Any homeowner knows that that the beginning of each new year represents a new tax season, and with each tax season come new opportunities to use your home as an excellent way to save money through valuable deductions.

Federal tax laws have made it advantageous to own a home. Federal tax credits have been issued to do two specific things: to offset the cost of owning a home and to motivate new buyers to keep the housing market hopping.

Just like other federal laws that benefit the populace, tax laws are never guaranteed for more than a few years.  Therefore, a wise home owner will take advantage of all the available tax benefits while they are still viable options.

This article presents a brief introduction to the most popular and lucrative tax benefits for homeowners.  This information should not be considered tax advice, and it is always a good idea to check with your federal taxing agency or even a tax professional to find out which options are applicable to your individual tax situation.

Deduct the Interest Paid on Mortgage Loans
This is perhaps the absolute best tax deduction that any homeowner could hope for.  Taking full advantage of this deduction can save you potentially thousands of dollars, depending on the principal and structure of your mortgage. Generally, as long as your mortgage is for less than one million dollars, you can deduct the interest.

During the first few years that you own your home, you will learn that most of your payment amount is used to pay down the interest rather than the principal.  Therefore, this tax break was designed to be most beneficial to new buyers.  Of course, as mentioned above, it really just depends on the type of loan you selected when you purchased your home.

Homebuyers who have opted for a balloon or interest-only mortgage may discover that this deduction makes owning a home much less expensive.
When you deduct the interest that you have paid, your taxable income is lowered, reducing the amount of tax that you owe. The mortgage interest deduction and any other deduction resulting from a home equity loan (see below) can be shared among filers who do not file jointly.
If you have borrowed a home-equity loan, it is important to realize that the interest is deductible. However, such deductions are almost always limited to loans of no more than $100,000, just as deductions are limited to standard mortgages of no more than one million dollars.  The amount that is deductible may actually be the fair market value of your home, rather than the $100,000. If you are considering deducting the interest paid on a mortgage or home-equity loan, consult with a tax professional for advice.

Deduct the Interest Paid on Home-Improvement Loans
The calculation of the deduction that corresponds to interest paid on a home-improvement loan differs from that of the other interest deductions described above.  The calculation is fairly complicated, but if you are using the loan proceeds to make improvements that will increase the home´s value, extend the life of the home, or adapt the home to meet changing needs (such as adaptations for the elderly or disabled), then you can probably deduct ALL of the interest paid on the loan.

Sometimes home-improvement loans are used to fund smaller projects, such as painting and minor updating.  In these cases, you can usually deduct some of the interest paid on the loan.  However, the largest tax benefits from repairs result when you sell your home.

Deduct The Points You Pay at Closing
A point represents one percent of the amount of the mortgage that you are borrowing.  In most cases, you pay points to the lender at the time of the closing.  Points are fully deductible, as is interest, during the year in which you purchase a home.

Points are deductible when you opt to refinance, too. The difference is that in order for points on refinancing loans to be deductible, they must be amortized over the life of the loan.  If you find it advantageous to refinance again in the future, you can immediately deduct the remaining points from the original refinance loan when the new points have been amortized over the life of the new loan.

Deduct Your Real-Estate or Property Taxes
When you pay real-estate and/or property taxes, you may deduct the amount from your federal taxes.  There is a caveat, however. If you receive any refund of your local or state property taxes, it will reduce the amount of your federal deduction eligibility by the same amount.  Find a tax professional to help you understand your eligibility for this tax deduction.

When You Sell, Take Advantage of the Capital Gains Exclusion
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 gives real-estate investors the ability to retain the profit earned when their home sells.  The restriction is that the home owner must have lived in the property during two of the last five years that the property was owned. When taking advantage of this tax break, homeowners may retain up to $500,000 ? tax-free ? from the profit on the home sale. There is no restriction on how many times homeowners may use this tax benefit, so long as they qualify and meet the residency requirement.

