All Forum Posts by: Kelly G.

@Bill B. . .   OMG!!!  Did I screw up!!   do you always have to pay depreciation on a 'second home'??  I mean - what if I had never rented it.  Then it would have just been a second home.    Thanks so much for your time - and wishing me 'luck' - It's 2 days before 'D-day' - I'm gonna need it!!!  Yikes . . . 

@Ellis San Jose thanks for your reply.  I don't have a CPA - hence the Q.  this is/was the only property that was an 'investment'; never needed a cpa!  I'll have to find/read sec 121 . .  .    appreciate your time!

@Wayne Brooks  that was my fear.  since I was under the $250k cap gains for individual - I just didn't think past that!  Oops . . guess I'm not 'playing' tomorrow on a beautiful spring day - I'm sitting at my computer doing taxes . .   what fun!  BTW:  why did you ask if I lived in the house between 2011-2018 - and not 2005??  Also -  you said "non qualified use for 13 of those 18 years" or something close to that.  does it matter if I wasn't depreciating all of those years??  It was only a rental for 4-5 years.  thanks for your time - really appreciate it.

Kelly

Hey - I thought I was in the clear - but perhaps not (was about to file my taxes . .  ).  here's the shortest version on my situation:
1) bought a house for mom in 2005 - she lived there til 2011 (not nearly long enough) did not charge rent
2) rented the house maybe 4  intermittent years between 2013 and 2018; filed taxes accordingly with 'income' and 'depreciation'
3) lived in the house between 2018 and 2023 when I sold it: almost exactly 5 years to the day
4) cash (after closing) was @ $240k

A friend suggested that I may need to repay depreciation?  Looked at IRS Pub 523 - very complicated for my little brain.  

Am I frantically redoing my taxes to account for depreciation or am I in the clear (I don't think I am)???  

thanks so much!
Kelly
sold house in WI - live in CO

@Chris Seveney - you commented: " . . . then I am $150/hr for showings, open houses and calls and bill like an attorney - I am curious how the homeowners would like that." - well - here's a 'homeowner's POV: I would Love it!!! I have tried - over multiple years in different markets (cities) to find an agent that would work with me 'a la carte' - by the hour - even offering $150/hour - I had NO takers! I usually did this selling my property as a FSBO - but wanted input from an experienced agent. I can do 99% of the work (ok - maybe 90%) and have done very well selling my own properties - cuz I Know what I've Got! If only the "industry" would consider alternative cost options - rather than insisting on some fixed %. Now . . buyers agents do most/all of the work and often deserve a better percentage - IMHO. Anyway - I think rattling the commission cage is long overdue! Cheers . . .

Gotta say I am Amazed at "no replies" in 7 hours!  I just saw the news and jumped to this site to find a conversation.  I'm "Giddy" about the news!  I have long thought that RE agents are corrupt!!!  I'm not so much an investor - but more a 'consumer' - and I have been mislead and Lied To by 7 of 8 RE agents I've dealt with over several years of mostly buying RE.  RE agents have tried - and sometimes succeeded - in scamming me into 1) using their services: 2) inflating the price of a property 'to ensure I get the accepted offer"; 3) outright LIED about their relationship in the transaction/ commission  - to the point that I almost took them to small claims court - but life derailed that.  I've watched commissions go up for less and less involvement by the listing agent!  It's all a scam . . .  the commission structure, that is. The insane commissions and  $$$ being 'paid' in the last few years of skyrocketing housing prices is completely unwarranted.  The job has not gotten "that" much harder - agents are just banking insane sums of $$ for the same amount of work.  Not fair to the seller or the buyer.  
    Just my 2 cents!   Cheers

Kelly Goocher
Florissant CO

OK - I'm gonna chime in here as a non-pro real estate 'dabbler'.  I would be Absolutely PISSED!!  Who works for Who here??  Sounds like she wrote the deal so she could get paid or is she doing this In Your Best Interest!?  Watch out in CO for "Transaction Brokers".  OK - I have very very limited personal knowledge about this - having only had 1 transaction in CO - but my broker failed to inform me (an out-of-state buyer) about the "Transaction Broker" role; she Never asked me to sign an agreement as her client which would have specified the relationship  until After she submitted the deal.  Then when I asked 'why' she had checked the 'Transaction Broker' box (or whatever - I forget) she replied : "my best opinion".  Perhaps I should have pressed the matter then, but I"d been working with her for 2+ weeks and I wrongly believed she was acting in my best interest.  In the end it was Only in Her best interest and I nearly took her to small claims court over the false representation, and overpaying for a property.  From your limited description of the situation - it sounds like she's protecting her own best interest (getting a sale).  Would it really have been sooooo hard to contact you and discuss it first??  Be Careful!

Conversing with another BP member - here's my real concern:

 "knowledge of material facts" . . . So
the buyer wants to conduct some unspecified, unregulated test for a
substance that occurs naturally in the environment - by a company for
which no license/certification is required and for a substance for which
no 'authority' has determined that some specific amount is 'unsafe'!
Screams Scam to me!! Any joe blow can put 'mold inspector' on his hat
and tell me my house has a mold problem that I now have to disclose to
the world to sell my house!!??? Yikes!

as an update:  I'm anticipating another offer so have put my 'counter offer' on hold for now

cheers
Kelly

@Frank Avallone II - @Austen Mueller  Thanks for you input - really appreciated!   The 'contingency' is for 'test' only and does not require/allow me to 'fix' anything the test finds (shall not have 'right to cure').  so that's all good.   You are both right - buyer can pretty much do (and should do) whatever tests they want - and I Want the house Sold - and get on with my life!  Thanks for getting me back on track and not getting lost in the weeds

Good luck to you in all your life's ventures!

Kelly

I'm reviewing an offer on my SFH in Milw.  They Buyer wants to do a mold test/inspection . . .  "pursuant to applicable government or industry standards and protocols".  As best as I've been able to determine - there are no 'standards or protocols'; no local, state or federal office/agency has set an 'unsafe' threshold for mold; in Milw/WI no license or 'certification' is required to call yourself a 'mold inspector/tester' etc.  

If I agree to this contingency - it seems like I could be opening a Pandora's box!  If I counter that I would not agree to such a 'test' - it could look like I'm hiding something!  Which I'm not - if the standard home inspector finds mold somewhere - then we can address it.  It's this whole idea of infrared cameras and 'testing' for something that occurs in the air naturally and for which no certification of qualification is required, and no 'unsafe' level has been determined.  

The only 'reasonable' thing I can think of is to ask/require/counter that both buyer and seller agree on the company to do the testing.  That way I can have some say in who is doing this and be sure it is Not a test AND remediation company - which I would certainly object to.  

thoughts?  suggestions?

Thanks
Kelly Goocher
Milw

I  am selling my house in Milwaukee.  I then have to drive back to CO with a dog, 2 cats and a small trailer in tow - likely in January or early February - the Worst time to cross the country.  Any suggestions on how I can word a clause in my counter-offer to allow me up to 2 weeks to rent back the house after closing, in the event weather precludes me from leaving.   Or is it as simple as "if seller cannot provide immediate occupancy at closing, seller will pay buyer $XX/week for up to 2 weeks after closing to provide adequate time to vacate the house"

Thanks!
Kelly Goocher
Milw