All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I've been in the same situation. It really depends on ARV of the house. If it's in low range of the market and there is no super interior design involved i would say paint it.

Bought my last house from Hubzu. The customer service was poor, their closing agent was procrastinating. In NY they forced my to hire my attorney for my protection although i've told them i don't need one. +950 to expenses unexpectedly. The only thing they dismantled the dilapidated backyard patio that was erected without a permit. That saved about the same i spent on the lawyer

The de/appreciation of real estate can be determined by a formula that utilizes mixture of mortgage rate, purchasing power/savings, real estate taxes, consumer confidence, jobs, migration.  As for monetary part of the formula - the situation is getting tighter. The rate is set to raise, the taxes are soaring, purchasing power is eroding due to 'skillful' political actions. So from that point of view for now we peaked. Considering the value can be real or nominal I'd say in real prices for sure. 

I am not expecting a market crash in foreseeable future . Most likely for couple years there will be plateau movement on the average. With some price correction in the bubbled areas.

My experience may be local, but I was selling my primary house through the agent and we put around 20+ professional photos. Out of 15 showings 10 potential buyers had not looked the pictures and had no idea what they are being showed by their agents. At the end it really started pissing me off - what a time-wasting, both mine and theirs. 

I don't believe new pictures will do the trick.

Let's face the truth - the topic starter have chosen the tough way to flip houses. He will need to jump through a hula hoop to sell a house with the asking price 20-40% above the selling price in a neighborhood (4 of tens were sold in your price range - one without using MLS, the other is MFH). Only time and a whimsical buyer will save the day

I bought my main home in June 2016. In August i found out that the land is subdividable. So i start subdivision process. It took 30K (survey, engineers, fees etc) and a year to subdivide (subdivision is done in June 2017). While my first intention was to build a new house for my family now i changed my mind and i'am going to sell the land in 2017-2018 and the main house in 2018 to meet 2-years exempt from capital gain. The questions are

How the IRS will treat the sale of new land in this particular case - capital gain or ordinary income?

If it's a CG then it wiser to sell the new lot after a year of holding (to meet LTCG threshold). When is the day - the day i bought the house, the day i applied for subdivision, or the day the town approved the subdivision ? 

Can i determine the basis of the new lot as 30K i spent to subdivide the land?

I'd love to work remotely, but 'trying to contact some of you' here doesn't resolve the issue - feedback on services provided. And of course, i need someone who already knows the state taxes

This year i'am turning out to be a flipper in MidHudson are. So i'am looking for a tax advisor to unravel the IRS intricate point of view. All the professionals in my area i dealt with (a lawyer, real estate agents, a closing agent) are a little behind my speed and pro-activness so they are useless in recomending one. 

I would definitely hire Ben Affleck character from The Accountant )))) But i'am afraid for now 'he' is beyond my budget

Any insight and references are welcomed

None of the above could be taken as a statistically proven research and certainly does not support your thesis on 20% loss of FSBO- just numbers skimpily scattered through the pages. The economist outlook is the marvelous example of Mark Twain quote - There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. 

Let's start the autopsy. The quote from the research - where only 82 percent of all home sales were agent-assisted and 14 percent of homes were listed FSBO. Did the math - 96% are sold by both FSBO and agent. Who sold the rest 4%!?

Thirty-eight percent of all FSBOs—that’s only three percent of the total home sales in 2015—were homes sold to people where the buyer knew the seller selling to a friend, neighbor, or family member. However, 62 percent of FSBO home sales—five percent of total homes sold—were sold by the owner to someone they didn’t know. Marvelous, once again. In the previous quote there were 14 percent of home sold by FSBOs. Here we again do the math and voila - three plus five equals 8 percent ))) Also, there is no mention of where these numbers are from. But let's assume the survey was conducted with proper statistics methods respected. 

I don't want go in details further but i see where the idea of 20% came from. For homes sold with the assistance of an agent, the median selling price was $249,000 ̶ almost $40,000 more for the typical (read FSBO) home sale. The flaw of your conclusion is rooted in the different stratum the FSBOs operate The paragraph above specifically mentioned it (surprise-surprise) -  The median income of FSBOs was $84,000 and for those who sold through an agent was $105,600. Apparently the houses FSBOs own have lower value, hence the 20% difference

As previously mentioned our community consists of highly motivated, self-educated people with entrepreneurial skills. So there is no need for you to disprove other's people successful stories and their vision of the real estate agents future. Most of the non-creative jobs has a vague future. 

I understand why i pay buyer's agent their 2.5%. They bring 'cash'. I understand why agents are hired by the buyers that we sell flips to. Most of the time it's the first time. Or second, with ten-years-ago experience. They are like bambies - naive, frightened etc. They need someone behind. 

But from my point of view 95-99% of deals are standard and backed up by other professionals - home inspectors, appraisals, attorneys, title companies, local authorities. 

I believe with new services provided commissions will be deteriorating. Exponentially. 10 years ago - it was 6. Today - 5. In x years - 4. Till economically sustainable 2-3. When totally disrupted.

Dare to ask for a proof link. I can't imagine how dumb an owner has to be to sell a house that has market value of 250K for 200K . On the contrary, most of FSBOs i see on my market are overvalued for 5-10%