Sell House

Selling a Home - Top Reasons Why Good Homes Don't Sell  You are here: About > Home & Garden > Home Buying / Selling > How To Sell a House > Selling a Home - Top Reasons Why Good Homes Don't Sell Home & Garden Home Buying / Selling Essentials 10 Things Home Buyers Shouldn't Do Best Tips for First Time Home Buyers "Must-Do" Tasks Before You Sell How to Buy a Home, Step by Step For Sale by Owner Advice Articles & Resources How To Buy a Home How To Sell a House Celebrity & Historic Credit Reports & Scores Design & Remodel Home Maintenance Inspections & Appraisals Investing & Foreclosures Modular & Manufactured Mold, Radon, Lead, etc. Mortgage Advice Moving & Relocation Real Estate Careers Real Estate For Sale Vacation Homes Buyer's Guide Before You Buy Top Picks Home Buying Books Foreclosure Books Mortgage Books Product Reviews Forums Help FREE Newsletter Sign Up Now for the Home Buying / Selling newsletter! See Online Courses   Search Home Buying / Selling Stay up to date! 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Common Home Selling Problems that Slow Down Your Sale There are lots of reasons why offers might not come in when you're selling a home, but let's get past the top home selling killer–overpricing. It's the first thing you should consider if your house is still sitting on the market while others around it are changing owners. Price the House for its Market Some home sellers want to price their homes way above market value, because they think the cushion gives them more negotiating room. But what overpricing actually does is eliminate potential buyers. A home with a true value of $200,000 has a certain set of features that contribute to its value. A house valued at $160,000 in the same market normally has less to offer than the higher priced home and simply can't compete with it. Buyers in the $200K range won't be impressed with the home's features and buyers looking for homes nearer its true market value won't even see it because of the too-high pricetag. It doesn't matter what you want for your property, what's important is what your property is worth . Overpricing is usually easy to correct, but there are plenty of homes that buyers pass on for other–sometimes simple–reasons. If you're a home seller, and your house isn't selling, it's time to anaylze the situation and figure out why. Four Simple Reasons Homes Don't Sell 1. A Horrible Photo in the MLS You might be surprised how many buyers say NO! to houses simply because of poor photos used in ads or Multiple Listing Service handouts. It's even more amazing that agents let them discard a house based on that criteria, but it happens all the time. Good photos are not always easy to get. Houses aren't built on lots with thought to future photo opportunities. The sun isn't always in an ideal position for the photo. The agent might not be capable of taking a good picture. Home selling rule number one is to make sure the house is well represented in all photographs. 2. It's Hard to Sell a Dirty House Some sellers don't bother to clean a house before they try to sell it, and if they don't even clean when they know people will be inspecting the house, they sure won't freshen up the paint, sort through clutter or handle odor control. Home buyers nearly always think that dirty houses need repairs, when all they usually require is some thorough TLC. After a few turned-off buyers, agents hesitate to show dirty houses. No showings, no sale. Take a hard look at the property to make sure your house doesn't fall into the needs-cleaning category. 3. Curb Appeal is the Pits Home buyers like to do drive-bys. Imagine driving by a house that's for sale and finding that the yard hasn't been mowed recently or worse, that it's full of weeds. Or seeing loose items scattered everywhere on the lawn. Or dirty windows. Or discovering that the home's color is just one shade shy of outshining the sun. If the home's curb appeal is terrible, the majority of buyers won't even make an appointment to go inside. Improve your curb appeal before the first buyer has a chance to view your property. 4. Outdated, Worn Out Components We are creatures of habit. That old vinyl on the kitchen floor has worked forever, so why don't the buyers like it? The dated light fixtures are just fine, too, and the sellers wouldn't think of replacing the orange shag carpeting in the family room. Look at the house with a fresh attitude and try to see it as buyers do. How can you make improvements? If your house is listed with an agent, ask for written feedback from buyers who have seen it. If the same negative comments show up repeatedly on feedback forms, you'll know where to start working on the house. Move carefully with updates, analyzing the work to determine which updates make sense from a cost vs. recovery standpoint. You'll find more home selling tips in 10 Ways to Make Home Buyers Hate Your House Important disclaimer information about this About site.        Topic Index | Email to a Friend Our Story | Be a Guide | Advertising Info | Work at About | Site Map | Icons | Help User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy | Kids' Privacy Policy ©2005 About, Inc., A part of the New York Times Company . All rights reserved. Around About Oprah's Life Vacation Ideas Shop Safely Online VIDEO: Craft Rooms VIDEO: Christmas Traditions What's Hot Coping with Unethical People How To Buy Land Real Estate Appraisal Before You Buy a Log Home Package Home Buying / Selling - GuideReviews

