Las Vegas real estate

Real estate investors cast watchful eye on Las Vegas' high stakes housing game SFGate Home Business Sports Entertainment Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos SFGate News Web by Real estate investors cast watchful eye on Las Vegas' high stakes housing game Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, March 7, 2005 now part of stylesheet -- More... Printable Version Email This Article Las Vegas' lucky number last year was 52 -- as in 52 percent. That's how much real estate prices jumped in the nation's fastest-growing city in one year, as a housing shortage set off a wave of speculation by investors from California and other states. But as any gambler knows, Lady Luck eventually turns a cold shoulder. Las Vegans wanted to cash in, too, and so many put their houses up for sale that they flooded the market. By the end of the year, some homebuilders were slashing prices. For investors from states like California where prices seem to move in only one direction -- up -- it was a stark example of a deflating bubble. "When you lose money in real estate, you really feel it,'' said Igor Doncov, a software engineer in Half Moon Bay who bought two new houses in Las Vegas early in 2004 but sold them at a loss after his builder, Pulte Homes, cut prices on its new models by $180,000. "I thought I couldn't lose," he said in a telephone interview. "But it turned into a total disaster." Housing analysts don't think Las Vegas' slowdown is a sign that prices will soften soon in other fast-appreciating regions. But they say it is a warning of what could happen in the Bay Area as interest rates go up -- particularly for people trying to "flip" houses for a quick profit. "Everyone is watching Las Vegas with its price appreciation and flipping," said John Karevoll, an analyst at DataQuick, the La Jolla real estate research firm. "If something weird happens, it'll happen there first." For years, Las Vegas real estate was cheap. Myrna Kingham, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, remembers not-so-distant days of driving around in a pickup wearing high heels and showing clients dusty 5-acre parcels listed for $20,000. But as the population of Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County grew 81 percent in the 1990s, adding 621,160 people, housing prices caught up, matching the national median of $145,000 in 2001. Then last year, the market caught fire, boosted by healthy job gains, a growing stream of retirees, Californians drawn to lower home prices and an influx of investor money. Builders, faced with a shortage of workers, had trouble keeping up. Add rock-bottom interest rates, and the scene resembled the go-go days of the Bay Area's tech boom. Hundreds of would-be buyers descended on open houses, and home prices seemed to increase as quickly as the progressive jackpots in the slot machines on the Strip. Record appreciation In the spring of 2004, the median price for a single-family house was $269,000, 52 percent higher than the year before -- a national record for appreciation, according to the National Association of Realtors. "The market was hotter than blazes," Kingham said. "People were looking for affordability -- they wanted a nice home in an area with nice weather that they could buy for $200,000." Californians, who pay some of the highest home prices in the nation, took notice. Golden State residents have snapped up nearly 27,000 Las Vegas properties since 2000, according to DataQuick. In 2004 alone, California residents bought 11,600 homes -- 12 percent of the transactions in Clark County for the year. Bay Area residents bought nearly 7,800 Las Vegas properties over the past five years. In the second quarter of 2004 alone, the number who bought Las Vegas property doubled from the same quarter the year before, to more than 800,surpassing investment in Sacramento, the Tahoe region and Palm Springs for the seventh straight quarter. But in less time than it takes to build a single house, the market changed. Egged on by the stratospheric prices their neighbors were asking -- and getting -- homeowners in Las Vegas flooded the market with "for sale" signs. The number of existing houses posted for sale on the Multiple Listing Service ballooned from about 1,400 in February to more than 16,000 by October. Among them were never-lived-in homes offered by investors who had bought them only months before from national homebuilders -- who were selling their own brand-new houses literally across the street. In early fall one of those builders, Pulte Homes, took the extraordinary step of slashing prices by $25,000 to $180,000 on more than 20 of its Las Vegas-area developments. The move sent shock waves through the Las Vegas building industry and angered investors like Igor Doncov. Doncov, a 57-year-old engineer who was a victim of the technology flame-out, was one of thousands of investors who hoped to turn a quick profit by buying and