Hi everyone, I am totally new to the REO scene and looking to gain as much knowledge as possible.

At the same time my "passive" cashflow would be accumulating through the leases and quantity of properties in my portfolio.

-There currently isn't much maintenence considering the property is 9 years old (probably about the time to start having some things break though).A little more info: I bought the property in 2000 so I am now beyond the 2 out of 5 year rule to avoid capital gains (shoulda sold it last year).

(That's what they tell me anyways)I look forward to gaining the invaluable knowledge of....Real Estate *dun dun dun* :wink:

I would then suggest you pull out a mortgage against it putting your cash back in your pocket and then repeat the process until you have gained the desired cash flow.

.- I acknowledge that I can carry this loss forward as an offset to any gain I have in my sale, but I believe my gain isn't subject to tax anyway if I sell it by August 2006 - because my wife and I will have lived in the home for 2 out of the last 5 years at that point.- This situations get exacerbated in my 2006 situation because I am paying the mortgage and taxes without any occupancy and apparently without any tax benefit!

Birddogging can pay off big time and you will gain valuable knowledge and cash.

I decided to talk further to her, mostly to gain insight into the house (structure, septic/well history, etc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_StatesForget about tax law for a minute and consider this: Few people truly understand what income is and what it isn't.Cash flow is money coming in (or going out of) your pocket.Net Income is an accounting term that shows how much increased equity (wealth) you gain in one year.

$250K of your gain is tax free ($500K married filing jointly) as it has been your residence for 2 of the past 5 years.