All Forum Posts by: Jeff C.

The way I read his question he wants to sell the property, realize a $90k gain, then give gifts to his family to relieve himself of the tax burden. This of course makes no sense. Gifts are obviously not tax deductible. 

You selling your place and incurring a capital gain and you gifting money to relatives are two entirely separate events. I'm not sure why you think the latter would absolve you of your tax obligation resulting from the former. 

In the early days I used to go knock on every door personally, try to hear people out and work with them. The vast majority just strung me along and didn't adhere to any deal we made, meaning that I just started the eviction process later. Many of them also made me regret giving them my contact information. Now I just let the legal notices do the talking. The more the business scaled the more it also became clear that I just couldn't absorb all of these peoples problems. I'll often have half a dozen families camped out in properties that I own, refusing to take off despite a string of legal notices instructing them to do so and all expecting something out of me (months more free time in my property, cash for keys, etc). It's absurd. I don't know these people. This is a business, not habitat for humanity. 

Speaking of Habitat for Humanity I had a tenant once for whom Habitat for Humanity built a house, so she moved out of my place. Left it absolutely trashed. Worst condition for a moveout I ever had.

I've owned a few Taft properties over the years. Just sold one last month. Don't care for the place frankly, and I'm quite happy to not have a reason to drive out there again for while!

Attempting to take shortcuts to wealth is exactly what assures a lifetime of being broke for most people. 

My take is that if you wouldn't currently seek to BUY properties with those numbers then accepting them from a property that you already own isn't any more justifiable.. unless you have some strong emotional connection to the property and think you might want to live in it again eventually. I don't participate in the "appreciation will fix it" plan. That's easy to say on the tail end of nearly decade long roaring market, but the pendulum has a way of swinging back the other direction. 

You wait until you've paid down the property significantly and then recast the loan, in which case you're basically just dragging out the amortization. There's no alchemy by which you can create a smaller payment out of a loan with a similar interest rate and amortization. By the time you've paid down the property significantly interest rates are likely to be higher than they are now, as we're still pretty close to historic lows even after the recent increases. 

 Agreed. Sounds like they were professional squatters. I have a strong feeling that the SSN and info provided may not have belonged to the people who ended up in the house.

What you need right now is funds. If you don't find a source for funds, the rest is irrelevant because you won't be buying anything. If you're in St Louis, a google of "St Louis mortgage" will no doubt produce more results than you could ever need.

The bank doesn't determine the value.. the appraiser does. Appraisals cost money (and they aren't cheap). Banks can't make a habit of ordering appraisals on properties customers are thinking about buying. You can feel free to pay for your own. No bank necessary.