Deduct Your Home Office
Many taxpayers do not realize that when some portion of the home is used exclusively as a home office for a business, a percentage of the costs associated with the home may be deducted.  A specific percentage of utility bills, painting fees, insurance premiums, and depreciation may be deducted by homeowners who use space in their home as an office.

This deduction is restricted if your home is partially owned by your business, and if any capital gains would be divided between you and your business. Again, work with a tax professional to understand the details.

Sellers´ Expenses Reduce Capital-Gains-Tax Liabilities
When you sell a home, you incur selling costs.  These costs include, but are not limited to, advertising, title insurance, inspections, painting, decorating, landscaping, legal fees and agent commissions.  As long as repair, painting and upgrade costs were incurred within 90 days of your home´s sale, they are deductible.

This deduction will reduce your amount of capital gain for tax purposes.  The way that this deduction is calculated will depend primarily on your home´s value.  Ask your realtor or a tax advisor for additional information about deducting sellers´ expenses.

Deduct Moving Costs When You are Relocating for Work
When you must move for your job, you can almost always deduct the moving costs that you incur.  You must meet certain criteria, including moving within one year of relocation to a new location at least 50 miles from your current home and working full-time at the new location for at least 39 weeks during the year following your move.  These deductible expenses can include travel costs, storage costs, hotel costs and mover costs.

Smart consumers make financial decisions by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of every possible option. Buying a home is no exception. Whether you already own your home, or are considering the purchase of a new home, you need to become familiar with the many tax deductions offered to homeowners. Your realtor is an excellent source of general information about local taxation, taxing authorities and possible tax deductions.  Begin your research by requesting general information from your realtor and then contact a tax professional or financial planner to learn about the best tax deductions for your particular situation.

Contact me today for more information!  Rod Potter/ Email: rpotter@carolina.rr.com / Phone: (704)840-4137

When your goal is to sell your home hassle-free, there is one sure way to make that happen.  Believe it or not, the only thing that you need to do is to understand how the selling process works.  When you have this information, you know what to expect and when to expect it!  There´s nothing worse than being surprised by part of the home-selling process while you´re mid-stream. Making a mistake along the way could cost you a lot!  Here you´ll learn about the step-by-step journey through the home-selling process.

The Decision
You will face several decisions during the sale process.  However, there is one critical decision upon which everything else depends.  That decision is whether to sell in the first place.  Often home owners have no other option when faced with a cross-country relocation due to a career change or a new addition to the family.  However, unless you are facing one of these situations, the choice to sell your home is generally just that ? a choice.

Think carefully about selling your home before making a final decision.  Do you have a clear idea of where you will live once the home sells? Perhaps your children have grown and you no longer need a large home. Or perhaps you have decided to marry your long-time sweetheart and you can no longer stay in that tiny bungalow.  Either way, there will be many things to consider before you can be sure that selling your home is the best solution.

Once you have made the decision to sell, it´s time to move to the next step in the process.

Preparation
Long before the “for sale” sign is erected on your lawn, you will need to begin preparing your home for sale.  Start with a complete top-to-bottom inspection of the home.  Remove any unnecessary clutter from the home, so that you are able to see what has been behind those piles for so many years!  Of course, disposing of unnecessary items will make the moving process much easier on everyone. Once you have cleared out those items that you do not intend to keep, it´s time to start looking over what is left.

In general, potential buyers are more attracted to homes that allow them to visualize.  Specifically, they want to visualize their family sitting around the dinner table, and they want to visualize their belongings where yours are now.  The less cluttered your home is, the easier it will be for buyers to do this sort of visualization.

You´ve probably come to the realization that you will need to remove even some of the things that you want to keep.  You can move extra furniture into the garage, or consider temporarily renting a storage space while your home is for sale.

You will probably be overwhelmed by how spacious your home has suddenly become, and you will probably also begin to notice its signs of age.  A fresh coat of paint and professional carpet cleaning will definitely improve the look of your home. Since the rooms are now much less crowded, now is the perfect time!

