{"id":10285,"date":"2009-11-12T08:16:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T15:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2009-11-12T08:16:42","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T15:16:42","slug":"when-the-cash-for-clunkers-logic-comes-to-the-real-estate-market-its-time-for-every-homeowner-with-equity-to-cash-in-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10285\/when-the-cash-for-clunkers-logic-comes-to-the-real-estate-market-its-time-for-every-homeowner-with-equity-to-cash-in-big\/","title":{"rendered":"When the cash-for-clunkers “logic” comes to the real estate market, it’s time for every homeowner with equity to cash in big"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s cash-for-clunkers time in the real estate market.<\/p>\n

Last week, in addition to extending the $8,000 first-time home-buyers tax credit for another six months, Congress added a new $6,500 tax-credit for move-up buyers.<\/p>\n

The credit can be applied for homes selling for as much as $800,000, and the income limits exclude almost nobody.<\/p>\n

You have to have lived in your home for more than five years out of the last eight, but that’s hardly an onerous restriction. And homeowners who have put down roots have equity.<\/p>\n

Remember that capital gains on your primary residence are excluded from taxation if you have lived in your home for the past five years. But the way the government is spending money, that exclusion cannot last.<\/p>\n

But, but, but… Your home isn’t worth what it was in December of 2005. That’s true, but it doesn’t change anything. The home that you can buy now was also selling for more four years ago.<\/p>\n

Here’s the way things really shake out: If you have equity in your home, you can take that equity as a tax-free profit — for now. At the same time, you can snag the $6,500 tax credit. And you can do all of this at historic low interest rates.<\/p>\n

If your house is worth $400,000 and you only paid $300,000 for it, you could reap a gain of $100,000 — which would save you thousands of dollars in taxes. If you wait for prices to go higher, you may wait a long time for a much smaller return. And the house you buy then will have appreciated, also.<\/p>\n

I think we’re looking at a perfect storm for homeowners with equity: You can move now, take a tax-free gain, get a lot more house than you could have bought a few years ago, all financed with a low-interest mortgage. And then, next April, Uncle Sam will write you a big fat check for your trouble.<\/p>\n

On second thought, this is less cash-for-clunkers than the taxpayer’s revenge…<\/p>\n

 
Sell this idea!<\/em><\/strong> Feel free to share this idea with your clients and prospects — in your blog, by email, on the phone. This is big, and the Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s cash-for-clunkers time in the real estate market. Last week, in addition to extending the $8,000 first-time home-buyers tax credit for another six months, Congress added a new $6,500 tax-credit for move-up buyers. The credit can be applied for homes selling for as much as $800,000, and the income limits exclude almost nobody. You have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,212,29,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-flourishing","8":"category-group-therapy","9":"category-marketing","10":"category-real-estate","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10103,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10103\/7-things-every-home-buyer-should-know-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":0},"title":"7 Things Every Home Buyer Should Know – Part 1","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"October 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what I wrote about item #1 on the list last time:6 months ago is ancient history. What your neighbor sold his house for 6 months ago doesn't matter.\u00a0\u00a0 What the seller was asking for the house 6 months ago doesn't matter.\u00a0\u00a0 What matters is what the market will support\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6180,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6180\/workable-real-estate-deals-may-require-even-more-creativity\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":1},"title":"Workable real estate deals may require even more creativity","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Workable real estate deals may require even more creativity I do a lot of work with buy-and-hold rental home investors, more and more of whom are able to come into Phoenix with all-cash offers. Poor me, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9306,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9306\/why-should-you-enlist-a-buyers-agent-to-help-you-buy-a-home-because-youll-get-a-much-better-deal-even-if-you-pay-full-price\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":2},"title":"Why should you enlist a buyer’s agent to help you buy a home? Because you’ll get a much better deal — even if you pay full price","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This from my Arizona Republic real estate column (permanent link): Are home-buyers best served by the vigilant efforts of an experienced buyer's agent? Consider a transaction we have in play right now. The buyers are a young couple, about to be married. They have about $10,000 in cash. With a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12341,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12341\/first-time-home-buyers-tax-credit-the-morning-after-the-governments-gift-to-new-home-buyers-a-house-immediately-worth-8000-less-than-they-paid-for-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":3},"title":"First time home-buyers tax credit, the morning after: “The government’s ‘gift’ to new home-buyers? A house immediately worth $8,000 less than they paid for it.”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"From the National Review Online:Things are looking worse on the housing front, with a severe drop-off in existing home sales following the expiration of the home-buyer tax credit. It's hard to overstate how stupid this policy was. The government marketed it as a measure to boost residential real-estate prices by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6854,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6854\/some-ugly-questions-about-that-15000-home-buyers-tax-credit\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":4},"title":"Some ugly questions about that $15,000 home-buyers tax credit…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I let the hoopla over the $15,000 tax credit for home-buyers of all incomes slide last week. There's way too much sick-making news coming out of Washington right now, and, somehow, Republicans dancing in triumph because they had managed to squeeze out a little theft for the rich -- and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3820,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3820\/theres-more-to-the-mortgage-relief-bill-than-just-mortgage-relief\/","url_meta":{"origin":10285,"position":5},"title":"There’s more to the mortgage relief bill than just mortgage relief","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). Notes for insiders: The legislative thumbprint of the National Association of Realtors is churn. The NAR is not necessarily for or against any legislation. Instead, their lobbyists will look for ways to introduce short-term incentives to churn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10286,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions\/10286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}