Federal Housing Bill Benefits Consumers who do not itemize their tax returns
With so much of the emphasis placed on the benefits to homeowners at risk of foreclosure, many consumers are unaware that the recently signed federal housing bill also benefits consumers who do not itemize their federal tax filings. Millions of homeowners are now allowed to claim a deduction for at least a portion of their local and state property taxes. Although intended as a one-year economic relief measure, tax experts believe that the new deduction will become a permanent feature in the tax code.
It is estimated that 50 percent of homeowners itemize their returns, but one-third of them do not have any mortgage debt on their property and therefore do not claim mortgage interest as a deduction. This provides greater tax fairness to a large group of homeowners who choose to file a standard deduction and also pay local and state property taxes. The majority of this group includes seniors and lower-to-moderate-income households.
Opponents of the tax plan argue that it allows the government to continue pushing the financial benefits of homeownership versus renting. However, it is important to understand that homeowners outnumber renters roughly 2-to-1. San Diego investment property sales
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Three more years of precipitous drops and I’ll be able to afford one….. YEA! San Diego Real Estate Sales
Property prices are only beginning to tumble. They will stabilize when they finally hit or surpass equilibrium value as determined by their P/E Ratio. Dental Services in San Diego
Real estate homes should be thought of as just that and not investments.
Irving Texas Legal Firm
Many supposed beneficiaries of the 300 billion in FHA loans will be
unable to qualify for these products. Many used no-doc loans to qualify
the first time and, in truth, did not have the means to satisfy their
debt obligations. In the current economy it is unlikely things have
changed. San Diego Hotels
As I understand the new rule.. the vacation home/income property change
affects purchases after 2009… prior purchases are grandfathered.
Begining in 2009 if you buy a vacation home and move into it for a short
time you can only write off a portion of the capital gain.. i.e if you
own a vacation home/ income prioperty say for 8 years and decide to rent
out your primary home and move into the property for 4 years then sell
to get exemption they divide the number of years you have owned the
property by the number of years you occupied it as a primary residence
and the percentage is what you use to calculate gain.. In the above
example if you had a gain of $200,000 then you could excluded 50%( 8
divided by 4) of the gain( $100,000) and the balance($100K) would be
taxable at long term capital gain rates. Houston TX Lawyers