Even if your real estate agent knows how much the lender will allow you to spend, it's up to you to stick to your budget. If a real estate agent doesn't respect how much you'd like to spend, it might be time to find another agent. If you're looking for a home on state lines, you'll want to know which sides your agent represents.
There will be more and more homes on the market, so it is a good time to be a buyer. Buyers will have more homes to choose from and may be able to negotiate a better price. Buyers can have the luxury of moving at their own pace, and as sellers get nervous, buyers could get in on an even better deal.
Buying property at auctions can result in a great deal, but it's also easy to make a bidding mistake and end up paying too much or getting property you don't want. You'll sign papers for the property immediately, so bringing an attorney to the auction with you is a good idea. It's also a good idea to visit a few auctions as a spectator before committing to buying.
A seller has found a buyer for her home and are ready to close the sale without either of them having a real estate agent. The seller found a new home to buy, also without an agent. A real estate attorney is crucial when buying or selling without real estate agents.
Tax law states that a seller is entitled to a capital gains tax exemption on the sale of a primary residence. Homeowners must live in a primary residence for at least 2 years in order to get the exemption on the capital gains tax. A single person may keep $250,000 dollars free of a capital gains tax on a primary residence, while a married couple is exempt up to $500,000.
When you sell a home after your spouse dies you may be able to keep some of the profits tax-free, depending on how much they were. The IRS currently allows taxpayers to keep up to $500,000 in profit tax-free if they've sold their home within two years of the spouse's death. To find out the tax consequences for certain you should contact an accountant, tax preparer or estate attorney.
The IRS has clarified how long a home owner must live in a primary residence in order to avoid the capital gains tax. The home owner must live in the primary residence for 2 of the last five years in order to avoid capital gains tax when selling the house. The IRS lets the homeowner pick which 2 of the last 5 years they lived in the primary residence in order to avoid capital gains tax.
Just because there is farm land on the property with your primary residence, doesn't mean you can't receive capital gains money tax-free from the sale of the land. As long as the property has been your primary residence for 2 of the past 5 years, you can still receive capital gains money when you sell your primary residence. Capital gains is $250,000 if you're single and up to $500,000 if you're married, as profit from the sale of a primary residence.
It's important to consider the tax implications of giving your home to your children. If you give your children your home while you're alive, they'll receive the home at the cost basis for which you bought the home originally. If you wait to give the home to your children upon your death they'll receive the home at the cost basis it had on the day you died. The cost basis affects how much capital gains tax your children will pay on the home. It may be easier to pay inheritance taxes than capital gains tax and an estate of greater value can be excluded from inheritance or estate taxes.
A young couple is deciding how much of their investments to cash out and use them to buy a new home. The best advice Ilyce can give you is to walk the moderate course and cash out some investments in order to buy a new home. Ilyce says while it is important to cash out some stocks to put cash into your new investment, those stocks are a fall-back in case you need some cash for a rainy day.
