All Forum Posts by: Debbie C.

We are planning to sell our property to a long-time tenant of many years and are looking for some assistance with the selling process. Because we’re pretty comfortable with this tenant, we would prefer to not use an agent to save on the commission. Do you have any recommendations on cheaper alternatives to agents...mostly just someone to help us through the legal paperwork and make sure everything is legit. We were looking into flat fee brokers, transaction coordinators, and real estate lawyers, but don’t know very much about them and which is best suited for our particular situation. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks!

We are planning to sell our property to a long-time tenant of many years and are looking for some assistance with the selling process. Because we’re pretty comfortable with this tenant, we would prefer to not use an agent to save on the commission. Do you have any recommendations on cheaper alternatives to agents...mostly just someone to help us through the legal paperwork and make sure everything is legit. We were looking into flat fee brokers, transaction coordinators, and real estate lawyers, but don’t know very much about them and which is best suited for our particular situation. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks!

We have an old house that my husband and I have lived in for a long time. When we purchased this house decades ago, it was apparently assessed as a 2 bedroom house. But the previous owner had made some additions to the house and an extra bedroom and bathroom were added apparently without obtaining a permit. We never officially notified the city about these additions. We've recently made a few renovations for the house and obtained permits for them from the city. But now, the city is telling us they need to reassess the house because of the renovations. They gave us a survey to fill out asking about all the new additions/alterations that we've made to the house though these renovations.

In this circumstance, is it best to notify the city about the bedroom/bathroom additions that were made by the previous owner? Or do you think this isn't necessary, since these additions were done decades ago and by the previous owner? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I haven't looked extensively (and correct me if I'm wrong), but it seems like Zillow Group is the only one that will forever display rental history pricing on a property along with exact dates that every listing is posted and removed. I'm just not a fan of this because it can create the wrong impression for people, and is also unnecessarily invasive. Is Zillow Group so dominate that I would be at a great disadvantage if I did not use it to seek out tenants?

I was going to post a rental on Zillow group (Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads) but it seems like they display a public record of previous rental listings (including date and pricing) for every property, which I really don't like. Do you guys have any other recommendations for where to post listings that won't keep a public record? I've tried Craigslist, but so far that hasn't been too successful. 

Does anyone know how difficult it is to do a monetized installment sale as an alternative to 1031 for deferring capital gains taxes? My CPA and real estate agent don’t know anything about it, and I don’t know how get started even if I wanted to do something like this. I’ve only read some information online describing how it works and it seems rather confusing. But if it does truly achieve a 30 year deferral then it’s something that I’d prefer doing over a 1031.

That's good to hear, I didn't know that was allowed! So as long as he doesn't sell the place before the end of this four year period (two years renting, then two years ownership but renting it out to someone else), then he'd be fine? Is this what you meant by owning and occupying not having to be during the same time frame @Ashish Acharya ? 

 Interesting! So is this essentially the bubble?

@Ashish Acharya

@Ashish Acharya

I apologize, I may have been using the wrong terminology, but yes, I meant just doing an ordinary exchange that does not have a mortgage attached.

Do you mean that I would have to rent it out to him for two years, give it as a gift, and then he has to reside there for an additional two more years? Or can his first two years of renting the property count towards the owner-occupant length requirement?

I have a question for tax experts out there. Let’s say I did a 1031 exchange and chose a replacement property worth 100k, fully paid with cash from the exchange. Then I rent this property to my son and after two years time, added his name onto the property title. Once his name is added, can he sell it and claim the full 121 exemption for taxes (of up to 250k for single people), since he’s lived in the place for two years and it’s his primary residence? Or would this not be valid because me and my husband’s names are also on the title?

If this isn’t possible, is there any other way that I can let my son become an owner-occupant of this property so that he can claim 121 exemption when it’s sold?