Something to think about when Selling Property

Sometime we forget about the net gain of a deal when we sell property. Especially in times like these where it seems that prices are going down. But a few people are still making good money in real estate. At www.InvestSmarter.com we have tried to bring everyone together to help give solid facts to what we are working with on a daily basis. We know we are limited on primary residents to 250k or 500k in tax free money when selling our primary home, but if a condo is your primary home, don't forget about the assessments and the improvements made to the building. Below is an interesting article that was just published talking about this exact fact:

Daily Real Estate News June 24, 2008

A Commonly Missed Tax Break

Condominium or cooperative residents often miss the fact that upgrades to the common areas of communities can affect the amount of tax an owner pays when the home is sold.If the property is a principal residence and the owner has lived in it for two of the previous five years before the sale, a big chunk of the profit is already exempt from federal tax — $250,000 for a single person and $500,000 for a married couple. But the seller will owe taxes on any profit beyond that, and he will owe taxes on the whole amount if the property isn’t a primary residence.A proportional share of the amounts spent by the condo or cooperative association on improvements to the property — not simple maintenance — can be added to the amount paid for the property, or in tax lingo, “the basis.” The basis is subtracted from the sales price to determine any taxable profit.“It surprises me that many community association owners are not aware of this tax benefit. Particularly for older home owners who have watched real estate profit build up over many years and now have a profit of more than $500,000, every dollar of capital improvements they can document is valuable,” says Benny L. Kass, real estate attorney.Source: The Washington Post, Benny L. Kass (06/21/2008)

Feel free to search any of the sites below for more information on real estate in the Panama City and Panama City Beach Florida areas:
www.Panama-City-Beach-Florida-MLS.com
www.Panama-City-Beach-Florida-Condominiums.com
www.RandBCoastalRealEstate.com