Category: Real Estate
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Real estate flippers beware
IRS warns real estate investors to beware of tax schemes targeting real estate investors. The schemes tend to be offered by financial firms that are not professional tax advisers but promise favorable tax savings through the improper use of like-kind exchanges. Sales pitches may encourage taxpayers to exchange non-qualifying vacation or second homes. Many promoters of like-kind…
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Selling a rental property?
If you are planning to sell a rental property then it is likely important to estimate the taxes that will be due on the transaction. The calculation can be complicated but fortunately we have software available to help with the number-crunching. Just give a call and we can schedule time to run through the possible scenarios.…
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Evaluating the risks and rewards of small business crowdfunding
I’m now loosely tracking 17 activity different US-based small business crowdfunding portals. This excludes all the portals intended for personal or charitable crowdfunding that would bring the total to 31. The number of investment options continues to grow and the field continues to grow more complicated. The risk to investors remains high and grows in…
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Bearish on McMansions
The U.S. homeownership rate fell to the lowest level in more than 50 years in the second quarter of 2016 according to the latest census data. The last time the portions of households that owned their own home was this low was in the early 1960s when my father bought his first home as a…
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Is this the time to buy at the Jersey shore?
The national housing market is healthy. Median sale price for a previously owned home reported by the Realtors Association in June 2016 was $239,700, up 4.7% from a year earlier. Overall, it seems like real estate has returned as a healthy asset class to consider for investment. But it is not clear that home prices…
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Sad goodbye to neighbor in the NJ Blue Acres program
The individual stories of my neighbors involved in the Blue Acres buyout program are heartbreaking. I’m not blaming the state for the program. These are voluntary purchases; no one is forced to sell. But facing building code fines and violations after Sandy, many see this as their best option. Yet I don’t see how the state’s…