Don’t Sell Your Home, Exchange It!

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A tremendous tax advantage that is often overlooked when buying property is the tax deferred opportunity commonly known as a 1031 Exchange. While the guidelines are very specific, they are relatively simple to manage.

Basically, a 1031 exchange allows the buyer to strategically sell a qualified property and buy another within a specific timeframe. Since the IRS views the transaction as an “exchange” and not a sale, it permits the taxpayer to defer the capital gains tax on the property they sell.

We are seeing more and more clients taking advantage of this opportunity; it is not a complicated process, it just has its own set of ironclad rules.

When can you do a 1031 Exchange?

  • If you plan on acquiring a replacement (or what is commonly referred to as a “like kind”) property after selling an existing investment property
  • If the total purchase price of the “like kind” property is equal to or greater than the total net sales price of the existing property you are selling
  • If all the equity that you receive from that sale is used to acquire the replacement “like kind” property

How are the monies handled?

The proceeds from the sale of the investment property must be held by a “qualified intermediary” and do not get handed over to you or your Realtor. These funds are in a sense “escrowed” pending application to the purchase transaction.

What are the 1031 Exchange Timelines?

There are two:

  • The Identification Period – You must identify a selection of other replacement properties that you wish to buy. This period is exactly 45 days from the day that you sell the property; no exceptions.
  • The Exchange Period – This period ends exactly 180 days after the date that you close on the sale of the home (or is the due date that your federal tax return for the year in which the transfer of the property has occurred, whichever situation is earlier). This is the time period you have to finalize your new purchase transaction.

Please note that while none of these time frames are negotiable, it is a very clear cut process that can save you an extraordinary amount of money and even adds more appeal to this buyers’ market.

An Emotional Real Estate Market

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Every market is inundated with percentages and statistics and predictions. In the real estate market you’ve got yet another layer comprised of: information about available inventory, the interest rates, hurricanes, and tax incentives.

The icing on these layers of course is the emotional component that comes into play. Some sellers think their property is not regarded highly enough, while some buyers think they are getting ripped off. We’ve unfortunately seen negotiations fall apart over some pretty minor things because feelings get involved.

Not to mention, if you’re a buyer in today’s market you may be under the impression you can easily move on to the next property. It is not always that simple anymore. You would think that buying and selling property would be a fairly simple transaction; well, it used to be. But there are many stars that need to align these days to get the deal done. All the new laws and guidelines (most of which were put in place to protect people), have had far reaching ramifications that can complicate the process to the point of impeding it.

What I’m trying to say is: if you’re a buyer and have found a home you love or you’re a seller and have found a buyer that is qualified – you should try to work it out with both parties under the expertise of your realtors and the lender. Emotions get in the way too often. If you are fortunate enough to have found one another, try to stick together because you may be hard pressed to find someone else to meet over a conference room table anytime soon.

While no one should settle for a sale or a purchase unless it is really right for them, I’d like to suggest that you may regret it if you give up on the deal too easily for the wrong reasons.

Pricing Homes for Sale in Tampa Bay

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Price reductions on a listing are as common as the need for killer curb appeal. Pricing residential real estate in Trinity, Fl for example is a strategy predicated on comparisons with other recent sales in the area and the condition of the home.

Some home sellers want to take the number they have in their head “out for a spin” and see if any offers surface. As negative as this sounds, best practices in this situation would dictate a price reduction schedule be invoked after a period of time on the market at the inflated price. One of the major problems with overpricing a home at the onset is that it sends a signal to potential buyers that something is wrong with the home.

Setting that bar or that price point too high will also soon make your home old news. Plenty of brand new properties are entering the market hourly, particularly from the foreclosure inventory. Your home can really get lost in the shuffle; the best time to strike is early and at the right price.

The National Association of Realtors just reported that “in October and November, when the market was feeling the effect of the tax credit, 26 percent of sellers cut their asking prices.” In addition, NAR also reported that Trulia.com just released the figures that the “prices on 19 percent of homes for sale as of March 1st have been reduced at least once, the lowest percentage in the last year.”

These statistics indicate that more sellers are pricing their homes better. They are therefore spending less time on the market and are not subjecting themselves to multiple price reductions.

Let’s face it, moving inventory faster is essential to the restoration of home values; but it also goes a long way in restoring consumer confidence and ensuring the success of the individual home owner trying to make their move.

Trinity, Fl Real Estate – Is it a Seller’s Market?

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Buy low and sell high — that is an investor’s strategy. What is a homeowner’s strategy in Trinity, Fl? Sell low and buy low? This approach is certainly working well for some with East Lake, Fl homes for sale.

To compete in this market a home needs to: be priced right, be in the best possible condition, and be properly marketed. Sellers over the past two years have had a tough time of it, especially with the competition from the tide of foreclosures and short sales.

And emotions can run high; even though a seller may understand that the market dictates the price, it is hard to swallow that the place they care for and make a mortgage payment on every month is not getting its just due in the marketplace.  

However, there are sellers that are “getting their move on” by taking advantage of the current real estate climate on the other side of the balance sheet. Basically, the loss on the property a homeowner sells is really only a paper deficit; the next property he or she buys will also be at a bargain price.

We’re seeing more and more homeowners willing to suffer the loss on the front-end, only to take the opportunity to trade up and buy a home that has more amenities and is often located in an area that was previously out of their price range.

So the buyer of the seller’s home may be getting a deal, but so will the seller when the seller becomes the buyer. With a realistic sale and a well-considered purchase, the seller will ultimately wind up in better shape when real estate values increase again.

This market can cut both ways and a savvy seller with the proper real estate advice can actually do quite well for themselves by playing the game a bit like the investors do, by becoming a buyer.

Financial Amenities in Trinity Real Estate

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Condos have long been an affordable home purchase option and offer tremendous advantages. They can provide residence in exclusive areas like Trinity, Fl without the expense of a single family home; they typically offer access to a wide range of amenities like tennis courts, pools, and fitness centers; they offer surveillance systems that provide additional layers of protection, and they require reasonable association fees to cover exterior maintenance.

But, by virtue of their design as a community that shares expenses, other condos in foreclosure or in default on common charges can become your problem. If you are considering a condo in today’s market, a full assessment of the financial health of the complex will be conducted by your lender. But before you even present the property for purchase, a little knowledge will save you time and potential disappointment.

Your Trinity real estate agent will assist you to investigate the economic standing of any condo association and provide all the statistics you require. But the major points to be aware of are:

  • Budget – What is the current condo budget versus the income and expenses? How do these numbers compare to previous years?
  • Reserve Study – What is the maintenance plan and how will it be paid?
  • Special Assessments – Have there been any and are more planned?
  • Delinquencies – How many owners are behind in their payments?

On the flip side, if you are currently interested in selling a Trinity, Fl condo, we will assist with the same type of analysis. While any sale in this market needs to target the right price point to get buyers interested, the whole picture is part of the deal in the condo world. If the community itself is not fiscally attractive to buyers or bankers then nothing else really matters.

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of condominium complexes that are attractive both inside and out. They are well maintained, have all the right owner-occupied ratios, and are financially sound. The caveat here is that if you are buying into a development or selling out of one, sometimes beauty is only skin deep.