Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 21, 2015

B5

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 21, 2015 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


HARDER THAN IT 
LOOKS

 With markets so rapidly changing, it's easy to imagine how property appraisers might sit in a darkened 
room, waving their hands over a crystal ball, and producing the mysterious and all-powerful 
document of a home's value. Let's dispel the notion of magical figures and look more carefully at 
the process.

 When comparing against similar properties, it's not just the final price that counts. Appraisers also 
factor in any "incentives" offered, such as sellers who pay closing costs or remodeling allowances. 

 Perhaps the most important factor that lenders review in an appraisal is the closing dates of the 
"comparables" (other homes by which yours is measured). Unfortunately, with today’s stricter lending 
requirements, most "comps" must have sold within the last 60 or even 45 days to carry weight. 
Markets change so quickly that any sale price over two months old may be completely irrelevant.

 Now a few words about how foreclosures in a neighborhood affect determination of value. Technically, 
appraisers shouldn't consider them, because they don't fit the Appraisal Institute's definition of 
"a property reasonably exposed in a competitive market." However, if several area homes have been 
abandoned, we know the negative effect that can have on a home's “perceived” value.


WOMEN, YOU ROCK!

- By and large, mothers and housewives are the 
only workers who do not have regular time off. 
They are the great vacation-less class.

- Most women with children will put their 
children’s needs before their own.

- Women earn 78% less than men and are at risk of 
a compromised lifestyle if they and their husband 
do not plan well for a future in which his income is 
no longer there.

- The history of all times and of today especially, 
teaches that women will be forgotten if they forget 
to think about themselves. - Louise Otto 

 Women, you especially, need to know the 
following about estate planning:

 Kids Protection Planning provides parents with 
important legal tools to name short- and long-term 
guardians, gives instructions and guidelines for 
those guardians and executes medical powers of 
attorney that allow you to dictate medical care for 
your minor children in case they are injured and 
you are not with them.

 A will and a living trust are both essential estate 
planning tools, and although both can be used 
to transfer assets upon death, they serve separate 
purposes. A living trust takes effect when you 
become incapacitated or after death. It allows you 
to hold assets for your benefit during your life and 
transfer those assets, without the need for probate, 
after your death. A will only takes effect upon 
death and is used to cover assets that do not need 
to go through probate.

 Women need to execute financial and healthcare 
durable powers of attorney so a trusted friend or 
family member can make financial and/or medical 
decisions on your behalf in case of incapacity. And, 
if you are married or partnered, make sure your 
spouse or partner does the same so you can handle 
their financial and medical affairs if something 
happens to them.

 Make sure your partner/spouse has life insurance 
to support you and your children for as long as 
you will need support in the event of their death. 
Women often don’t have their own life insurance 
if they don’t bring in an income. This is a mistake. 
Think about the cost of finding someone to handle 
your responsibilities if you aren’t able to take care 
of them yourself and secure enough life insurance 
to cover those costs. 

 Keep beneficiary forms for retirement accounts 
(IRAs, 401(k)s, etc. ) up to date, as they determine 
who receives the assets of each one of your 
accounts. 

 We men don’t like to think about leaving you 
to pick up the pieces if something happens to us 
even though statistically you’re likely to outlive 
us. We love and appreciate you and want things 
to be as easy as possible for you. Your well-being 
and financial security is our priority. But hey, we’re 
guys. Sometimes we need to be prodded just a bit. 
Right? Take care of yourself and don’t be afraid to 
prod. We’ll come around. I promise.

 To you family’s health, wealth, and happiness,

 A local attorney, father, and CASA volunteer 
(Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children), 
Marc Garlett is on a mission to help parents protect 
what they love most. His office is located at 49 S. 
Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. 
Schedule an appointment to sit down and talk about 
ensuring a legacy of love and financial security for 
your family by calling 626.355.4000 or visit www.
GarlettLaw.com for more information.

COLOR EXPLORER: FIND YOUR HEX VALUES

Colors play an important role in brand recognition. 
Sometimes I can’t remember the name brand of a 
product I’m looking for at the market. But, I still 
find the product because I remember the color of the 
container! 

 Big brands like McDonalds, Starbucks, Pepsi and 
Coca-Cola are very particular about consistent color 
use. You should be too! 

 Have you ever been asked for the HEX 
(hexadecimal) values for the colors in your brand? 

 Different on-line tools often allow you to plug 
in a specific color # (HEX value). For example, 
in Constant Contact, you might want to match a 
background color, headline or graphic element to a 
color in your logo to tie it all together. That’s good 
design technique. 

 I recently discovered a cool tool at a Constant 
Contact training session that makes finding your 
HEX colors a snap. 

 Color Explorer (www.colorexplorer.com) is free 
to use. It allows you to easily create, manage and 
evaluate color palettes for your web designs, email 
campaigns, Canva creations and much more. 

 With Color Explorer, you can simply upload your 
logo or an image, and it will extract a complete color 
palette of all the colors in that image. It will give you 
the HEX value as well as the RGB values. 

 I suggest that you print out your brand’s color 
palette and keep it handy as you create email 
campaigns, graphics in Canva.com and other on-
line tools. 

 

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, 
a creative services business that specializes in 
Digital Marketing strategies. Connect with them on 
Facebook at www.facebook.com/hutdogs. Sign up 
for their upcoming workshops at: www.hutdogs.com/
workshops/schedule 


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