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A urologist who is also a professor at Northwestern University’s medical school and his wife, a corporate attorney, have bought a home in Deerfield for $800,000.

Dr. Brian and Marni Helfand bought the home at 1660 Tall Tree Lane on Oct. 29. The home last sold for $465,000 in a bank sale in June. The 3,270-square-foot home was built in 1979.

Brian Helfand is a research assistant professor of urology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He has two degrees from Northwestern.

Marni Helfand is associate general counsel at Hudson, an IT staffing and consulting firm whose North American headquarters is in Chicago.

If the price of a commonly purchased item increases by a significant amount, some consumers will decide that the product is not worth the price and will stop purchasing that item or will find a cheaper alternative.  Businesses know this and avoid raising the price of the item to retain their customers, but the retailers still want to make more money with as little effort as possible.  This is why many companies use special fees to increase their profits without providing much more to their customers.

Special Fees For Convenience

The most prolific special fees used today are the convenience fees charged for doing business in a particular way.  These fees are often charged for paying a bill online or over the telephone, purchasing tickets to an event without traveling to the event location, or using a bank ATM machine to access an account that is not held by the same bank.  These convenience fees are often disclosed at the end of the transaction just prior to completion when there is less of a chance that the consumer will cancel the transaction to avoid paying the fee.

Special Fees For Transactions

Some companies now charge special fees for certain types of transactions in the accounts that they hold.  Banks and credit card companies are notorious for these fees and charge the fees for activities such as using a teller more times than the amount specified in the account information, using a credit card to access cash, making transfers between accounts, or having too many transactions within a specified time period.  Every company can choose what types of transactions will have special fees attached so one company may charge transaction fees that others do not.

Special Fees For Maintenance

Maintenance fees are typically fees charged by the company to perform the actions that it takes to service the account.  These actions have always been performed to provide information in the account current and to make the customer aware of the account information, but now companies add an additional charge for each action that the customer is expected to pay to continue using the account.  These charges may include fees for mailing paper account statements to the home, fees for reviewing account information for upgrades or lower interest rates, or annual fees for the privilege of accessing the account.  These fees can add hundreds of dollars to the amount that each consumer pays the company, adding millions of dollars to the company’s profits.

Carol V. Gilden has listed for sale a three-bedroom, two-bath at 3296 Brook Road in Highland Park for $459,000.

Michael Hope of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent. The 2,147-square-foot home was built in 1956 in the North of Half Day Road/Fort Sheridan neighborhood. It is located in the Krenn & Datos Highland subdivision.

Gilden is a partner and a member of the securities fraud and investor protection practice group at the Chicago office of the law firm Cohen Milstein. She also serves as vice president of the Institute for Law and Economic Policy

She previously was head of the securities class action practice and vice chair of the class action department at the Chicago law firm of Much Shelist. She also was president of the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys, where she is currently a member of the executive committee.

She received a B.S. in business administration from the University of Illinois and a J.D.

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With our grocery dollars seldom going any farther than they used to, many households are hit with the dilemma of how to acquire food for less.  Organizations like Angel Food Ministries and SHARE offer viable solutions to individuals and families by providing monthly boxes of groceries for considerably less than what they sell retail.

Each website offers a different monthly menu as well as specialty items which can be picked up at a host site located in your community.

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Many people want to enter the medical industry because of the job security and good pay it offers. Most people such as fresh graduates who can not afford the university training prefer to take courses in medical certificate instead of the usual four-year program. Same thing for the elderly who have lost their jobs because of the recession and must work in order to pay debts and loans they have acquired.

The medical industry is providing many job opportunities as demand for services of different health care are growing. Looking through this radiology technician info you find that it is a good opportunity for anyone looking for a job that will ensure stability.

One of the most advantageous work in the medical field is radiology technician. For starting your X-ray technician career, you can choose to complete a training course for 6 months or a 1-year educational program or you can opt for a 2-year course in radiology. Read more…

It should come as no surprise that the new year is a time of reflection and setting new goals for ourselves. Sometimes it’s a vow to be healthier, or maybe you will finally pay off that nagging credit card balance, but whatever it is we always seem to use January 1^st as some sort of finish line for bad habits and starting line for change. Well, unless you’re talking about something that does rely on the calendar year such as taxes, there’s really no difference between today and January 1^st. So, why wait?

Rather than waiting for the turn of the calendar you should sit down today and put a few things into motion immediately rather than waiting. This doesn’t mean you won’t stick to your guns and make any changes come January, but the longer you wait to do something, the better the chance of something else coming up and prolonging it even further. So, here

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The value of homes in the Chicago metropolitan area is forecast to fall 7.1 percent this year from 2009, to a cumulative $625.8 billion, according to a forecast issued today by real-estate web site Zillow. The projected loss of $48 billion in home values this year would be a better showing than the $66.7 billion loss in 2009 in the Chicago market, but a local real-estate agent says he believes homeowners will see values go down another 2 to 3 percent in 2011 due to the high numbers of foreclosures and short sales.

The local numbers are part of a nationwide report predicting that American homes will be worth $1.7 trillion less this year than they were worth in 2009. If true, the drop would be 63 percent bigger than a $1 trillion decline in 2009, and bring the total value lost since the market peak in 2006 to $9 trillion, according to the Zillow report.

“When home values were appreciating from 2003 to 2005 and in some cases, 2006, subprime mortgages became popular and people thought their homes would continue to increase in value,” said Zillow spokeswoman Katie Curnutte. “Th

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Many individuals today are facing the loss of a job, the loss of hours, or a decrease in the amount of pay they are taking home.  This can make paying all of the monthly bills difficult, if not impossible, causing stress and heartache for the individuals affected.  When facing a monetary shortfall, spending priorities must be established for every aspect of your life, including your monthly bills.

Your Top Priority

When facing a financial shortfall and unable to pay all of your monthly expenses, providing necessities for your family should always be your top priority.  Many creditors and debt collectors may not see the situation this way and may threaten legal action if they are not paid promptly.  Providing the basics that your family needs to survive is much more important than your credit score, so pay for these necessities before you spend the rest of your money paying your bills.

Housing Expenses

Your next spending priority should be your housing related expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and insurance premiums.  It is very important that you continue to have a place to live while you are trying to figure out your financial situation and missing these payments could cause you to lose your home.  Condo fees and lot payments for mobile homes are also very important real estate related payments that should not be missed.

Utility Bills

Having heat in the winter and electricity to power your stove are also very important for a simple quality of life and not having these things can make living in your home very difficult.  Utility payments for gas, water, and electricity should be the next payments made with the money that you have available.  All of the hard work and energy you put into earning enough to make your housing payment will be for nothing if the home is unlivable due to a lack of utilities.

Transportation Expenses

In many areas of the country, having reliable transportation is essential to being able to earn money to pay your bills.  If bus service is available, be sure to allocate enough money to be able to pay for the service to transport you to work or other necessary locations.  If a car is your main mode of transportation, be sure to stay current on your car payments and insurance payments so that you will be able to drive legally and not have your vehicle repossessed.

Low Priority Debt Obligations

Many of the debts that involve debt collectors making harassing phone calls are actually low priority debts that should be paid when the above expenses have been taken care of.  Credit card payments, open merchant accounts, and fees owed to professionals should be considered low priority debt because non-payment of these debts will not quickly result in a loss of your quality of life.