Short Selling in Divorce
For most divorces, a driving objective is closure. One or both of the parties has generally reached the state of being “over it”. Child custody, division of assets, and support issues are challenging. But there is another issue which can rain frustration on a divorce like a monsoon, and that is the disposition of real…
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
On occasion we lose great employees, lawyers, staff, and friends of the firm as they go on to new callings or perhaps to meet their Maker. Thankfully, this edition’s ‘WHERE ARE THEY NOW” is about the former. Matt Pittman, former law firm digital maintenance expert, network and computer guru, file scanning department leader and firm…
Creative Financing = Creative Tax Headaches
A client called today to have our lawfirm engage in a discussion with his CPA as to tax ramifications for “subject to” sales of homes. For those of you who have never considered using “creative financing” to sell your home or buy a home, a “subject to” means the buyer takes over the seller’s mortgage…
Mortgage Debt Relief Act Progress for 2015
For those of you that check back on this website and blog periodically to find out whether your forgiven debt from your short sale in 2015 will be taxable or not . . . . the year is 3/4th complete and we still don’t know. As you may recall from 2014 . . . it…
When a Deal is not a Deal
A wise man once said, and many wise real estate investors have repeated it : “You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.” The point is that you don’t want to overspend on an investment or you can forget realizing a profit in this lifetime! Sometimes it makes sense for a buyer…
Where to Focus YOUR Lobbying Efforts
In our blog earlier this month we included legislative contact information so that you could let your Senators and Congressmen know how important you feel it is to extend the taxable income exclusion for forgiven debt on your primary residence. That exclusion was originally part of a tax relief package begun in the Bush era…
Modifying? Short Selling? STAY ON HIGH ALERT!
Often we get emails like this one on our website: “My home was recently foreclosed on 8/6 during my short sale process. At the time I had 3 offers the last coming more than a week before the sale date of which was not given to me until 2 weeks prior. My realtor insist I…
Status of Mortgage Debt Relief Act
Still no news as of this post on the resurrection and extension of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act passed by President Bush in the final days of his administration. A proposed bill cleared the Senate subcommittee on finance several months ago but it has not made progress through the full Senate or House yet. President…
Web Based Auctions, Buyer Beware!, Realtor Beware!
Attorneys across the country who share the passion to level the playing field between struggling homeowners and mortgage companies often network and discuss market trends, new strategies to defend against foreclosure, and the latest lender tactics. Among the latest chilling experiments by the mortgage industry many stretch the concept of an auction in ways that…