Tax Free Home Sales

Your Tax-Free Profits

Significant tax reform legislation was signed into law with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. This legislation replaced both the one-time $125,000 tax-free exclusion for homeowners aged 55 and older, and the “rollover” deferment of capital gains tax requiring the purchase of a replacement home of higher or equal cost within two years of the sale of your principal residence.

With this change, a married couple filing their taxes jointly pays capital gains taxes only on that portion of home sales profits that exceeds $500,000. Single taxpayers, heads of households, and married persons filing separately may exclude up to $250,000. The exclusion is available for all sales of homes that occurred on or after May 6, 1997. Homeowners can use this tax-free provision every two years.

You are allowed to keep these tax-free profits only if you have owned and used the home as your principal residence for two out of the five years prior to the sale of the property. Although the regulations do not require continuous occupancy, the IRS specifies that your principal residence must be the home you use for the majority of time during the year. Consult your tax advisor about your personal circumstance.

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by admin

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Making Your Williamsburg Dream Home Come True

Is it time to initiate the purchase of your first Williamsburg home? You may be starting a family and outgrowing your small apartment. If the time seems right to seriously consider buying a house in Williamsburg, but you are afraid you don’t you have enough cash, don’t worry! A new program with the federal government and the Virginia Housing Development Authority will provide a $8000 downpayment to new home buyers or those who have not owned a home in the past three years.

Real estate agents are experienced in helping first-time buyers locate the financial resources to make such a move. The first step is to sit down with an agent who is familiar with available loan programs. You will need money for the down payment, and your income must be high enough to meet the lender’s qualifying standards.

We may be able to minimize the amount of cash needed with a little help from either the sellers or the loan company. You might be able include some of the closing costs in your mortgage. The sellers might consider a lease/purchase agreement which would allow you to rent for a few months while accumulating the funds you need. If you are ready to buy your first home, let your real estate agent assist you in making your dream a reality.

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on June 28th, 2009 by admin

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Virginia Offers $8000 Downpayment to Home Buyers

If you are a new home buyer or have not owned a home in the past 3 years, we have good news.

The Federal Government is offering an $8000 tax rebate to first time home buyers. The 8K is received after closing and filing a form with the IRS.

Here’s where it gets good! The Virginia Housing Development Authority has ‘monetized’ the tax rebate and is giving the $8000 up front so that it can be used as a downpayment. It will be carried as a second mortgage until you get the money back from the IRS and you can then repay it or continue to carry it as a second mortgage.

Time limits on closing and other details are involved so you’ll want to speak with a mortgage person and your tax advisor.

Any questions on this program, give me a call.

Troy Deierling, Realtor
EXIT Realty Deierling & Assoc.
Williamsburg VA 23185
(757) 715-4793
troy@williamsburgemail.com
www.realestatewilliamsburg.com

Posted on June 24th, 2009 by admin

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Financial Help From the Government… No Kidding

If you are a first time home buyer or you have not owned a home in the past 3 years, you probably qualify for the new $8000 tax rebate.

Here’s where it gets exciting. In Virginia, the Virginia Housing Development Authority will let you use this as a downpayment on a home. Thats $8000, for free, to use as a downpayment on a home in Virginia. We’ve never seen anything like it and we are seeing the market starting to pick up.

VHDA Homebuyer Tax Credit Plus Program Features

• Affordable fixed-rate financing on both mortgages
• 0% interest on the second mortgage for the first year
• No payments required on the second mortgage for the first year
• Maximum second mortgage loan amount – up to 5% of sales price (no cash back)
• Loan must close no later than Nov. 30, 2009
For more information, visit www.vhda.com

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on June 18th, 2009 by admin

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Approved! FHA Will Allow Home Buyer Tax Credit for Downpayment

HUD announce OK to monetize tax credit for first time home buyers to use as a downpayment.

Who qualifies: The biggest qualification is to be a first time home buyer or in this instance, someone who has not owned a home for the past three years.

http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-072.cfm

From the HUD press release: Currently, borrowers applying for an FHA-insured mortgage are required to make a minimum 3.5 percent downpayment on the purchase of their home. Current law does not permit approved lenders to monetize the tax credit to meet the required 3.5 percent minimum down payment, but, under the terms of today’s announcement, lenders can now monetize the tax credit for use as additional down payment, or for other closing costs, which can help achieve a lower interest rate. Buyers financing through state Housing Finance Agencies and certain non-profits will be able to use the tax credit for their downpayments via secondary financing provided by the HFA or non-profit.

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on June 1st, 2009 by admin

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Wolfram Alpha Search Engine: A Google Killer? Nope

To much publicized hype, the Wolfram Alpha search engine, the next “Google Killer” launched on May 18th. I spent some time today playing around with it and was left completely underwhelmed. It reminds me of the Segway launch in it’s failure to live up to the hype.

