Taxes Content Index - Page 1

Taxes are what you pay to the federal, state and local governments where you live. Different types of taxes include income taxes, capital gains tax, sales tax, estate tax and real estate taxes such as property tax. Learn how to bequest property and do transactions in a way that will help you pay less taxes and follow the law.

Property tax, usually local, is a tax imposed on the market value of a property. Learn more here about property tax requirements, write offs, and other situations involving property tax in the articles, columns, blog posts, radio shows and videos.

**HUD Revised Streamline Refinance Transactions** Streamline mortgage refinance applications will be undergoing some changes. Under the HUD revised streamline refinance, there are changes to the mortgage seasoning, payment history requirements, and verification of assets, employment and income. For a streamline refinance without an appraisal there will be a new maximum mortgage amount, and under the HUD revisions, there is is maximum combined loan-to-value amount for the streamline refinance. Read the full letter below for more details on the changes to HUD streamline refinance applications.

Ilyce Glink Show Notes - November 15, 2009. Today on the show, we discussed the new Fannie Mae Deed For Lease Program in Detail; the new CreditKarma Survey on credit card debt; The October 2009 Realty Trac Foreclosure survey; Divorce and Mortgages; Mike Rose, a senior loan officer with Bank of America, came on to talk about some of the new mortgage rules with regard to divorce and FHA; Peggy Abkemeier, President of Rent.com discussed a new survey of investment property owners. NEW EBOOKS ON INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE; EBOOK SPECIAL.

**Investment Property Short Sale Generates Phantom Income** When an investment property is sold as a short sale, it generates what is known as "phantom income." The IRS looks at the difference between what the property is worth and what your sold it for in the short sale as income. You should receive a 1099 for the phantom income generated by the short sale of the investment property.

**Home Buyer Tax Credit Cut-Off Dates: Do I Qualify?** The $8000 first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended and a new $6500 trade-up buyer tax credit was expanded. Some home buyers are upset because they don't qualify for the home buyer tax credit. It's unfortunate that some people just missed the cut-off dates for the home buyer tax credit, but the tax credits have to begin and end somewhere. Do you qualify for the home buyer tax credit?

Taylor Bean & Whitaker Customers Still Waiting for Answers. Think Glink has reported for weeks now that former Taylor Bean & Whitaker customers would get answers after the Oct. 31 deadline, by which new loan servicers were to have sorted out who would take what Taylor Bean & Whitaker loans. While there has been some progress made, Taylor Bean & Whitaker customers are still waiting for many answers.

Ilyce Glink Show Notes - November 8, 2009. Big news week: $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit was expanded to include trade-up buyers, and extended until June 30, 2010; Unemployment numbers are out and awful: Nationally, unemployment rose to 10.2 percent, 17.5 percent if you include a broader measure of unemployment; Fannie Mae introduced its Deed For Lease program; Five more banks closed, bringing the total for the year to 120; the House passed health care reform. NEW EBOOKS ON INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE ARE AVAILABLE; Get your FREE books and Ebook deal.

**Jobs, Foreclosures, The Stock Market And More Thoughts About Our Wacky World.** If we don't have jobs, it's awfully hard to pay a mortgage. More foreclosures may be on the way, according to the one person who I knew correctly called the financial meltdown.

**$8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended and Expanded: Questions and Answers** **UPDATE: (11/9/09) The new $6,500 tax credit for trade up buyers is effective as of the day the bill was signed, November 6, 2009, according to Sen. Isakson's office.** With the extension and expansion of the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit, lots of our readers are happy. But some are rather angry. Some of the people that would have benefited from the expansion of the tax credit have purchased homes and won't get the benefit of the tax credit. Others want clarification to see if they will qualify for the "new and improved" home buyer tax credit.

**Unpaid Property Taxes Found One Year After Land Contract Signed** Land contract -- also known as installment contracts for deed -- are complicated documents. If you are not careful, you could end up in a mess. Some issues that can lead to problems in a land contract are title issues, including unpaid real estate and property taxes. But unpaid taxes could be the lesser of some of the title problems you can encounter using a land contract. This reader found unpaid property taxes from years earlier about a year after entering into the land contract.

**Title Insurance May Solve Encroachment Issue** If you are buying a home and find out you may have a title problem, you should talk to the title insurance company to determine if the title problem can be insured over by the title insurance company. Many real estate properties have minor title insurance problems that are small enough that the title insurance company may be willing to give you peace of mind with coverage under the title insurance policy.