All Forum Posts by: Caroline Gerardo

@Wayne Brooks I read it wrong I thought the electrician pulled the permit. Get a licensed electrician to go down to planning with you and put permit in his name and pay him to complete. Go in person and ask the planning desk IF they will allow this and make an exception. Ask planning to go inspect what you did (pray you did everything to code, right? if not fix everything perfect now). Go with cookies and a sweet attitude.

Ask for extension on your other house. Where are you living now? 

@Catherine Wilkins you can't advertise the house for sale or lease at the time of the request and for at least one year after completion. 

If you sell the house within 12 months AFTER receiving the CO and it's proven the construction was not intended for your personal use, it can be considered a misrepresentation. The reason is owner builder is going to be sloppy and make mistakes but you have to live in the mess and fix it/ and you saved some time/cut corners for owner occupancy. 

Penalties:

• Misdemeanor of the first degree: This can result in a maximum imprisonment of one year and a fine of up to $1,000.
• Civil penalties: You may also face additional civil penalties depending on the specific circumstances.
• Permitting issues: Local permitting authorities might withhold final approval, revoke the permit, or pursue other actions against you, maybe not give you the CO. 

You can list it for sale. You have to disclose the permit problem. Provide the buyer the county planning contacts, keep a copy of the job card.

You only want to talk about Baltimore? This answer applies to Philadelphia, DC, Pittsburgh ... lots of cities with shades of similar problems.

West side for example Poppleton has 51% poverty rate like Kensington in Philadelphia. Population census declining, houses older than fifty years that need maintenance, racism, tranq (new super cheap drug go look it up), and apathy are a few of the problems.

I don't know about your number ~ five million people, but the majority of them want to work. They will get their hands dirty. They will crowd into housing and wear upon sewers, streets, public transportation, our broken grid, and they will pay cash. Some may pay taxes under someone else's social security number which may boost our aging population's social security coffers. They will use hospital emergency rooms and not be able to pay. Health care costs will rise.  

Go local where you can make a difference. Get involved in your city counsel and local government. Street lights, pot hole maintenance, water quality, sewers and hospitals... are vital to safety and the value of your real estate. Be a bean counter that knows where the money goes.

We must build more housing. Also, preserve the beautiful rowhouses made of brick. Know the architectural styles of Federal, Italianate, and Renaissance and share with neighbors, get them to care. Save one block in the same time frame.

I do not see a state or federal government creating a law to stop landlords from doing whatever check they want to vet a tenant. A huge percent of landlords are big corporations with lobbyists. 

Solutions: expand National Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, preservation tax credits, save the historic and as Baltimore likes to call it charming housing. City inspections of complaints to avoid fires, vermin, lead poisoning of a building perhaps overcrowded by migrants to save money. Federal grants to rehab blocks, not just single family. 

To secure the VA loan you need w-2 income in same line of work, as it will take two tax cycles to show self employed net income.

Get the credit score up, pay on time, get that car sold or pay off, don't quit your job until you have a replacement job. If you plan to do property management in this area get your website up and running, get some paying clients, social media, and all the legal done first.

She needs to be on title. She must file a US IRS return and in your state which I think is TX. Since filing is open for the IRS do it online digitally. How many days has she been in the US?

This is owner occupied? What is basis or original purchase price plus how much you paid to fix it up?

Factoring - is a rough business like Tony Soprano

The address is a Chase Bank branch so that's bad

Reading material below: Happy to answer questions

Some people are not bringing it current. Some people keep the deed with goofy title vesting plans. Some did wrap arounds or have them in progress, which are going to end up a mess.

The VA, Congress and Senate got a hundred thousand complaints from veterans. During Covid other loan types got modification deals, not so much with VA loans.

Department of Veterans Affairs is going to review every file with one late payment and check the deed, check the fire insurance. They are taking back the files that SPS, SVS, Lakeview, PNC...(servicers) into their own hands. We may see some deals overturned due to not having the proper VA disclosures signed on the ones that the title changed.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/27/2023-26...

I signed up!

VASP opens up March 1st 2024, days away. I warned creative people not to touch VA loans. You might be in a bind now that the VA may make them whole.

 1/5 ~ you are using bedroom count, what is the square footage difference? 

Here is my interpretation: You cannot deduct the full amount in one year. 75% of the points (other 3 units) if you use unit count = $9168 divided by 30 years your annual deduction is $305.60    Points are prepaid interest -treated as interest on Schedule E. Even if you use room count the amount is small. 

The other 25% $3056 you could deduct in 2023 if you itemize but if you are married filing joint $27700 is the "flat" amount for 2023 that you would need to exceed to make it worth itemizing. Unless you have large medical bills it's not going to make sense. Your lender did you a disservice in telling you to pay that huge amount in points when rates are so high.

I do not think you could switch up the deduction in later years, you would have to amend all the prior returns. 

Get a CPA to advise I AM NOT A CPA THIS IS NOT TAX ADVICE

IRS site: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040se#en_US_2023_publink2...