News - Friday, May 20, 2022

As the fourth-generation steward of Fidelity Trust Company, Matt McGauley has steered the Chattanooga venture his great-grandfather launched in 1912 toward commercial real estate development, with an emphasis on adaptive reuse of historic buildings and ground-up projects.

Spurgin & Mattingly’s East Main Street office is decidedly unpretentious for a law firm.

From the framed Ruth Bader Ginsburg quote on the wall of the lobby (“Women belong in places where decisions are being made”) to the playful “My office, my rules” sign on a nearby bookshelf, a light feminist touch sets the tone.

Greater Chattanooga Realtors this month joined more than 9,000 Realtors from across the nation in Washington. Our purpose was to further our work with Congress to advance policy initiatives that strengthen the ability of Americans to buy, invest, own and sell commercial and residential real estate.

Making home improvements will enhance your home’s comfort and add to its value. But not all home improvement projects are created equal.

If you plan to sell your home in the near- or long-term, take the time now to focus on those projects that offer the best return on your investment.

Time passed differently in the pandemic, the days moving slowly and the years were flying past. Many of the usual “bookmarks” of time – celebrations, events and milestones – were canceled.

Among those missing milestones was apparently visits to health care providers. Some 21% of primary care visits were skipped in 2020, Medical Xpress News reports. For some specialties, the numbers were much higher.

Four senior managers at HHM CPAs are now partners in the accounting firm’s Chattanooga office. The addition of Brittany Carman, John Coker, Chad Goodman and Robert Malone brings the number of partners to 22.

Carman has been with HHM CPAs for three years and has over 15 years of public accounting experience. She focuses on the accounting and assurance needs of privately held companies in various industries, including construction, nonprofit and manufacturing and distribution. She also leads audits of employee benefit plans.

Chattanooga Gas employees this month volunteered at the Pot Point Nature Trail near Signal Mountain in partnership with the Tennessee River Gorge Trust. Employees pruned trees, spread gravel and cleaned the 4.1-mile hiking trail loop.

This is the 13th consecutive year Chattanooga Gas partnered with TRGT to help clear trails and restore riverside areas. The company brings its own tools and machinery to assist with each project along the trail.

You might enjoy owning your home – but the mortgage? Not so much. In fact, you might want to do everything you can to pay it off as quickly as possible. But is that always the best strategy?

In one sense, your mortgage can be considered a “good” debt because it’s backed by a tangible asset – your home – that has real value and may even gain further value. Furthermore, by historical standards, you’re probably paying a pretty low interest rate on your mortgage, so you’re getting a lot of benefit – a place to live and a potentially appreciating asset. And if you itemize on your taxes, you can possibly deduct some, or maybe all, of your mortgage interest.

Home values have been soaring, but the amount of home sale profit you can shelter from taxes has not.

The $250,000/$500,000 exemption hasn’t changed since it was created in 1997, even though median home prices have almost tripled. That means more people face capital gains taxes when selling their homes. You’ll want to use every legal means necessary to minimize taxes, which means understanding exactly how the home sale exclusion applies in your situation, as well as what improvements and other costs could shrink the taxable profit.

My mom died at age 61, when I was 31. Seeing her headstone in a field of others smacked me with a brutal, if obvious fact: Everyone, including everyone’s parents, will die.

I promise I’m not trying to depress you. I want to prepare you, as this loss can happen sooner than you’d expect. And when parents die, it’s often up to their children to manage not just grief but also financial tasks.

Acura launched its MDX three-row luxury SUV more than 20 years ago, and a redesigned fourth-generation model has arrived for 2022. It features a sleeker design, a more spacious cabin and a new range-topping Type S trim.

The improvements go a long way toward revitalizing Acura’s top SUV, but it has to vie for shoppers’ interest against another stalwart – the Audi Q7.