I tried some searches and found that anything that was not completely general was met with a “Wolfram|Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input”. Sure, you search “Microsoft” and get a nice array of options but search something a bit more obscure like “Gateway computers” and I get the “Wolfram|Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input.” Google gave me loads of links to the company website and information about the company. It goes downhill from there.

I followed a sample search on the Wolfram Alpha search engine. It was a search for “housing prices New York” which Wolfram interprets as “New York | median owner-occupied home value”.. .. the answer $148,700 in the year 2000. Access to old, irrelevant data isn’t going to get me excited. The same search on Google gave me links to relevant, current articles on the housing market in NY.

Modify the search a little to “housing prices New York City” and goes back “Wolfram|Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input”. This search engine has to get A LOT better to be useful to the general population.

I’m sticking with Google for now.

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on May 23rd, 2009 by admin

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Insuring Your Williamsburg Home

Insuring Your Home

Many home buyers are concerned about whether they have an insurable interest in the property before the actual closing. The answer is an unqualified “yes”. Although the buyer is not yet the recorded owner of the property, he or she has an insurable interest in the property as soon as the agreement of sale is executed by both the buyer and seller.

Should you get hazard insurance before the closing? It depends. Buyers do not usually insure a property until the title passes to them from the seller. However, it’s wise to know what the agreement between you and the seller stipulates with regard to insurance.

Most agreements state that the property will be insured for a specific amount. This is very important to both parties. From the buyer’s point of view, it is also critical that an adequate sum or full replacement value be stipulated. Watch out for agreements which read “as now insured”. This is an all-too-common practice which usually indicates that the seller does not to want to increase inadequate insurance coverage.

“Bringing you Home to Williamsburg”
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
©2009 Troy Deierling

Posted on May 12th, 2009 by admin

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Wordpress for Realtors: Plugins that work for Real Estate

Plugins for Wordpress are what allow you to make your blog or website your own.

For these plugins to work you have to host your own Wordpress installation. Plugins do not work with the free www.WordPress.com accounts.

My favorite WordPress plugins, so far:

Great Real Estate plugin. Set up your own featured homes page
NextGen Gallery: Display your listings photos as a widget in the sidebar of your blog.
AddThis: Social networking buttons automatically added to each post.
FeedWrangler: This one is a bit quirky on install but broadcasts your posts via an RSS feed.
ShareThis: Like #3. It’s a social networking linking option.
Pagemash: Allows you to reorder your pages (not posts) in the order you want.
Stats: Hooks into your old WP.com account to provide you with visitor stats and hit counts.
Wordpress CSS Dropdown Menu- Very cool drop down CSS menu. Easiest one to configure I found. Need a bit of knowledge of CSS to implement, IMHO.
WP Download manager - allows you make files available for download off your WP site.

These can all be found on the Wordpress website. Wordpress offers many, many plugins and not all of my WP websites use the same plugins. This should get you started though for a real estate website.

Posted on May 2nd, 2009 by admin

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Getting a Down Payment

Financial Help

Home prices often cause many first-time buyers to seek help from their families for the down payment on a new home. If your parents are providing financial assistance for the purchase of a home, it is important that you have very clear agreements with them about the conditions under which their help will be provided.

Sit down with your parents to discuss the details of the arrangement. Is the money they are providing a gift or a loan? If it is a gift, be sure to check with your tax expert to minimize the tax implications. If your parents are loaning the money for the down payment, how will it be paid back? Will there be joint ownership with an equity-sharing agreement? Will your parents be named on the ownership papers with you? Are special documents needed?

Check with your mortgage lender to find out any stipulations that they may require.

Whatever form it takes, parents who help their children buy a home give them an incredible gift!

Posted on May 2nd, 2009 by admin

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Williamsburg Homes: Insuring your Home

Insuring Your Williamsburg Home

Many Williamsburg Virginia home buyers are concerned about whether they have an insurable interest in the property before the actual closing. The answer is an unqualified “yes”. Although the buyer is not yet the recorded owner of the Williamsburg property, he or she has an insurable interest in the property as soon as the agreement of sale is executed by both the buyer and seller.

Should you get hazard insurance before the closing? It depends. Buyers do not usually insure a Williamsburg property until the title passes to them from the seller. However, it’s wise to know what the agreement between you and the seller stipulates with regard to insurance.

Most Virginia agreements state that the Williamsburg property will be insured for a specific amount. This is very important to both parties. From the buyer’s point of view, it is also critical that an adequate sum or full replacement value be stipulated. Watch out for agreements which read “as now insured”. This is an all-too-common practice which usually indicates that the seller does not to want to increase inadequate insurance coverage.