Finally, remove as much of your home´s personalization as possible.  For example, replace your family photo over the mantle with a large mirror or painting.  Take down your gallery of family photos, leaving this area open for the potential buyers´ imagination.

Once you´ve finished with the interior of your home, move to the exterior and focus on curb-appeal!  You need to make sure that the photos appearing in real estate listings make your home look as appealing as possible. Make sure that your lawn is in good condition, free from bare or brown spots.  Planting grass seed is simple and can make a huge difference in the appearance of your lawn.  Next, make sure that your shrubs are neatly trimmed to show potential buyers that you have cared for your landscape.  Keep the lawn free of toys, bikes and other items that can make it appear cluttered.  Finally, make your porches, decks and patios inviting! Consider buying new cushions for your patio furniture. Add a few large flowerpots filled with bright, seasonal flowers and make sure that the surfaces are clean and clear of clutter.

Once you have prepared your home for sale, you are ready to begin speaking with listing agents.

The Realtor
There is a saying among real estate agents that being number three is lucky.  The truth in this statement applies when you are interviewing potential agents to sell your home.  Although you may actually end up working with the first agent you speak with, you should definitely speak with more than one candidate.

When you speak with a potential real estate agent, ask him or her about the type of listing contract that you will be expected to sign, the agent´s philosophy on listing prices, and how your home will be marketed to other agents and potential buyers.  These three pieces of information are all critical. If an agent is unwilling to discuss these topics, then he or she probably isn´t your best partner in the sale process.

Avoid selecting an agent based up his or her estimate of your home´s value.  Going with the agent who will list your home at the highest possible price may seem like an attractive strategy, but later you may come to learn that your home is overpriced and that no one is looking at it.

Once you have selected an agent with whom you are comfortable working, it´s time to set the price!

The Price
As mentioned earlier, it is wise to work with an agent who wants to list your home according to its market value, rather than with one who wants to put the highest price tag on the home.  While the allure of extra profit may be enticing, keep in mind that overpriced homes stay on the market longer and their ongoing selling costs end up eating away at your profits.

Overpricing and under-pricing can be avoided when you have done your research and made it clear to the listing agent that you have a good estimate of what the home is truly worth.  So how do you go about determining that price?

Ask the agents whom you are interviewing for a CMA (competitive market analysis), which will allow you to see the listing and selling prices of recently sold homes in your area, as well as the listing prices and length of time for sale of other homes in the area.  If you find that homes with a similar size and features are selling for $500,000 in your neighborhood, a price of $490,000 will get the home sold in a hurry and a price of $550,000 will definitely draw potential buyers.  However, a listing price of $800,000 will aggravate buyers´ agents and discourage people from looking at your home at all.

Now you have a good idea of how price affects the length of time for sale and why correct pricing is critical.

Overview
Not paying attention to these four areas of home spelling can be a recipe for disaster.  In order to successfully sell your home, you definitely need to be prepared with a ready-for-sale home, a great realtor, a good idea of your home´s value, and the right price.  If all of these factors receive adequate consideration, it is almost guaranteed that your home will sell quickly and with as little hassle as possible.

Contact me today for more information!  Rod Potter/ Email: rpotter@carolina.rr.com / Phone: (704)840-4137

Facing Foreclosure? 10 different options that you have.

If you fall behind on your home loan, you will quickly learn that your options are limited. The more behind you get, the less options you have. Here are some suggestions that you could use to delay/stop a potential foreclosure………

1. Sell your home-

Call my cell phone at (704) 840-4137 for a free, no-hassle, no obligation consultation on how you can sell your home and have the lender pay for it.

2. Call lender/s-

Contact all of your lenders and ask them to postpone it. Tell them you are trying to save the home, and can prove that you are working on a solution (refinancing, selling, etc.) and offer to fax them a letter and documents to back up those claims. Call me and I can get you a name or two of a mortgage professional that might be able to help you re-finance your home.