selling Las Vegas property within a few months. Early last year he bought two new houses from Pulte Homes for $515,000 each. By the end of the summer, he said, the houses were worth well over $600,000, based on Pulte's prices for the same models. Then Pulte cut the price by about $180,000. Doncov sold the two properties in December and January for $480,000 and $490,000; after closing costs and sales fees, he estimates he lost $100,000. He is working with a lawyer to try to recoup the losses from Pulte, on the grounds Pulte misled investors by systematically raising new home prices, then abruptly lowering them. Many people in Las Vegas shrug at tales like Doncov's, saying any plan to get rich quick is fraught with risk. "There are people who come here and lose all kinds of money on the card table," said Keith Schwer, an economist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. By December, it was clear the peak of the frenzy had passed. Residential building permits that month were 34 percent below the previous December's, as measured by the Center for Business and Economic Research, which Schwer directs. And 15 percent fewer people were moving to Las Vegas -- some undoubtedly spooked by the region's steep jump in home prices. Pulte officials would not comment on the price reductions. In the wake of Pulte's move, other builders also cut prices but made no formal announcements. KB Home, the region's largest home builder, didn't cut prices but did tighten its policies on sales to investors. Contracts now stipulate, that, barring the loss of a job or other major problem, those who resell their properties within a year have to give KB Home the profit. Despite the builders' moves, Schwer and other experts say the Las Vegas market remains healthy. In recent months, they say, the number of homes for sale has declined and homes are selling faster. In January, however, there were still 13,800 homes for sale. Though the median price for a new home climbed 6 percent to $307,500, the median for an existing home -- $251,000 - was up only one half of one percent from a year before, according to Schwer. Over the long term, the area's job growth -- including a new 8,000-employee casino opening in April -- warm climate, entertainment options and well-equipped airport will continue to draw buyers, Schwer said. On a Friday morning in February, Bill Jeffers, who owns Valley Furniture in Livermore, toured a $731,000 home in a subdivision called Inverness. By buying a home in Las Vegas, Jeffers, who has lived on Maui for several years, will shorten his twice-monthly commute to the store and put his grandchildren into strong school systems. "I tried to get in last year, but there were just too many other buyers," said Jeffers, a Livermore native. Some making profits And some investors who bought wisely are making profits. Stephanie Wedge, a San Jose real estate agent who also brokers property in Las Vegas, bought a house for $625,000 last May. She put the 5-year-old home on the market on Feb. 23 for $775,000, and she expected to get an offer the following week. "That's a really good turnaround," said Wedge, who also has reserved a condo in a yet-to-be built high-rise. "I think it depends on where the property is -- and this is in a gated, country club community." The continued pace of construction serves as an outward sign of the region's confidence. On a stretch of freeway south of the Strip, a sign reads "KB Home, Next 5 Exits." Adding more houses to a market already flush with them would seem to only exacerbate any stagnation in the market. But Dennis Smith, president of Las Vegas' Homebuilders Research Inc. pointed out the vast majority of new homes are presold. The market "is still in correction mode because of the high inventory in the resale segment,'' he said. "It will probably take at least six months for that to end." So, will what happened in Vegas, stay in Vegas? Schwer doubts Las Vegas' deceleration will bleed into the Golden State -- or any other state -- in part because Las Vegas growth rates were so far above the norm. Others say the arc of Las Vegas' recent experience may contain a hint of the Bay Area's future. While the nine-county region saw much lower price appreciation last year than Las Vegas -- an increase of about 17 percent -- Ed Leamer, a UCLA economist, contends that both regions are enveloped in a speculative frenzy. In Las Vegas, an oversupply of homes relative to demand may spell price declines. Back in the Bay Area, Leamer thinks rising interest rates will take some of the air out of the market as fewer people qualify to buy expensive properties -- though any correction would be far less dramatic than Las Vegas'. "Because the market has cracked in Las Vegas doesn't mean it's imminent in other areas," Leamer said. "But it gives you a sense of what may happen in these areas in the face of rising interest rates." E-mail Kelly Zito at kzito@sfchronicle.com . Page A - 1 Get up to 50% off home delivery of the Chronicle for 12 weeks! MARKETING Compelling writer? Action 36 Cable 6 (KICU-TV) MECHANIC SF tugboat co POKER Expert poker player needed REAL ESTATE Sales *FREE TRAINING! Prudential CA Realty SALES Can you sell the President? IPA SALES Benefit package AGI Publishing SALES $125K PLUS In-Home Kitchen Kitchenworks, Inc. 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Rental Property How do

