Many of today’s home-sale transactions require several rounds of counteroffers to reach a mutually agreeable purchase contract.

Last year, multiple offers were common. Consequently, it took no time at all to negotiate a sale. In most cases, buyers had only one shot at getting the price right. The winning contracts were negotiated quickly with little, if any, bickering over price and terms. If you missed the mark, you rationalized that it wasn’t meant to be and searched for another opportunity. Multiple offers have declined. Instead, multiple counteroffers are becoming the norm. Negotiation is back in vogue. Real estate buyers are on more equal footing with sellers than they’ve been for years. (more…)

search for : negotiate, buyer, contract, counteroffer, Real estate, seller

Partial exclusion (of profit) from the safe harbor category.

If you have recently sold your house at a significant profit, and if you have not been keeping up with the tax laws, you will be pleasantly surprised. If you are married, if you meet the legal requirements described below, you can exclude up to $500,000 of the profit you have made. If you are not married, or file a separate tax return, the exclusion is reduced down to $250,000 of profit. For many years, there were two tax concepts which helped save homeowners from paying a lot of capital gains tax: the “roll-over” and the “once in a lifetime.” However, the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, signed by President Clinton on August 5, 1997, abolished both of these concepts. The roll-over and the once-in-a-lifetime exemption for homeowners over 55 years of age are real estate and tax history. (more…)

search for : profit, tax law, tax return, homeowner, capital gains tax, roll-over, Taxpayer Relief Act, exemption

According to this author, luxury wins out.

No longer just a cheaper alternative to the single-family home or a retirement option for boomers, today’s condo market is filled with an ever-expanding array of options. From ultra-luxury high-rise penthouses that rival million-dollar detached homes and hotel condominiums that let owners live like VIPs to city lofts for young professionals and shipboard residences, the growing condo market offers a choice for every buyer. (more…)

search for : single-family home, retirement, boomer, condo market, high-rise penthouse, detached home, hotel condominium, VIP, young professional

What’s happening in California is now happening in rural North Carolina, particularly the mountainous counties.

In California’s most remote corner, the air is crisp, the sweeping plains and towering peaks inspire awe, and the median home price just crested $100,000 for the first time. Yes, you read it right. Modoc is California’s only county where the median price of a home has stayed so low for so long. It is the least expensive nook in one of America’s priciest states, a place where home buyers live out the pluses — and many of the minuses — of that elusive concept, “affordability.” (more…)

search for : California, rural North Carolina, mountainous, median price, home

BB&T’s decision comes seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court said in a 5-4 ruling that state legislatures could pass eminent-domain legislation affecting private property.

BB&T Corp. weighed into the eminent-domain debate yesterday, saying that it would not make loans to commercial developers planning private projects on land seized from private homeowners by local governments. “The idea that a citizen’s property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact, it’s just plain wrong,” said John Allison, the chairman and chief executive of BB&T. (more…)

search for : U.S. Supreme Court, state legislature, eminent-domain legislation, private property, BB&T, eminent-domain, loans, commercial developer, private homeowners, local government, citizen’s property, private use, John Allison

The NAR (National Association of Realtors) recently surveyed home buyers which revealed that nearly 40 percent of all buyers arefirst-timers and of those, 43 percent used no-money down financing.

With the cooling of the housing market, first-time buyers need to be assertive in elbowing their way up front of the home-buying line — now. The cooling, or normalizing, doesn’t mean the market is tanking. It means just what it says — it’s going to be more normal. Housing will continue to appreciate, sellers will continue to sell and buyers will continue to buy. The question is whether buyers will take advantage of this leveling off and get a good deal while the sellers are forced to give up a few things. One of the items that was sidelined during the searing market the past few years, was the very commonsense financing offered through various government and private agencies to help first-time and cash-poor buyers get into the home market. (more…)

search for : NAR, National Association of Realtors, home buyer, first-timers, no-money down financing, housing market, home-buying, Housing, sellers, buyers, financing, cash-poor

Read your policy!

Since small insurance claims are hazardous to your coverage, it makes sense to increase your deductible. Instead of $500 go to $1,000 or more. After all, you’re not going to jeopardize coverage over $500 so why have such a small deductible? A higher deductible will reduce premium costs and that’s a good way to start the New Year. It also makes sense to speak with your insurance broker every so often — and now is the time. You want to know about the status of your insurance policy (whether it’s in force), whether coverage should be tweaked in light of changing home valuations and if any new insurance coverage is required. (more…)

search for : insurance claim, coverage, deductible, higher deductible, insurance broker, insurance policy, insurance coverage

School districts in North Carolina rely heavily on the state to finance their operations and pay salaries for teachers, administrators and staff.

That traditionally has meant revenues from the local property tax. There are good arguments for continuing to rely on the property tax to raise the money Wake anticipates it will need. Those with the most wealth tend to pay the most. Business and industry also share the property tax load for schools, and rightly so since they benefit from a knowledgeable work force. Nevertheless, the county’s property tax rate would have to almost double over 10 years’ time to support all the school construction now projected as necessary. That would pose a real burden for many people — especially retired folks getting by on modest fixed incomes, who would be worried about being taxed out of their homes. (more…)

search for : School district, North Carolina, teacher, property tax, county’s property tax rate, school construction, retired, fixed income

It’s well known that first-time buyers make up a significant percent of the existing home marketplace.

The great strategy of the American real estate market works like this: You buy a first house and then as incomes rise and equity grows you move up to something closer to the ideal home. It doesn’t really matter if the “ideal” home is a mansion on the hill or something with four bedrooms rather than three. To make the system work you need first-time purchasers because if you don’t have lots and lots of first-timers then you don’t have replacement buyers for the folks who want to move up. (more…)

search for : real estate market, bedroom, first-time purchaser, first-timer

Tenants in common designation may be the way to hold title to your own home.

There really isn’t any specific guidance from IRS about whether or not they would permit 1031 exchanges to be rolled over into commonly owned properties for the purpose of minimizing capital-gains taxes. The watershed moment that made all this possible was the IRS’s revenue procedure 2002-22 in March of 2002. (more…)

search for : Tenants in common, IRS, 1031 exchange, commonly owned properties, capital-gains tax, 2002-22