For What Its Worth

Sept. 26, 2007

Short Sale Tax Relief Introduced in Congress

 

Rep. Charles "Charlie" Rangel , Democrat from New York and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, today introduced  H.R. 3648 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude discharges of indebtedness on principal residences from gross income, and for other purposes.

Currently the tax code ...

View More
Sept. 24, 2007

Short Sales - A Viable Solution?

A frequently heard definition of a short sale goes something like this:

"A short sale occurs when the lender agrees to take less than the full amount required to pay off existing loans in full because the outstanding loan balance is greater than the proceeds realized from the sale of ...

View More
Sept. 21, 2007

Is A Virtual Tour Right For Your Property?

I get asked all the time, "Bob, what advertising works best?"

Fsbo sellers want to know what works that doesn't cost anything, sellers want to know how their listings will be advertised regardless of effectiveness, agents want to know what they should stop wasting their money on, and brokers ...

View More
Sept. 15, 2007

Congress Looking To Change Short Sale Tax Implications

The Bush White House endorsed two new bipartisan bills aimed at eliminating the 1099C lenders are required by law to issue to sellers who "benefit" from debt relief realized with a short sale. The current tax code treats this debt relief as earned income. With the proposed legislative changes to ...

View More
May 17, 2007

60 Minutes, NAR and Real Estate Commissions

On CBS the other night, 60 Minutes ran a story that featured a real estate company called Redfin. Redfin is not the traditional real estate brokerage business model and the focus of the story keyed on how commissions are charged by different models. Needless to say, it didn't ...

View More
Sept. 30, 2006

The End of an Era

For someone who is seldom lacking something to say, I find this first post a bit more difficult to craft than I expected; even more so as I just watched Andre Agassi hobble off the court at Flushing Meadows after his 3rd round defeat in the U.S. Open. Instead ...

View More
Posted in For What Its Worth