FAQ on Taxes & Rental Property Intuit Home Intuit Products Support | Order Status | Shopping Cart Home Online Products Desktop Products Business Tips & Resources Sign In Automatic Renewal My Downloads Tax Tips & Topics Business Taxes Education & Taxes Employment Taxes Family & Taxes Homeowners & Taxes Investments & Taxes Retirement & Estate Taxes Tax Law & the IRS Tax Planning & Savings Tax Prep & Filing E-mail this Print this FAQs on Taxes and Rental Property How do I handle taxes on my rental property? When you rent out your own property, you may face two kinds of headaches: tenants and taxes. We can't do much about the tenants, but we can help you with tax questions. TurboTax Premier walks you through rental property issues. Learn more Consider this scenario: Just after graduating from college and getting married, Sue started her first job. Her new job is 800 miles from where she had lived while in school. The condo that her spouse had purchased a few years before they met has dropped in value. Sue and Steve would be out of pocket several thousand dollars if they sold the unit. So they decided to rent out the condo. Now they’re faced with figuring out whether, and how, to report this rental on their tax return. Does this story sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. Taxpayers in similar circumstances find themselves asking these questions: Is rental income taxable ? When do I owe taxes on rental income ? Are security deposits taxable ? What can I deduct ? When can I deduct improvements and repairs ? How do I calculate depreciation ? How do I report a rental activity on my tax return ? What are passive activities, and how do they affect me ? Is Rental Income Taxable ? Yes, rental income is taxable. But you're allowed to reduce your rental income by subtracting expenses that you incur to manage, conserve, and maintain your rental property. When Do I Owe Taxes on Rental Income? As a cash basis taxpayer (which includes nearly all individuals), you must report all income in the year you actually receive it regardless of when it was earned. If you receive rent for January 2006 in December 2005, report the rent as income on your 2005 tax return. If you receive a deposit for first and last month's rent, it's taxed as rental income in the year it's received. If you receive goods or services from your tenant in exchange for rent, you must value the goods or services at their present worth and report that value on your return in the year that they are received. You must also report income that you have received constructively . This means that you have the opportunity to receive the income. For example, if your renters place their January checks in your mailbox late in December, you cannot avoid reporting it as income simply by not removing it from the mailbox until January. Are Security Deposits Taxable ? Security deposits are not included in income when you receive them if you plan to return them to your tenants at the end of the lease. (Deposits for the last month's rent are taxable, because they are really rents, paid in advance.) What If I Pocket Some of the Security Deposit? If you eventually keep part or all of the security deposit because the tenant does not live up to the terms of the lease, you must include that amount in the income that you show on your tax return for the tax year in which the lease terminates. So you should keep track of the security deposits from year to year. This record-keeping isn't difficult if you only own one rental, but as the number of rentals you own increases, so does the paperwork. What Can I Deduct? All expenses incurred and paid by you to manage, conserve, and maintain a rental property are deductible in the year paid. Even if your rental property is temporarily vacant, the expenses are still deductible while the property is vacant and held out for rent. Deductible expenses include, but are not limited to, the following: Advertising Cleaning and maintenance Commissions Depreciation Homeowner's associations dues Insurance premiums Interest expense Local property taxes Management fees Pest control Professional fees Rental of equipment Rents you paid to others Repairs Supplies Trash removal fees Travel expenses Utilities Yard maintenance All expenses deducted must be ordinary and necessary and not extravagant. If you deduct travel expenses, you must allocate your expenses between rental and non-rental activities. For example: John, who loves to ski, owns a rental condo in Park City, Utah, which he visits in January. His travel