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The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation

Great news for short sales and distressed property owners!

As part of the 11th hour fiscal cliff deal, lawmakers managed to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act.

The extension means that homeowners will continue to be excused from paying taxes on forgiven mortgage debt through 2013.  The original law, established in 2007 to help stabilize the housing market, was set to expire on December 31, 2012.

Without an extension, homeowners who completed short sales or loan modifications may have faced tax bills in the tens of thousands of dollars.  This could have significantly discouraged short sales and encouraged foreclosures, which would have greatly hindered the housing recovery.

Source

Investing 101: Be Ready to Walk

This is a great market to invest in.  Prices are at all time lows, some are even seeing value increases, which means more and more folks are looking to invest in real estate again.  Many investors are first time investors.  Investing in real estate is a little different that buying home. Over the next few months, I will explore some of pitfalls I see novice investors make all the time.

This month I wanted to touch on "Be Prepared to Walk."

When you make an offer to purchase a home there are often emotions that factor into that offer.  When investing in real estate, emotions are present, but numbers and analysis need to play a bigger role.  Often investors "like" a property and that is what makes investing fun.  However you need to make sure you get the deal you want or you need to be prepared to walk away from the property.  

Be sure you do your due diligence: What is the rent rate for the area?  Have you factored in vacancies and repair costs?  Are there current tenants?  What rental terms are they currently on?  What is going on around the property that could affect your ability to find tenants?  How long will it be before you recoup your investment and are making profit?

If the numbers work, then make sure the deal you negotiate supports the investment's purpose. For instance, some people invest to increase their monthly income, some people invest to ultimately sell in 5-10 years and make a good equity profit.  Know your purpose and make sure the deal you negotiate reflects the ultimate purpose.  If it doesn't, then don't be so emotionally tied to the property that you can't walk.

This being said, don't make investment offers with a take it or leave it attitude.  Remember, true of any negotiation, successful deals make both the buyer and seller happy.  Maybe the seller is offering you a deal that has a positive margin but the margin isn't quite as big as you would like.  Is it big enough to still make the purchase worthwhile?  Giving some on one deal can sometimes lead to better deals down the road.  Perhaps the seller has a quad to sell a few years later with great margins and had such great experience selling to you that you are the first investor they call when selling their quad.

Investing in real estate is fun and can be lucrative, but use caution, do your homework, be fair to the other party, and know when a deal just doesn't work.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire at the end of this year.  The Act allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for the relief.  The Act also applies to debt forgiven in a short sale on the primary residence.

This exclusion is a big incentive for sellers who have short sold over the past several years.  Without the forgiveness, sellers actually have to pay income tax on the debt. Many sellers cannot afford this and it pushes them into foreclosure instead.

The ability of sellers to short sell instead of go into foreclosure has helped many of our local neighborhoods not lose more value than they have over the past few years.

Contact your local Senators and Representatives and tell them that this act needs to be extended.

• U.S. House of Representatives: Resolution 4336 and Resolution 4202
• Senate: Senate Bill 2250

Springfield Turkey Bowl!

The TURKEY BOWL is almost here! 1909 era (flag) co-ed football, a hot breakfast, open to all men, women, & teens, no talent needed, Thanksgiving morning, 9am-11am. A neighborhood tradition, check out the details - - -http://myspringfield.org/event/4/ufg9etjfuepjah6gvok94b7cmg

Enjoying the Outdoors Mosquito Free!

It's HOT in Jacksonville!  As we head into September it is probably only going to get more hot and more wet!  That means mosquitos!  Mosquitos makes enjoying the summer so hard in our area.  Here is a great mosquito trap that is easy to make at home:

Cut the top (just before the start of the cone) off a 2 liter bottle. Invert the cone and place it inside the straight part of the bottle. Glue the two pieces together, using a glue or silicon. Add 1 tsp yeast and 1/2 cup sugar to some luke warm water, and pour the mixture into the bottle. Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide that you exhale. The yeast feeds off the sugar and emits the same gas, so the mosquito enters the bottle, thinking she will find food there.

Short Sale VS Foreclosure: 10 Common Myths

This is such a great article and so pertinent to today's market, I had to share