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All Forum Posts by: Hongling Lu

Hongling Lu has started 8 posts and replied 16 times.

I have recently bought my first property in Michigan. My plan is to live here, make some improvements, for the next two years or so until I finish my dissertation and graduate from PhD, then sell the place as I move to somewhere else after graduation. 

I read this article from BP: "How to (Legally!) Avoid Capital Gains Taxes on Real Estate": https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/capital-gains-tax?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%20%7C%2005/13/21%20(Regular%20%2B%20Plus)

In there, it says:
"If you’ve lived in your home for at least two of the last five years, capital gains tax on the sale of your home is exempt up to $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for married couples."

I suppose that this means I don't have to hold the home for more than five years, but only need to have it as my primary home for two years? I am wondering if this "two-year" applies to all States? 

Thank you very much for your insight.

I have just purchased my first property. It is a townhouse. I will be living there myself for ~2 years. I know that there are limited improve one can do to a townhouse. I wonder what may be some "do" and "don't" so that I can increase the value of the townhouse somewhat. 

Thank you.

@Brad Hammond Hi Brad, thank you for your earlier comment. That was encouraging. I am in the processing of purchasing my first property. I am wondering if co-op could be a suitable choice for my case? I'd love to hear your opinion. Thanks. 

@Joshua B. oh wow. Go Blue. I am doing my PhD at College of Engineering. Thank you very much and I'd definitely like to connect and ask you more questions. Thanks. 

@Dan Maciejewski Thanks Dan. 
I am in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am wondering if you may know (or anybody else may know) the market here?


I am new to real estate. I plan to purchase a property from where I am right now, and live there myself for ~2 years while finishing my degree. After ~2 years, when I am ready to leave here, I hope to leave this place as a rental or Airbnb investment. I found a property that looks good in many aspects. However, the building itself was built in 1945. For real estate investment, how much does the age of the house matter, is this a horribly hold house? and how should I take into consideration the age of the house in general?

Thank you very much for any input!

Thank you Joe!

(btw if someone can tell me how to @ people on posts that would be great!)

Hi everyone, I am new to real estate investing. I have a question: Do 2 bedroom condos generally appreciate more, compared to 1 bedroom condos, given the similar area (or maybe even smaller) and location (and other details being similar)?

I did not hear this from elsewhere, just based mostly on my guesses. I just imagine that there might be just not much room for price increase for a 1 bed room? Since there is only one room that can be used. so I am curious if there indeed is such a difference?

Thank you.

Thank you so much. I have been listening to the podcasts as well. And I will definitely check out the book. That looks interesting.