expenses are deductible if, for example, the primary purpose of his trip is to clean and paint the unit after his tenants have moved out. If during the week, he spends three days cleaning and painting and two days skiing, he may deduct 60 percent of his travel expenses on his tax return. Keep good records. To deduct any expense, you must be able to document the deduction. That means keeping current and accurate records of your expenses paid, including all receipts, checks, and bank statements. When Can I Deduct Improvements and Repairs? Any improvements to the property must be depreciated over their useful lives (which are defined by the IRS), rather than deducted in the year paid. Improvements are actions that materially add to the value of the property or substantially prolong its life. Examples include: Additions to the structure Adding a swimming pool Installing a water filtration system Modernizing a kitchen Installing insulation Repairs, on the other hand, are deductible in the year paid. Unlike improvements, repairs just keep the property in good operating condition. Examples of repairs: Minor repainting Fixing broken gutters or floors Fixing leaks Replacing broken windows or doors For more information see IRS Topic 414: Rental Income and Expenses . How do I Calculate Depreciation? Depreciation is a deduction taken over several years. You generally depreciate the cost of property that has a useful life of more than a year, but gradually wears out, or loses its value due to wear and tear, or wind and rain, when the property is used in business, or to produce income. To figure out the depreciation on your rental property: Determine your cost or other tax basis for the property. Allocate that cost to the different types of property included in your rental (such as land, buildings, so on). Calculate depreciation for each property type based on the methods, rates, and “useful lives” specified by the IRS. 1. Determine Your Cost Basis Your cost basis in the property is generally the amount that you paid for the property (your acquisition cost plus any expenses in making the purchase). Your payment, then, includes any loan proceeds that you used to acquire the property. Review your purchase closing documents to identify any other expenses that you may deduct. Examples include: Financing costs Interest and taxes Homeowner's association dues If you are converting your property from personal use to rental use, your tax basis in the property is calculated differently. Your basis is the lower of these two: Acquisition cost The fair market value at the time of conversion from personal to rental use If the property was given to you or if you inherited it, or if you traded another property for the current property, there are special rules for determining your tax basis in your rental property. Consult IRS Publication 551, Basis of Assets , for more information about computing your tax basis in these situations. 2. Allocate the Cost by Type of Property After determining the cost or other tax basis for the rental property as a whole, you must allocate the basis amount among the various types of property you're renting. When we speak of types of property, we refer to certain components of your rental, such as the land it is built on, the building itself, any furniture or appliances you provide with the rental, etc. If your rental is a condo or other property that shares property within a community, you're deemed to own a portion of that property. Therefore, even a third floor condo is deemed to own a portion of the land and a portion of the purchase price must be allocated to the land upon which the building is built. Why this effort to divide your tax basis between property types? The different types of property are each depreciated using different rules and different lives. 3. Calculate the Depreciation for Each Type of Property Here are the most common divisions of tax basis for a rental property, followed by explanations of the different methods of depreciation. Type of Property Method of Depreciation Useful Life in Years Land Not depreciated N/A Residential rental real estate (buildings or structures and structural components) Straight line 27.5 Nonresidential rental real estate Straight line 39 Shrubbery, fences, etc. 150% declining balance 15 Furniture or appliances Double (200%) declining balance Straight-Line Depreciation In straight-line depreciation, the cost basis is depreciated (or, allocated) evenly over the tax life of the property. Example: A residential rental building with a cost basis of $150,000 would generate depreciation of $5,455 per year ($150,000 / 27.5 years). In the year that the rental is first placed in service (rented), you are allowed a deduction based on the number of months that the property is in service, with 1/2 month for the first month. In the example, if the property is placed in service in August, you are allowed a deduction for 4-1/2 months of $2,046 ($5,455 x 