| Author |
Message |
    
Openhigher
Moderator
Username: Openhigher
Post Number: 354
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 10:41 am: | 
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Public Heel: Thanks for your input. I have no intention of "buying" more real estate. I own a vacation home in Big Bear free and clear, which now has a step in basis to the FMV as of date of death. So, I can sell the home with no taxable impact, or convert the home to rental property and follow up on the margin interest vs rental income issue, and if I convert to rental, I still get the step up at time of sale, or, as a rental I can 1031 out.
Anyway, I just don't know which way to go. It is not like I am losing the margin interest benefit, because it just keeps rolling into the next tax year, but.....
Thanks for your thoughts, I am going to call the CPA again today.
Robert |
Public_heel
Moderator
Username: Public_heel
Post Number: 4248
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 10:19 am: |
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O/H - Another idea to check out. Buy a stock that is paying a special dividend, like GMR and the $15 it will be paying out. Hold the stock for at least 60 days (I think that's what you need, it may be longer). After the 60 days, the dividend will not have to be treated as stock income, and it can offset your margin interest. You will take a corresponding loss on the stock, which may be used as a writeoff against your stock gains.
This is off the cuff, but I think it is worth a call to your accountant... |
Public_heel
Moderator
Username: Public_heel
Post Number: 4247
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 10:12 am: |
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O/H - makes sense to me, at least in terms of the income offsetting the deductions. Still, with the market priced to perfection, and a recession coming up, is this really the time to buy real estate in order to, in effect, support stock speculation? Seems like both sides of that could go badly for you, and in a big way... |
Openhigher
Moderator
Username: Openhigher
Post Number: 353
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 09:52 am: |
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Hello all: I have margin interest which is getting rather high, which is ok as I am making money on the borrowed money in excess of the costs of the borrowed money. The margin interest carries over on the tax return each year. Per the CPA the margin interest cannot be used to offset stocks gains, which otherwise could be done years ago. So, now the margin interest, as I undertand, can only be used to offset rental income. Can I get some input from others here on this. I do not have rental income, and do not want to get, necessarily, back into that existence again, but will if it is the only way to collect income, yet not pay on the rent received because of the excess margin interest. If I am wrong on some of these assumptions don't hesitate to bark out.
I know about depreciation, negative cash flow, etc., so just assume I buy the rental property for cash and have positive cash flow equal to the rent, less depreciation, etc.
Thanks in advance, Robert |
Public_heel
Moderator
Username: Public_heel
Post Number: 3251
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 11, 2006 - 07:22 pm: |
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I knew the housing industry had pulled out all the stops to sell houses, but this is one stop I didn't know even existed...
http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/mortgagepain_1.html |
Bahamasdreamin
Registered Member
Username: Bahamasdreamin
Post Number: 370
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 01:06 pm: |
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T/S,
Lots of folks, (like me), made a bunch of money in real estate speculation in the last few years. Hence many of these people bought properties that they never intended to own for long. Now that interest rates are rising and the housing market is softening up,(Read: Dead), you have to try and rent these things to stop the bleeding. So probably the units that you're seeing were owned by individuals, a year or so back, who actually planned on living in them or using them as 2nd homes. |
Treesloth
Registered Member
Username: Treesloth
Post Number: 998
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 03, 2006 - 03:11 pm: |
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I was down at the Jersey shore this weekend. I've never seen so many "for rent" signs on beach houses this late in the season. Usually beachfront houses are completely rented for the whole season by this time. My guess is that speculative buyers paid outrageous prices for these properties over the last few years, so they have to charge very high prices to cover their mortgage. It's probably more than most people can afford. |
Treesloth
Registered Member
Username: Treesloth
Post Number: 610
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 04:11 pm: |
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For the last four years any house that was for sale in my neighborhood was selling within a couple of weeks. Now I have two on my street that have been for sale for over a month. I think the real estate market here is kaput. |
Treesloth
Registered Member
Username: Treesloth
Post Number: 15
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 11:58 am: |
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P/H,
Yes, but not an entire island..just a few acres..(>:
The whole country is getting so darned unstable, by the time we get to use it, it'll probably be overrun with Muslim extremists and Marxist rebels. Even so, there are lots of retired American military who are living there without any problems. |
Public_heel
Moderator
Username: Public_heel
Post Number: 110
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 11:40 am: |
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T/S - Have you bought your retirement island yet? |
Treesloth
Registered Member
Username: Treesloth
Post Number: 14
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 - 11:13 am: |
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Arroyo is one of the less corrupt politicians in the Philippines, and yet they want to throw her out. No wonder the economy is poor, and land is so cheap there. They just can't get their act together.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/July/the world_July412.xml§ion=theworld |
Tree_sloth
Registered Member
Username: Tree_sloth
Post Number: 1480
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 03:45 pm: |
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I decided that I couldn't afford a retirement/vacation home in the U.S. I just purchased 1.5 hectares of land in the Philippines. It's adjacent to my wife's family's house. It's a very beautiful plot filled with coconut, mango, and Pili trees. There isn't a house on it yet, we'll build that when we have saved more money. They don't do mortgages in the Philippines, everything is cash. We bought it for $8000. |
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