Friday, December 14, 2007

Tax savings beyond property exchanges

If you own your home (or want to) and/or investment real estate but don't fully under its tax benefits, "Selling Real Estate Without Paying Taxes, Second Edition" by attorney Richard T. Williamson shows how to maximize your tax advantages. Emphasis is primarily on avoiding taxes when selling real estate, but the author also emphasizes the importance of the noncash depreciation deduction for owners of investment buildings.

This book is for homeowners and investors who need more than basic tax information about avoiding tax on home sales and tax-deferred exchanges. Williamson provides superb explanations of how to use private annuity trusts, charitable remainder trusts, and even tax-free IRA (individual retirement account) investments to accomplish financial goals while avoiding taxes and planning for retirement.

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source: updatere.com

Hovnanian says net contracts and sales fall

Orders and sales for new homes fell and cancellations rose at upscale U.S. home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc (HOV.N) during the company's fiscal fourth quarter. The company said on Tuesday that the October sales pace in most of its markets "significantly deteriorated" when compared with recent months and that set by its September promotional sale. Hovnanian's problems reflect the U.S. housing industry's protracted decline, as it was the first major builder to include October results in its preliminary accounts. Shares of Hovnanian were off nearly 4 percent in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange touching a new intraday low of $9.70.

Hovnanian said preliminary results for the fiscal fourth-quarter ended October 31, showed that excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, net contracts fell 10 percent to 2,781 homes, while sales slid 19 percent to 3,969 homes. Would-be buyers canceled contracts at a rate of 40 percent, as many found themselves unable to qualify for mortgages. The cancellation rate rose from 35 percent in the prior quarter as well as the year-earlier quarter. Other home builders, such as Beazer Homes USA Inc (BZH.N), also blamed high cancellation rates on tighter mortgage requirements as a result of the subprime mortgage market meltdown. A glut of homes for sale and buyer concern about economic weakness have home builders scrambling to strengthen their balance sheets to weather the market decline, which began more than 18 months ago.

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source: updatere.com

IndyMac loss dwarfs own forecast

IndyMac Bancorp Inc (NYSE:IMB - News), one of the largest independent U.S. mortgage lenders, posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday that was more than five times larger than it had projected, hurt by mounting delinquencies and a collapse in demand to buy its home loans. The parent of IndyMac Bank, one of the largest U.S. savings and loans, halved its dividend and said another cut is possible if it loses more money. It also quadrupled its reserves for bad loans. "It's going to be a tough year, year and a half," Chief Executive Michael Perry said on a conference call.

The third-quarter net loss for Pasadena, California-based IndyMac totaled $202.7 million, or $2.77 per share. It was the first quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 1998. Profit a year earlier was $86.2 million, or $1.19 per share. Excluding items, the loss was $2.74 per share -- six times the average analyst forecast, according to Reuters Estimates, of a loss of 46 cents. IndyMac had on September 7 forecast a loss of nil to 50 cents per share. "Conditions in mortgage markets are deteriorating so rapidly that management guidance often becomes obsolete nearly as soon as they publish or report it," wrote Lehman Brothers Inc. analyst Bruce Harting. "IndyMac demonstrates the point."


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source: updatere.com

Hedge funds set to talk to Northern Rock: paper

LONDON (Reuters) - The British Treasury has given two U.S. hedge funds permission to start takeover talks with stricken British mortgage lender Northern Rock Plc (NRK.L), the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. The Treasury was not immediately available for comment.

The paper said JC Flowers and Cerberus met John Kingman, head of the Treasury's enterprise and growth unit, last week to discuss their separate proposals. The government has effective control of Northern Rock because of emergency funding being supplied by the Bank of England.

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source: updatere.com

Real estate writer Robert Bruss dies

SAN FRANCISCO -- Robert Bruss, a nationally syndicated real estate columnist, author and investment adviser, has died at his Silicon Valley home. He was 67. Bruss known by peers as the "Dear Abby of Real Estate" had intestinal surgery earlier this year and died of cancer, said Brad Inman, founder and publisher of Inman News.

For 23 years, Bruss wrote seven columns a week for Inman, an Emeryville-based independent news service focusing on real estate. After a brief hiatus earlier this year, he resumed his busy schedule until his death Wednesday in Burlingame, said Jessica Swesey, Inman News editorial and content director. "Over the years, he helped so many people sort out their various buying and selling questions and was an amazing resource of independent information," Swesey said. "He was the most prolific writer I've ever known, and the entire Inman News team will miss him dearly." Bruss' articles including the popular "Real Estate Mailbag" question-and-answer column were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers nationwide, including the Times, and on numerous Web sites. "Bob had a lot of fans and a strong readership. We're really going to miss his contribution to the page. His death is a loss to everyone who followed his wisdom in the real estate pages. He'll be sadly missed," said Kevin Keane, executive editor for Bay Area News Group-East Bay.

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source: updatere.com