4.5 / 12). Declining Balance Depreciation This kind of depreciation is calculated by multiplying the rate, 150% or 200%, by the straight-line depreciation calculated based on the adjusted balance of the property at the start of the year over the remaining life of the property. To make matters somewhat easier, the IRS and others publish tables of percentages that can be applied to the original cost to determine yearly depreciation. Here's the five-year property table as an example: Year Percentage 1 20.00 2 32.00 3 19.20 4 11.52 5 11.52 6 5.76 Total 100% Example: Declining balance depreciation on furniture used in a rental with a cost of $2,400 in Year 3 would be $461 ($2,400 x 19.20%). Tables for all types of properties can be found in IRS Publication 946: How to Depreciate Property . For general information on depreciation of rentals, see IRS Publication 527: Residential Property . How do I Report a Rental Activity on My Tax Return? As an individual, you report the income and deductions for rental properties on page 1 of Form 1040, Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Loss. The total income or loss computed on Schedule E carries to Form 1040. Report the depreciation of rentals on Form 4562: Depreciation and Amortization . The instructions for these forms explain in detail how to complete these forms. TurboTax products assist you with compiling rental data and reporting the information on the appropriate lines of the appropriate forms. What are Passive Activities and How do They Affect Me? Rental properties are, by definition, passive activities and are subject to passive activity loss rules. These rules are quite complex. In general, the passive activity rules limit your ability to offset other types of income with net passive losses. In other words, if you have losses from a passive activity, such as a rental property you own, you can't always take those losses on your tax return in the current year to reduce income from non-passive activities such as wages, salary, interest, dividends, or gains from sales of stocks. Passive losses can offset income from other passive activities. If you have a net passive loss in any year, that loss is generally suspended (delayed to a later year) until either you have passive income or you completely dispose of the passive activity. But if you actively participate in a rental activity you can deduct up to $25,000 of the rental loss. To actively participate means that you own at least 10 percent of the property and you make management decisions in a significant and bona fide sense, such as approving new tenants, setting rental terms, approving improvements, and so forth. This exception isn't available to everyone. If you have modified adjusted gross income over $100,000, your maximum loss available decreases by $0.50 for every dollar over $100,000. The maximum loss is completely phased out when your modified adjusted gross income reaches $150,000. Modified adjusted gross income is determined by calculating adjusted gross income without regard to deductions for IRA contributions or pensions, taxable social security benefits, adoption assistance payments, income excluded from U.S. savings bonds used to pay higher education tuition and fees, interest on qualified student loans, the tuition fees deduction, and any passive activity loss of taxpayers in a real property business. Example: Phil and Mary have modified adjusted gross income of $90,000 and a rental loss for the year of $21,000. They actively participated in the rental. Since their modified adjusted gross income is below the limit of $100,000, their entire rental loss is deductible. If their loss had risen to $28,000, they would have been limited to a deductible loss of $25,000 this year - the balance of $3,000 would be considered a suspended passive activity loss and therefore would be "carried over" to future years' returns until completely used up. If you're married and you file a separate tax return from your spouse, and if you lived apart from your spouse at all times during the year, the maximum rental loss deduction under the exception is $12,500. Your loss begins to phase out at $50,000 instead of $100,000. If you're married, file separately, but you did not live apart from your spouse at all times during the year, the active rental real estate loss allowance is not available to you at all. You may need to complete Form 8582: Passive Activity Loss Limitations , following the published IRS instructions . If you earn your living working in a real estate arena, you may be considered a real estate professional. The passive activity rules don't apply to real estate activities for many properties owned and managed by real estate professionals. For more information regarding this important exception, consult IRS Publication 527: Residential Rental Property . 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Real Estate Prices

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