Home Loan

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Real Estate Prices

Real estate horror stories - Dec. 2, 2002 Enter Ticker Symbol Search CNN/Money Autos Real Estate Money's Best Home Markets & Stocks News Jobs & Economy World Biz Technology Commentary Personal Finance College Credit and Debt Insurance Interest Rates Retirement Tax Center Ask the Expert Five Tips The Good Life Millionaire in the Making Money 101 Moneyville Retirement Planner Savings Calculator Asset Allocator Mutual Funds Money Magazine Video CNN TV Fortune 500 Best Employers Money 101 Portfolio Calculators Real-time Quotes Last 5 Quotes SPONSORED BY include virtual="/fn_adspaces/markets-stocks/last_five_quotes/sponsor.88x31.ad" -- CNN/Money Email newsletters RSS Mobile news Money archives Buy story reprints Find a Mortgage SPECIAL OFFER Personal Finance Your Home Real estate horror stories There's never been a national bust but keep an eye on your backyard. December 2, 2002: 11:57 AM EST By Leslie Haggin Geary, CNN/Money Staff Writer New York (CNN/Money) - During the past three years, real estate has been a shelter in the storm. Since 2001, home prices have gained about 6.3 percent annually, according to the National Association of Realtors . And in dozens of hot markets , from San Francisco to Providence, RI to Topeka, KS, homeowners have seen double-digit price increases over the past year. Next to the seeming flimsiness of stocks, real estate looks rock solid. For the past 40 years, home sales prices have outpaced inflation by one or two percentage points per year, and there has never been a national decline in real estate values. But that's just part of the picture. When you drill down to local markets, instead of steady rises, you may find vertiginous spikes followed by stomach-churching drops. What's more, when busts hit, it can take years -- maybe even a decade -- for individuals who bought at the top of the market to recoup their investment. To see how grim it can get, we looked at annual sales figures for 138 metro areas across the country during the past three decades to spot where local bubbles burst, what drove prices into the cellar and how long it took for property owners to recoup their money. Here are some of the factors that can kill a real estate boom. Population shifts It's obvious. Jobs equal workers. Without work, residents leave, and home sales dry up. Consider the case of southern California. Once home to a thriving defense industry, military cutbacks hit the region especially hard in the early 1990s. Some 1 million individuals left the area, according to Ingo Winzer, president of The Local Market Monitor , a real estate consulting firm that tracks housing prices nationwide. In Los Angeles, home prices shed 21 percent of their value between 1989 and 1996, with the typical house selling for $172,900. (The peak was $214,800 in 1989 following a five year, 77-percent jump.) An exodus can hit smaller communities, too. Syracuse, NY once boasted 250,000 residents back in the 1950s, when it was a thriving industrial city. No longer. Many of those jobs are gone and Syracuse lost a full 10 percent of those inhabitants from 1990 to 2000, when its population dropped to 147,000 residents. Home prices, not surprisingly, fell too. Half of all property owners in the county who sold homes in 1997, for example, sold at a loss. Vacant buildings were not uncommon. (At one point, there were more than 1,000 empty dwellings.) Local recessions Ask housing experts about local busts and one of the first places they'll mention is Houston, TX. When the oil market was kicked in the teeth back in the mid-1980s, home prices in this city tumbled fast. In just three years, from 1985 to 1988, the typical home price dropped by 21 percent -- or from $78,600 to $61,800. Related Stories • Did you pay too much for your house? • Real estate or stocks? • Milking the bubble • Rev up your resale value "Prices fell so much that people owed more on than their mortgages than their homes were worth," said David Weil, an economics professor at Brown University. " They'd drive to the bank and drop off their keys to their homes and just leave." Houston isn't the only city where home prices have fallen when the local economy languishes badly. Take