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Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:35 PM PST

I don’t know about you, but I am not used to expressing myself in 140 characters. Hence, I completely understand and share the need to create some shortcuts.

“Creating some shortcuts” though took on a whole life of its own and just about became a language of its own… well, maybe not a language, but a dialect at the very least.

The other day my husband came back from work and asked me what IHIH (I hope it helped) meant. I am not sure why he thought I would know this, but it lead me to doing some research and putting together an abbreviated Twitter dictionary, which I called “Twitter Lingonary” (thumbs up or down on the name? – let me know in comments).

This is certainly not an exhaustive resource, so feel free to contribute to my every-growing “Twitter Lingonary” in comments.

BTW, IHA. (By the way, I hate acronyms).

• AAMOF = As A Matter Of Fact
• ABT = About
• AND = Any Day Now
• AFAIK = As Far As I Know
• AISB = As I Said Before
• AML = All My Love
• ATB = All The Best
• B/C = Because
• B4 = Before
• B4N = Bye For Now
• BION = Believe It Or Not
• BM = Bite Me
• BOL = Best Of Luck
• BR = Best regards
• BTU = Back To You
• BTW = By The Way
• DM = Direct message
• F4T = Food For Thought
• HAND = Have A Nice Day
• HB = Happy Birthday
• HIH = Hope It Helps
• IDK = I Don’t Know
• IDM = It Doesn’t Matter
• IK = I Know
• ITA = I Totally Agree
• IWIK = I Wish I Knew
• J4F = Just For Fun
• JIC = Just In Case
• JK = Just Kidding
• KIT = Keep In Touch
• LMK = Let Me Know
• LMS = Let Me See
• LTP = Learn To Play
• LTR = Later
• MP = My Pleasure
• MPTY = More Power To You
• MYOB = Mind Your Own Business
• N1 = Nice One
• N2S = Needless 2 Say
• NBD = No Big Deal
• NP = No Problem
• NPAA = No Problem At All
• NRN = No Reply Necessary
• OIC = Oh, I See
• OTL = Out To Lunch
• OTOH = On The Other Hand
• PLMK = Please Let Me Know
• PTM = Please Tell Me
• PTMM = Please Tell Me More
• ROTM = Right On The Money
• RT = Retweet
• TIA = Thanks In Advance
• TMB = Tweet me back
• TMI = Too Much Information
• TTFN = Ta Ta For Now
• TVM = Thanks Very Much
• TWYT = That’s What You Think
• TX = Thanks
• TY = Thank You
• TYVM = Thank You Very Much
• WAB = What A Bummer
• WAD = Without A Doubt
• WDYT = What Do You Think
• WGO = What’s Going On
• YW = You’re welcome
• <3 = This is the text version of a heart

Well, here ya go. If you want to learn more about Twitter (who doesn’t, eh?), read about how to get more Twitter Retweets here.

Love it or hate it? Comment to show me that you’re alive!

(need blog material?)

By: Barbara Eisner Bayer

Published: January 27, 2011

Sidestep snares in the complex IRS Form 5695 to get all the 2010 energy tax credits you’ve got coming.

Fill out the right part of Form 5695

What type of system did you install? If it’s one of the following, complete Part 1 for Nonbusiness Energy Tax Credits.

• Biomass stoves

• Insulation

• HVAC systems

• Roofs

• Non-solar water heaters

• Windows, doors, skylights

• Storm windows and doors

Max credit: 30% of the cost of the improvement, up to $1,500.

If you installed one of these souped-up systems, complete Part 2 for Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit.

• Geothermal heat pumps

• Residential wind turbines

• Solar energy systems

• Fuel cells

Max credit: 30% of the cost, with no limit except for a kilowatt limit on fuel cells.

What do I need on hand to fill out Form 5695?

• Receipts that show the amount you spent. The feds won’t pay for installation for some items. For those, the receipts must separate out the labor so you can add just the cost.

• Manufacturers’ certifications indicating that the improvements are eligible for the credit. Store them in a safe place in case the IRS asks for them in the future, but no need to file them with your return.

Coordinate with Form 1040 and other forms

For Part I, it’s pretty simple: Just enter the total of all this part’s credits (as shown on line 11) on Form 1040, line 52.

For Part II, it can get complicated because other credits, claimed on other forms, can affect the amount of your Part II credit.

If you need to fill out any of the following forms, have all the information needed to complete those at hand, because Form 5695, line 25, coordinates with all of them. (In fact, you’ll find it simplest to prepare all these forms more or less simultaneously.)

