Premium Properties Sarasota and Her Islands

Facing capital gains on investment property? Here’s one way to defer taxes

2012-02-13T21:09:00Z

Facing capital gains on investment property? Here’s one way to defer taxes. WASHINGTON – Feb. 13, 2012 – “Taxation with representation ain’t so hot either.” – Gerald Barzan, humorist If you own investment property, and you sell it this year, you will have to pay 15 percent capital gains tax to the Internal Revenue Service. This does not include the up-to-25 percent recapture tax on any depreciation that you took over the years. Next year, unless the Supreme...(read more)

Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 4Q 2011

2012-02-10T15:41:00Z

ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 9, 2012 – Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales continued their positive trend in fourth quarter 2011, posting gains compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales rose 7 percent in 4Q 2011 with a total of 42,038 homes changing hands statewide; during the same period the year before, a total of 39,355 homes sold, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of...(read more)

Nearly 100 house markets improving

2012-02-06T19:53:00Z

WASHINGTON – Feb. 6, 2012 – The list of housing markets showing measurable improvement expanded by 29 metros in February for a total of 98 entries on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI). With the latest addition of Miami, the list now includes seven Florida cities: Cape Coral, Deltona, Jacksonville, Miami, North Port, Punta Gorda and Tampa. Thirty-six states have at least one metro area that’s improving. The index lists metropolitan...(read more)

2011’s foreclosures lowest in four years

2012-01-27T07:34:00Z

RealtyTrac released its Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report today. It shows a total of 2,698,967 foreclosure filing actions – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – reported on 1,887,777 U.S. properties in 2011, a decrease of 34 percent in total properties from 2010. Foreclosure activity in 2011 was 33 percent below the 2009 total and 19 percent below the 2008 total. In 2011, 1.45 percent of U.S. housing units (one in 69) had at least one foreclosure filing...(read more)

Florida’s housing sales activity higher as 2011 ends

2012-01-23T06:54:00Z

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 20, 2012 – At the close of 2011, Florida’s existing home and condominium markets reported higher sales compared to the previous year, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. It was the third consecutive year for statewide home and condo sales activity to end the year on a positive upswing – higher year-over-year sales also were reported at the close of 2010 and 2009, records show. Looking back on 2011, Florida’s existing...(read more)

Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Deciding to Buy

2012-01-23T06:40:00Z

Perhaps you’ve found a house, or maybe you’ve just started the house hunt, but regardless of where you are in the home-buying process, you need to consider some key questions before you even think about making an offer. Buying a home is a big commitment — financial and otherwise — so take the time to weigh pros and cons. Here are five questions every home buyer should ask themselves: Will I own it for at least five years? The first and most important item you should ask yourself...(read more)

U.S. foreclosure rate lowest since pre-recession

2012-01-13T17:09:00Z

NEW YORK (AP) – Jan. 12, 2012 – About 1.9 million homes entered the foreclosure process in 2011, the lowest level since 2007 when the recession began, according to a report Thursday by the foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. The firm cautioned that the decline does not necessarily indicate that the housing market is getting better, as many foreclosures have been delayed due to confusion over documentation and legal issues involved in the process. There have also been problems with...(read more)

Xena Vallone Realty’s Chaim Gleitmann Earns CPC Designation

2012-01-13T15:05:00Z

Chaim Gleitmann of Xena Vallone Realty Earns CPC Designation. Xena Vallone Realty’s Chaim Gleitmann earns the Certified Professional Commercial (CPC) designation. Gleitmann completed comprehensive training on assisting sellers and buyers with listing, selling and leasing commercial real estate. “The CPC designation is one more indication of Chaim’s knowledge and professionalism in helping commercial clients achieve their commercial real estate goals,” said Broker-Owner Xena...(read more)

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for December 2011

2012-01-12T15:31:00Z

Property sales up 8.2 percent for full year 2011; prices stable For the full year 2011, property sales of members of the Sarasota Association of Realtors® jumped by 8.2 percent to 8,224, achieving the highest level since 2005. The surge in sales was accompanied by stabilization in the median sale prices, which now stand at $155,925 for single family homes and $156,800 for condos over the full year, and have not fluctuated much for the past 12 months. Once again, the market has demonstrated that...(read more)

You may owe federal income taxes in 2013 if you have a short sale, foreclosure

2012-01-09T19:57:00Z

WASHINGTON – Jan. 9, 2012 – You may owe federal income taxes in 2013 if you have a short sale, foreclosure after this year. Now is the time to make the hard decision: Are you going to walk away from your underwater home? Uncle Sam is still giving homeowners until Dec. 31, 2012, to go through a short sale or foreclosure without tax consequences – as long as the lender officially releases the debt. But on Jan. 1, 2013, the rules change: The amount a lender forgives, ether in a short...(read more)

Housing Affordability Index

2012-01-06T19:26:00Z

Share | How affordable is housing for potential buyers? Today’s Housing Affordability Index produced by the National Association of Realtors® yields some insight—the best in decades. The headlines have recently screamed about record low mortgage rates and still soft house prices. How does this translate into affordability for potential buyers? NAR combines this information along with data on median family income into a Housing Affordability Index—an index designed to track how...(read more)

IRS Kicks Off 2012 Tax Season with Deadline Extended to April 17

2012-01-04T19:32:00Z

IRS YouTube Video: April 17th Tax Deadline WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today opened the 2012 tax filing season by announcing that taxpayers have until April 17 to file their tax returns. The IRS encourages taxpayers to e-file as it is the best way to ensure accurate tax returns and get faster refunds. The IRS also announced a number of improvements to help make this tax season easy for taxpayers. This includes new navigation features and helpful information on IRS.gov and a new...(read more)

On December 22, 2011, in Residential Real Estate, by Press Release

2011-12-23T11:56:00Z

SARASOTA, FL – Chaim Gleitmann of Xena Vallone Realty has earned the Resort and Second Home Specialist (RSPS) Certification. Awarded by the National Association of REALTORS®, this nationally recognized designation indicates expertise in the resort and second home specialty. REALTORS® who receive the RSPS certification have successfully completed the Resort & Second Home Markets Course along with another designation or additional advanced courses in the field of resort and second...(read more)

Foreclosure Deficiency Judgments

2011-12-21T18:05:00Z

As the foreclosure crisis continues to affect the real estate market, many troubled homeowners, and even some realtors, may not fully understand the severity of a foreclosure. In a foreclosure situation, the mortgage lender is a secured creditor which has a piece of collateral securing its debt. In this case the collateral is the real property. Should the borrower/homeowner not pay their mortgage lender, then obviously that secured creditor would reclaim possession of that property. In the vast majority...(read more)

Existing-Home Sales Continue to Climb in November

2011-12-21T15:13:00Z

Washington, DC, December 21, 2011 Existing-home sales rose again in November and remain above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Also released today were periodic benchmark revisions with downward adjustments to sales and inventory data since 2007, led by a decline in for-sale-by-owners. Although rebenchmarking resulted in lower adjustments to several years of home sales data, the month-to-month characterization of market conditions did not change. There are no changes...(read more)