the stock market crash of 1987, which hit New York City's financial industry hard. Prices peaked at $183,000 in 1988, and anyone who bought then had to wait until after 1997 to get to even money. Another victim? Hartford, CT. From 1984 to 1988, the typical home price soared 92 percent to $167,600 from $87,400. Then the insurance industry started laying off or moving out. Hartford's population growth slowed to zero. And home prices starting falling. In fact it wasn't until last year that someone who bought at the 1988 price would have made their money back. Fast run-ups in housing values Are markets that have soared quickly especially prone to a bust? That's a question no doubt troubling many homeowners. But the answer isn't simple. Certainly, there have been plenty of hot markets that suddenly turned sour. Consider Honolulu, Hawaii, for example. Back in 1995, the average tab for a house in this community hit a record $360,000 -- a whopping 122 percent increase from the decade before. Then suddenly, prices began to drop. By 1999, a $360,000 island retreat was being unloaded for $290,000, a 19 percent discount, according to NAR. Prices started to finally rise in 2000, but anyone who bought at the island's real estate peak didn't recoup their money until this year. Hawaii's housing woes were tipped off by several factors, not the least of which was the decline in the Japanese economy, which squelched real-estate investment in Hawaii. Honolulu was also in trouble in part because few fundamentals, other than investment dollars -- were pushing the market. In fact, during the boom years, the island's population was climbing at a 1 percent rate, too low to justify the massive run-up in housing values. Bottom line: it's important to look at what drives housing spikes before you assume there will be a catastrophe, said Winzer. Rising interest rates "People tell you that housing never goes down, but that's just not true -- you try to sell a house when interest rates have gone up," said Stephen Cauley, associate director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate, Anderson School at UCLA . To illustrate his point, Cauley points to the early 1980's, when double-digit interest rates were being used to fight inflation. That made the cost of borrowing money for a home almost prohibitively expensive. "It was horrendous for the housing market," said Cauley. "There were no transactions." By 1982, the number of existing home sales had slid to 1.92 million, the lowest number on record, according to NAR. Many markets -- notably Detroit, Providence, Chicago and Philadelphia -- saw home prices stay flat or fall between 1979 and 1982. These days, of course, high interest rates seem a distant threat, though they are beginning to creep up. Current mortgage rates are hovering just above 6 percent for a fixed, 30-year loan. But even if rates go up a full percentage point, rates are still low, said Cauley. How will all this play out? If history is any guide, there won't be one big pop, the kind that usually come with stock-market crashes. But that doesn't make it any less painful. --* Disclaimer Selling? Buying? Click to compare top local real estate agents More on YOUR HOME • Your Home: Bracing for higher rates • Refinancing demand lags again • A rose is (not) a rose TODAY'S TOP STORIES • Most overvalued housing markets • Risks to the economy in 2006 • Which was the worst ad of all in 2005? CNN Money contact us | subscribe to Money magazine advertising -- | site map | glossary | RSS | press room OTHER NEWS: CNN | SI | Fortune | Business 2.0 | Time © 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms under which this service is provided to you. privacy policy Reprints of site stories are available.

Real Estate Listings

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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 . For more on passive activities, see Tax Topic 425: Passive Activities-Losses and Credits . Home | Online Products | Desktop Products | Business | Tax Tips & Resources | Support Center | Site Index Intuit | Privacy Promise | Feedback | Quicken | Affiliates ©1997-2005 Intuit Inc. Trademark Notices By accessing and using this page you agree to the Terms of Service Software License Agreement