• Form 1040—lines 47 through 50, which refer to other credits you may be eligible for

• Publication 972—the child tax credit

• Form 8369—mortgage interest credits you may have

• Form 8859—tax credits applicable only to residents of the District of Columbia

• Form 8834—electric vehicle credit

• Form 8910—alternative motor vehicle credit

• Form 8936—electric drive motor vehicle credit

• Schedule R—care for the elderly or disabled

One form that’s irrelevant to completing 5695: Schedule A. That’s only for deductions, not credits. And you don’t even need to itemize to claim energy tax credits.

The pitfalls of Form 5695

You’ll find many places you can go wrong in both parts of the form:

Adding ineligible amounts into the form. Just because a product has an Energy Star label doesn’t mean it’s eligible for a credit. Check the details of what’s eligible for the credit and what’s not at Energy Star and make sure the product comes with a manufacturer’s certification.

Failing to keep track of this year’s energy tax credits for future years. Hang on to your tax credit paperwork (including receipts, certifications, and a copy of your completed Form 5695), because if you sell your house you’ll need to record the tax credit amount for tax purposes.

• Say you bought your home for $100,000 (the basis) and sold it for $400,000. Your profit is $300,000. But by taking tax credits, you lower your basis, so when you sell the house, you increase your profit in the eyes of the IRS. If you’re in your home for a long time and it appreciates, you increase your chances of getting hit with capital gains. Still, there’s little cause to worry: The government gives married couples selling a home a free pass on up to $500,000 of profit.

Failing to file this form at all—or only partially. If you’re eligible for a lot of different tax credits, you can conceivably reduce your tax liability to zero. If that’s the case and you want to tack on the 2010 energy tax credit, you’re out of luck. The feds consider it nonrefundable. If it were a refundable tax credit, the IRS would write you a check.

• Loophole only if you added a Part II improvement: You can carry the energy tax credit forward to 2011—or even beyond, at least as far as 2016. Even if you’re not eligible this year because you reduced your tax liability to zero, file Form 5695 anyway to make it easier to do the carryforward next year. Or just hold off installing that wind turbine until a year when you anticipate you’ll have fewer tax credits.

Forgetting certain credits that affect Part II—and vice-versa. Pay special attention to line 25: Certain other credits may ultimately affect your ability to fully claim Part II credits—just as Part II credits may affect other credits. Follow the line-by-line instructions in each form carefully. It’s easy to forget a number here.

Ack, I want help filling out Form 5695

If you find Form 5695 exasperating, you may be eligible for free tax preparation help from the:

• Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program

• Tax Counseling for the Elderly

• IRS at 800-829-1040.

Major tax preparation software, such as TurboTax, include this form in their packages.

Barbara Eisner Bayer has written about personal finance for the past 17 years. She works hard to translate IRSese into plain English. She has unbounded respect for CPAs.

Does your Facebook Business Page look professional?

You do have a FB Business Page, right?

Tell me you aren’t just using your Personal FB page for business. Are you showing photos of Uncle John’s Birthday party next to your great post of local market rates?

If so, you better create a FB Business Page now.

If you do have a Business Page – does it look like a Business Page? Does it have a Professional Profile Picture/Banner like the one on the left?

Also, have you added your listings from Realtor.com on your Business Page?

Did you know you can include an Welcome Page which (in some locals – not mine) can be your landing page when you’re first visited?

If you want more information about how to use Facebook and other Social Media in your marketing, or would like a customized FB Banner, contact me.

In the meantime, check out my Facebook Business Page and while you’re there, please “Like Me”.

Hey you. Yes… you! I just finished visiting your website and I’ve got to say it was one of the most painful experiences I’ve gone through in quite some time.

Even for an expert in all things, I had a hard time navigating it.  It’s painfully difficult.

I was searching for some information there. It was nearly impossible and every minute that I wasted made it more and more painful to continue.  Finally I broke.

“Excuse me.  I’ll be right back.”  I pushed my chair away from my desk and stepped over toward the door.

Immediately I began bashing my head into the door frame until my face was bruised, bloody and swollen.  After several minutes of mercilessly smashing my face into the door, I finally reached the point where the pain in my face was more than the pain of navigating your site.  I returned to the desk and tried to continue my quest.

Visiting some sites is simply more painful than getting a root canal with a plastic spoon.

Is your site like that? Seriously, is it?

If you’re wondering why nobody visits your site then maybe it’s because it’s so painful for people to visit it that they would rather play leap frog with a unicorn.  The male readers understand what I’m talking about on that last one.