3.Call Subtrustee-

Contact the lender’s attorneys (sub trustee) and do the same thing. Sometimes, the attorneys will have a better contact at the bank than you do.

4. Bankruptcy-

If necessary, file bankruptcy and have the foreclosure process stopped immediately. Speak with an attorney about how long you would need to be able to file before the sheriff sale. Some states may allow you to file the day of the sale, while others have laws that drag out the process by days or weeks. This will only DELAY the sale, not stop it. This should used in specific situations, please consult a qualified bankruptcy attorney for more information.

5. Deed-in-Leu-

If acceptable to the lender, they will take the home from you voluntarily.

6. Loan Modification-

Speak with your lender about doing a loan modification. Essentially, this is changing the terms of the loan to better match your current income/situation.

PRO’s- This is a good option to change your loan terms.

CON’s- This can take a while to get completed (if ever). Working on a loan modification will not stop or delay a foreclosure action by your lender. It would be recommended to probably try to sell your home at the same time that you are doing a loan modification.

7. Get help NOW, not tomorrow, not next Tuesday, not after the lender calls me back….NOW. From who?

Contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Call (800) 569-4287 or TDD (800) 877-8339 for the housing counseling agency nearest you. These agencies are valuable resources. They frequently have information on services and programs offered by Government agencies as well as private and community organizations that could help you. The housing counseling agency may also offer credit counseling. These services are usually free of charge.

Contact the state agency responsible for housing in your state. Ask them of any organizations sponsored by the state or run by the state which can assist you in this issue. Many states are funding programs to help homeowners by advocating on their behalf with lenders, providing one-time grants for funds to catch up past-due payments, etc.

8. Avoid being scammed by those anxious to take advantage of you in your circumstance either by offering to buy your home quickly, make payments on your behalf, etc. How to know if you are being scammed?

Phony counseling agencies. Some groups calling themselves “counseling agencies” may approach you and offer to perform certain services for a fee. These could well be services you could do for yourself for free, such as negotiating a new payment plan with your lender, or pursuing a pre-foreclosure sale. If you have any doubt about paying for such services, call a HUD-approved housing counseling agency at (800) 569-4287 or TDD (800) 877-8339. Do this before you pay anyone or sign anything.

Don’t sign any papers you don’t fully understand.

If you’re selling the house yourself to avoid foreclosure, check to see if there are any complaints against the prospective buyer. You can contact your state’s Attorney General,  or the local District Attorney’s Consumer Fraud Unit for this type of information.

9. Ask for help.

The earlier you ask for help, the less help you need. If you get 2 payments behind on your home loan, there is still time for a church friend, family member, etc. to help you catch-up. Asking for help early makes it more likely help can…well…HELP. Waiting until the house is going to be auctioned on the courthouse steps is simply too late for most people to get behind you and your circumstances and provide you financial help.

Lenders do not want your home. Foreclosure is expensive and unprofitable for a lender. They will often work with homeowner’s who communicate with them, who do what they say they will do, and who present some kind of plan for getting back on track.

10. Court Hearing-

Before the court hearing date or the date of the hearing on your home, ask the judge for an adjournment (delay). If the date was inconvienent, tell him/her that the date and time of the hearing is/was inconvenient. (ie. work, or inability to obtain the documents for the lender in-time). Lenders are notorious for being slow, it is not unusual for people to wait a while for the lender to provide payoff documents etc to them.

§        Dress nice the day of the court hearing.

§        Address the judge as “Sir”, “mam” or “Your Honor”.

^{Contact me today for more information!  Rod Potter/ Email: rpotter@carolina.rr.com / Phone: (704)840-4137}

DISCLAIMER: Presentation of this information is for general purposes only. No information on this page is to be viewed as legal advice or as an official description of judicial process. These descriptions are general and are displayed strictly as a service to consumers. They are not intended to be all-inclusive or to cover default situations in all states. Default procedures vary by state and change often. The information herein is not to be construed as up-to-date. Consumers are advised to seek professional legal counsel in any default proceeding.