Time to pay the Man
Today is the last day to pay the tax man. Normally taxes are due on April 15 each year, but because the 15th fell on the weekend this year, you have until 11:59pm tonight to file your taxes!
Real estate can be an advantage at tax time. There are many ways owning real estate could be an advantage at tax time allowing you to lower your taxable income.
If you’re interested in owning real estate in Roanoke, Roanoke County, Botetourt, Franklin County or Salem, I encourage you to contact me right away. This is a great time to be buying and selling real estate!
Second homes 40% of market in 2005
According to a report by the National Association of REALTORS®, second home purchases (for vacation use or investments) accounted for 4 out of every 10 existing home sales. This record year in real estate sales helped drive the national real estate market to uncharted highs.
Most of the buyers of homes in this category were baby boomers in their top earning years, flexing their economic muscle and purchasing real estate investments for retirement planning and vacation homes for fun.
According to USA Today, this trend started in 1997 when Congress changed the IRS tax code and allowed homeowners to dodge the capital gains tax when they sold their home. The exemption is $500,000 for married couples and $250,000 for single individuals so long as the real estate was their primary residence for two of the past five years.
2005 Roanoke, Virginia Real Estate Numbers
According to the Virginia Association of Realtors, Roanoke in 2005 published impressive numbers in real estate sales. Our MLS area was well ahead of other areas in the state but we naturally lagged behind other areas as well, but overall I believe our numbers look great.
Roanoke Virginia Real Estate (2005)
Average Days on Market – 67
Homes sold – 5,831
Average price (on sold homes) – $201,185
Median price (on sold homes) – $156,200
For sale by owners (FSBO) lose money
According to a study by the National Association of REALTORS, the median sales price for sellers working with a salesperson was $189,000 compared with $163,800 for unrepresented sellers (for sale by owner). Only half of FSBO’s say they would sell their home themselves again.
Also cited in the report was the difficulty FSBO’s (24%) had in ‘getting the price right’ and ‘preparing/fixing up home for sale’. Difficulty in ‘understanding and completing paperwork’ was cited by 22 percent of the unrepresented sellers surveyed.
