Hi everyone,new to the forum. i'm a portuguese civil engineer currently living in São Paulo, Brasil.my family is moving to Ghent, Belgium next month, and since i had to quit my job (my wife got a new job there) i'm considering RE market, maybe on my own with a lot of your help.hope to meet people working in belgium that can partner up, ou just talk to in order to understand thr market and help me settle and start out working.i've been a site engineer for the past 10 years, lately i've worked on big vertical buildings for a brasilian company, and prior to that i've done quit a bit of everything in constrution projects in portugal.hope to hear and learn from you,thnx

There is a path of progress barrelling along the coast and the area was still thriving when the country (and especially the South) was in recession.Gentrifying areas of Sao Paulo for micro condos.

Let's assume you buy a house for $115,000 with 20% down as investment, at an interest rate of 5%, so the loan amount is $92,000 (almost as much as your balance on your student loans), wich will bring you a monthly mortgage payment of $494 + property tax $200 + property insurance $100, a total of $794.00/month expense for this home.Let's further assume that you are renting this home for $1400, that will give you a $606 cash flow per month.In the same time, you will get to amortize the $115000 for over 27.5 years, meaning that $4182 will be deducted from your taxable income, and if you are in a 25% tax bracket ( and I bet your in a higher tax bracket based on your income) you will save about $4182 x 25% = $1045 per year, plus, out of the $494 mortgage payment at the end of 12 months your paid about $1500 in principal, meaning your $92000 balance on the loan is down tot $90,500.So let's see, after the first 12 months, you have a home that if it appreciates at 3% a year, you are in the following situation:Home worth: $118,450Balance on the loan: $90,500, ( paid off$1500)Cash flow: $7,272Saved on tax a min of $1,045So at the end of the year your $23000 down-payment brought you back:$3,450 in appreciation$7,272 in cash flow$1,045 in tax savings ( minimum)$1,500 in principalTotal of $13,267 in cash you gained in 12 months for an investment of $23,000, so you can get your money back in less than two years.Imagine taking this to the next step of using the 75K as down-payment for a 3-4 flat with more cash flow, more tax deductions, more principal gained, and higher appreciation.

Thank you very much.My mother and I are functioning entirely within CA, and the cost basis, for her house, is $305K, It is now worth $850K; therefore, if she gifts us the house, future additional housing increases will incur capital gains tax (as the capital gains are already in excess of the $500K exclusion). 

São Paulo, Brazil for a couple years.Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Bali for several months each during a world tour.Moved from Bali to Austin, TX 10 years ago.We like it here, but we're growing tired of the 8-month long summers and lack of infrastructure to support the incredible growth.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/origination-fee.aspThe appraisal fee might be a little high, but then you have a multi-unit.The title charges in total seem like they might be a bit high for the cost of the property - but that is sometimes regulated by gov't in some areas.Transfer tax = a local gov't charge.Tax Service fee = fee paid to assure that taxes (and possibly municipal utilities like trash and sewer) are paid.

I was thinking of just paying the 10% penalty and tax, as I see stocks back at the same dangerous peaks hit in 2000 and 2008 (go to Yahoo and map the Dow going way back in time to now, and consider if we are in good or bad economic conditions).

One way to accomplish that is to make it a flat rate tax a point of sale at 10% to 20 %.

Because that means I am maximizing the total amount of money I keep after paying that tax!As

Expect court challenges to the deductibility of property and state income tax as there is already recent case law on the subject.