Mary Cummins Investigative Reporter Los Angeles, California: tax

Showing posts with label tax. Show all posts

Saturday, February 8, 2025

What's Happening with Shein, Temu, Chinese Tariffs, USPS and End of $800 Duty Tax Exemptions by Mary Cummins

February 1, 2025 Donald Trump imposed 10% tariffs on China. February 3, 2025 Trump ended the use of USPS to ship products from China, Hong Kong to the US. February 4, 2025 Trump eliminated the $800 de minimis limit for duty taxes from China. Days later Trump reversed everything except the new 10% China tariff. What does this mean for US SHEIN and Temu shoppers? Things are basically back to the way they were for now.

February 5, 2025 USPS agreed to continue to accept packages from China and Hong Kong after a major disruption of trade and packages piling up at ports of entry. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usps-suspends-packages-china-hong-kong/

February 7, 2025 Trump restored the $800 de minimis limit after airports and customs ended up getting stuck with tons of packages because they couldn't calculate and process the taxes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/07/trump-reinstates-de-minimis-tariff-exemption-for-shipments-under-800-boosting-shein-and-temu/

Trump stated that the US will now merely investigate getting rid of the $800 de minimis limit and USPS issues. If the US gets rid of the de minimis limit, US consumers will have to pay import duty taxes on what they buy. The rate varies depending upon what is purchased. I saw people online complaining that they were paying about 15% tax and a processing fee from the agent who computes the tax. Shipments were also taking much longer because of the new agent and time to compute and process the tax payments. The computations are difficult as the rates vary depending upon product, materials and purchase price.

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary, Cummins, #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, certified, single family, condo, condominium, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, fha, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, brea insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, 1073, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls, historical appraisal, facebook, linkedin

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Date of death, historical appraisal of real property for estate and tax purposes - Mary Cummins real estate appraiser, appraisal in Los Angeles, California

Mary Cummins, date of death, historical, appraisal, appraiser, Los Angeles, California

When some passes away and owns real estate a date of death, historical appraisal may be needed for tax or estate purposes. The appraiser's job is to ascertain the value of the property at the day of death. Cummins has been doing date of death, historical appraisals of real estate in Los Angeles, California for banks, lawyers and private individuals for over thirty years.

With an average residential property the appraiser gathers sales of similar homes without a certain distance within six months or so before the day of death. For example if the home was built in 1950, is 2,000 sf, 3 bed, 2 ba, on a 6,500 sf lot the appraiser would initially search for sold homes +/- 15% difference in square footage (1,700-2,300 sf), sold six months before date of death, within 1/2 mile radius of subject, in the same city and development. Ideally we should find at least six sold homes very similar to the subject property. We would then choose the most similar comparables based on condition, location, amenities, improvements...

Unfortunately this rarely happens except in newer tract homes so the appraiser must widen the search to find the most comparable sold properties. Location, size of improvement, bed/bath count are generally the most important factors. If the home has a view or is located on the beach, all comparables must have similar views, locations. The difference between view, no view can be up to 50% in some nicer areas near the ocean.

After we have chosen our six most similar sold comparables, we input them into our real estate appraisal form. We use ala mode software. We input the most similar of the six comparables into the number one column then add the rest in descending order based on degree of similarity. After this we adjust for each of the line item differences if necessary such as the differences in square footage, bed/bath count, lot size, condition, age.... Ideally we should have chosen the most similar comparables so we should have few adjustments.

Besides the sales approach we often include the cost approach. This generally sets the upper limit of value. This is not the best indication of value as there are generally few vacant land sales available in the immediate area. The appraiser generally has to obtain a land value by abstraction or allocation. Sometimes an income approach is added if perhaps the property is a vacation rental.

After we have done all of our research and have our sales, cost and income approach valuations we reconcile the three values to come up with the appraised value. With a single family home or two to four plex in most areas the sales market approach carries the most weight with the cost approach setting the upper level of value.

The final part of a date of death, historical appraisal is to add the limiting conditions. With this type of report the appraiser states that the property was inspected as of a certain date. The report was signed as of a certain date. But, the date of the "value" of the property is the date of death. The appraiser assumes the property was in the same condition on the date of death as inspected. If not, the appraiser makes note of the condition at date of death and includes this in the valuation.

Contact Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate Appraisals if you have a question or need a date of death, historical appraisal (310) 877-4770 or Mary@MaryCummins.com Average single family residential appraisal is $300.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary Cummins-Cobb, Mary, Cummins, Cobb, real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, single family, condo, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls,

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Marie Juliette Cummins Schott Sponsel is a tax cheat

UPDATE: 177 hits on this post. That is the most of any other post. If you are thinking of turning her in for tax fraud, it seems someone already turned her in to the IRS.

After someone called me today about "my" house at 9170 Thrasher Ave, I did some research. My grandmother named Mary R. Cummins bought this house in 1965 for about $20,000. In 1975 she gave it to my mother in a living trust. That means when my grandmother died June 4, 1991, my mother got the property. At this time the tax basis should have changed to market value.

My biological mother born Marie Juliette Cummins September 1936 is a tax cheat. She did not record my grandmother's death. Instead in 1994 she said my grandmother "gifted" it to her for a nominal amount. It wasn't a "transfer." My mom then gifts it from her Schott name to her Cummins name in 1995. Then in 2002 after my grandmother has been dead over ten years my mother then forges yet another document and states my grandmother gifted it to her in 2002 for again a nominal amount.

She continues to transfer the property for nominal amounts. This way she doesn't have to pay a stepped up property tax or any other transfer taxes. All the while she keeps refinancing it. It was free and clear when she got it. She then took out a $2,000,000 loan on the property and it looks like it's in my grandmother's name. She finally transferred it into her current holding name of Cummins Gift Trust then takes out a $3.1M 1st. September 2013.

Her annual taxes are $3,900 when they should be $60,000. She's been saving $55,000 a year for 22 years not to mention transfer taxes for all the transfers. She's done 100x more fraud than this besides stealing from me, my sister, grandmother, government, other people... The document below shows a summary of some of the transfers.

Marie Juliette Cummins Schott Sponsel is a tax cheat.

My grandmother is dead. Here is proof.

Mary R. Cummins is dead. California death index.

Mary R. Cummins is dead. Social Security death index.

And last but not least here is my grandmother's grave. My grandmother is dead. I can't believe my mother has been running around for the last 20 years pretending to be my dead grandmother. Actually, I can believe that.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=CUM&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=6&GScntry=4&GSsr=2001&GRid=3394892&

And here is my grandmother's headstone. She is dead.

I just did some more research. My mother states in the MLS it's a 4 bedroom 5.75 bath home of 5,020 sf. In tax records she states it's a 2,801 sf 3+3. I looked at the photos from the lease listing where she wanted $30,000 a month. It is indeed 5,020 sf. This means the additions she made were illegal and unpermitted. It also means she is not paying taxes on the illegal additions. She was reported to authorities for additions without permits. More property tax fraud.

I believe she kept transferring it every time there was at least $250K to $500K in appreciation. This way she can lie, state it was her primary residence then not have to pay capital gains. That's probably why she deeded it to her husband then to her husband and her as a couple. She saves paying tax on an extra $500K. She was not living in the house. She and her husband Clifford Sponsel live in Santa Barbara. That means she also lied when she filed an appeal of a permit approval. She stated she and my sister lived in the house when they do not.

Here is the agent detail of the MLS listing from 2005 when she tried to rent it. It's probably rented. I doubt she pays tax on that income.

9170 Thrasher Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90069