The American Dream is often paired with owning one’s own home. For decades Legislator’s have protected that dream with allowing home owners to claim the mortgage interest paid on their homes as a tax deduction. With a possible phase out of this deduction, could the dream fade?
“There are no cows more sacred in the tax code than the deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes. Together, they add up to at least the $ 75 billion annual subsidy for housing and Homeowners. ” The New York Times.
In 2002, 37.2 million taxpayers claimed the deduction, writing off $336.6 billion, or about $9,000 per taxpayer. Representing about 37% or so of itemized deductions, it was slightly more than itemized deductions for deductible state and local taxes, and twice as much in deductions as charitable donations. Clearly, the mortgage deduction is important and worth a huge amount of money.
In 2005 it was estimated that:
* The mortgage interest deduction will cost the Treasury $72.6 billion, according to congressional estimates.
* The $250,000 and $500,000 tax-free exclusions of home sale profits for single sellers and joint filers, respectively, will cost $23 billion .
* Property tax write-offs cost $20 billion, and tax subsidies for local and state housing bond programs account for $1 billion.
When a congressional committee examined the distribution of homeowner benefits for 2004, it found that people earning $200,000 and more a year – just one-half of 1% of all homeowners filing for deductions – pocketed 22% of the $70.2 billion in write-offs in 2004.
In 2007, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) unveiled a draft of his “carbon tax” legislative reform package. Part of this draft legislation was a phase out the mortgage interest deduction on large homes. The phase-out schedule for the mortgage interest write-off, beginning with houses of 3,000 square feet, which would lose 15 percent of their deductions, and ending with houses of 4,200 square feet and larger, which would receive no deductions at all.
Dingel said: “In order to address the issues of climate change, we must address the issue of consumption-we do that by making consumption more expensive.”
Naturally, with the real estate market bust, the Dingell package was shelved. Once the housing market recovers, lets’ say two years from now, it’s a very good bet the administration will be looking hard at ways to increase taxes to pay down the huge bailouts. The unusual financial troubles and the move to green, will be the perfect time to push through such legislation. Unlike the Dingel proposal ,which was aimed at larger homes, the future legislation will most probably cover all mortgage interest deductions. To increase its’ chance at passage, it is a good bet it will be a phased in plan with deductions decreasing over a number of years.
To get the reversal of the sacred deduction started, President Obama’s impending budget proposes a cap on the mortgage interest rate deduction. Couples earning $208,850 or more would loose the deduction. Where currently households at the 33% and 35% tax rates are allowed the deduction, Obama would reduce their deduction to only 28% of the value of those payments. This is likely a first step to what seems to be a total elimination of mortgage tax deduction. If (when) this passes, Obama will find it easier to lower the earning cap for the mortgage tax deduction, leading up to an even lesser amount in the future. It seems on the horizon that the mortgage interest rate will be only for low income earners.
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Where can I work as real estate agent but also get training on loans?I just passed my real estate exam. I don't know where to apply as real estate sales agent and also get training on loans to be a better advocate for my clients. This will be my part-time career at this time since I am currently working full-time in the medical field. Any advice or ideas would be great.
About Author
Bob Schwartz is a Certified Residential Specialist, real estate broker specializing in San Diego real estate. Read more of Bob’s ‘tell it like it is’ real estate opinions & subscribe to his free RSS feed at:San Diego real estate blog Also visit San Diego real estate & San Diego real estate agents
whoa!!it looks like a PICTURE!
ur an amazing painter!:D
*sub*
Nice work, you did pretty good.
stay out of the mainstream area;
that is, listing houses for sale.
become an exclusive buyer's agent.
Rep middle income and upper income
black women as a niche.
Also poke into doing commercial
and industrial purchases.
and maybe business brokerage
plus, interview different agencies–
most are Realtor focused; which
means they take listings. YOU can
choose not to do that via being
an exclusive BUYER's agent.
[they don't sell RE--they help
buyers buy, and that is a different
approach].
plus u can find those offices that
have 100% approaches [where
the agent pays for desk space and
does not split the commission.]
available to help -though I am not
in TN.
You have a LEGAL AND BINDING CONTRACT. all disclosures within the contract should be what the seller knows about the property. Now the other agent cannot FORCE you to sign anything. Basically what the agent is trying to do is cover his clients ass- if the selling side has a problem with it you can always take it before arbitration (see how they like that). Either way the selling agent is not within his rights to present other docs. for disclosures, nor do you let them off the hook. You will have no recourse if you do. Hope this helps.
One doesn't eliminate the other one. My broker is a Lawyer and his experience/practice is in Real Estate. After 10 years of practicing law, he decided to be a Broker.
Go ahead!
You’re really good man. You’ve got excellent talent.
I am a real estate agent in Australia with my own independent office.
I am not sure what courses are like through franchises, however, here, the courses with regular real estate schools are very good.
When you are looking to find an agency to work for, consider the following:
- do they regularly pay for training for their employees? what kind of training and how frequently?
- does management get regular training and upgrade their knowledge on changes in legislation etc (here we have special annual education to attend to stay in the know)
- what internal systems and procedures do they have that will assist people who are just starting out? for example, a good computer software and training resources in the office for when you get stuck on something.
- is there someone more experienced in the office that can mentor you?
I believe that a franchise is not necessarily the best, often all the training that they attend is in house, and they are not open to external training providers (which can be very beneficial).
You need to look at the individual operator of the office to decide if it will be a good environment to start your career or not.
Incredible! He looks so life like. Just amazing…and what a beautiful subject
Brilliant Willy, Just Brilliant =D
Excellent work. Pleasure to watch. Perfect music
))
Very nice!!
http://myitcareer.info/
Check with your local Howard, Perry & Walston school, or go to http://www.hpwreschool.com for all the info you are looking for. Good luck, it's hard but well worth it in the end.
Great talent Der Mann.
Russ Whitney has a great coaching program you may want to take a look at.
Good Luck
Sheldon Moylan of Dominion Lending Centres
Wow! what a great question from a 14 year old. a LLC (Limited Liability Company) is incorporated with the Attorney Generals office in the state it is established in. The best way to do that is to go to an Attorney. A holding company and a Development company may be combined into one, have different division or groups to do the different objectives, or even the same people.
You can never have too much money to start a company, it's the too little that matters. Your best bet is to save as much as possible, write up a business plan, go to friends and family for investment in the company before you start out and hope to have a minimum of $50,000 to $500,000 to start your company. Then you can go to a bank and borrow, usually 2 to 3 times that much more to make your first purchases.
Yes there are Capital gains even for companies to pay with investment properties.
When you are ready, have your board of directors vote to take your company public by registering with the Securities and Exchange commission, with the assistance of a Stock Brokerage Company.
If you are talking about selling real estate as an agent, then
You can take real estate classes in college or you can go to a real estate school (this is what most agents and brokers do) you will have to take a licensing test from the state.
If you are talking about investing, then there are REITs you can invest in through a stock broker,
If you are talking about investing by flipping (buying and fixing then selling)
you will need to learn about costs of materials, value of real estate in your area, subcontracting for plumbing etc and have time for equity labor.
below is link to kaplan schools, one of the better real estate schools