Don’t get your feelings hurt thinking about this.  We all have to learn and grow.  That’s part of life.  In fact, that’s why Site Sketch 101 exists… to help you transform your site into something beautiful.

So study, work hard, and get better.

The 15 Deadliest Web Traffic Killers in 2011

Here’s a few things I noticed at your site that really made my eyes bleed.

1. You don’t post enough: One of the fastest ways to get even your regulars to start abandoning you and your site is to simply stop posting.
2. Your titles bore us to tears: All I can say on this one is to read this article, 15 Tips to Awesome, Eye-Jerking Post Titles.
3. You punch people in the face with ads: We all understand the desire to profit from your online ventures but there’s a tasteful way to make it happen.
4. Your site is ugly: First impressions are lasting impressions and your lasting impression is disgust.
5. You ignore your readers: If folks leave you a comment, it’s always a great idea to try to respond as much as you are able.
6. You write like a 2nd grader: Spend some time each day learning how to improve your mastery of the English language.
7. You’re all over the place: It’s okay to mix in a little variety, but a new design every week and random content will chase people away.
8. You write the same thing everyone else writes: If people can get the same information somewhere else, why should they visit your site?
9. Your content doesn’t live up to the headlines: You write a headline that offer 15 tips and then you only provide 9.

This is just a quick list.  But hopefully you get the point.  If you’re here at Site Sketch 101, then I hope that it’s to find out how to fix up your website or blog. I’ve laid out in cold, hardcore, brutal honesty the way to take your site to the next level.

by The KCM Crew on February 15, 201 — a repost

The conventional wisdom when selling a home has always been to wait until the ‘Spring Buying Season’. Over the years, that has seemed to make sense and is now accepted as a good strategy for those who want to sell their house and receive the best possible price. This real estate market has shattered many previously held beliefs. The wisdom of waiting for a spring market is another belief that is about to fall. Here are five reasons why?

1.) Interest Rates Are On the Rise

Interest rates have spiked up rather dramatically over the last ninety days and are now over 5%. Initially, an increase in rates has a positive effect on the market as it forces buyers off the fence. However, it also eats into a buyer’s purchasing power. As rates increase, the mortgage amount a buyer qualifies for decreases. This will eventually have a negative impact on prices.

2.) Your Dream Home Will Never Be Cheaper

If your family goal is to sell your current house and take advantage of the fabulous selection of properties currently available to buy the home of your dreams, DO IT NOW! Prices will continue to soften in most markets. However, if you are buying, COST should be more important than PRICE. Cost can be dramatically impacted by rising mortgage interest rates. Do the math and decide if now is the time.

3.) Buyers Are Out Early

There is mounting evidence that buyers are coming out earlier this year. A belief that now is a good time to buy coupled with the increase in interest rates has started the buying season early.

Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia:

“We’re seeing a national resurgence of buyer and seller activity on Trulia.com. In January alone, we experienced an unprecedented level of site traffic including 11 million unique visitors – which is more than 70 percent year-over-year growth. We’ve are now experiencing 100,000 property views per minute.”

The National Association of Realtors just reported that the number of house  sales increased 12.9% over last month.

4.) Inventory Increases Every Spring

Every year there is an increase of inventory which comes to market as we approach the spring. Here is the number of listings available for sale in 2010.

• February – 3,531,000
• March – 3,626,000
• April – 4,029,000

We believe there will be an increase in these numbers in 2011 as there is a pent-up selling demand created by the weak market of the last few years. You won’t have to worry about this increasing competition if you sell now.

5.) We Are in the Eye of the Foreclosure Storm

While banks are trying to rectify their foreclosure procedures, there is a large supply of discounted properties which has been delayed coming to market. This inventory will be released sometime in the next few months. Foreclosures sell on average at a 41% discount. When released they will be competing with your house for the buyers in the marketplace. If you are looking to sell in 2011, you want to sell before this inventory becomes your competition.

CNN Money quoted the leadership Of RealtyTrac on this issue:

“We’ve now seen three straight months with fewer than 300,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings, following 20 straight months where the total exceeded 300,000,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “This is less a sign of a robust housing recovery and more a sign that lenders have become bogged down in reviewing procedures, resubmitting paperwork and formulating legal arguments related to accusations of improper foreclosure processing.”

“We expect a spike in the first quarter,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac spokesman.

Bottom Line

These are five strong reasons to sell now instead of waiting until later in the year. Sit down with a local real estate professional today and decide the best options for you and your family.