As Jimmy Napier said, "It isn't the ones that got away that harm ya."

The problem comes when the majority of transactions are for flipping.Also if year after year you engaged in those transactions it is regularly occuring and could be considered a business.

This protects you from any legal trouble that could occur.

If you subdivide your property, selling off vacant land separately from the parcel on which the home is situated, you can claim the exclusion for the sale of the vacant land and the sale of the home provided they occur within 2 years of each other.

I've only been doing this for a little over 5 years now and was wonderingif some of the more experienced people could share with us how this time period compares to the flipper boom that occurred 7 or 8 years ago.Do you see the same growth in investors?

Originally posted by J Scott:Btw, for all you Clint Eastwood types who think that armed citizens can stop idiot madmen, keep in mind that of the 100+ mass murders that have occurred in the U.S. in the past 10 years, not a single gunmen was killed by an armed private citizen taking him out.Most (if not all) mass shootings occur in gun free zones.

As Joel pointed out, this is not a nationwide occurance like the bubble.

The property is in my personal name and not a business name.Can I still report the capital gains in 2012 (when the sale took place) or am I required to report the capital gains in 2013 when closing occurred and I received the funds.

I am not used to business occurring on holidays.

Diversity is important, so in my particular case, I tend to aim for keeping app 70% of my portfolio in better areas/properties, to ensure a steady and reasonable flow of income, and get more "adventurous" with the other 30% (blue collar/industrial areas), which allows me to make bigger leaps and bounds when things go well, and doesn't hurt me too badly when those tougher tenants turn up (and they always do at some stage :)), since I've got a good base to cover those vacancies when they occur.