southern Business: Marina space dwindling in U.S. hot spots

For eight years, Rob Quinlivan has lived in his version of paradise – a 40-foot power boat docked in a public marina.

It’s a life that’s given him adventure, freedom and a way to experience the best of South Florida without the soaring prices of its red-hot real estate market.

But Quinlivan’s slip fees have jumped $200 a month over the past two years, and he and other boaters are finding out the hard way that the real estate boom isn’t limited to dry land. Public places to dock are getting harder to come by as developers buy up marinas to convert them into private slips for luxury condominiums in popular areas such as Florida and California.