While renting offers zero tax breaks, buying a home offers several tax benefits that can make home ownership more affordable. Real estate professionals need to be careful in providing detailed tax advice to clients to avoid lawsuits, but you can ensure clients have the information they need to understand the all of the tax benefits of home ownership.
The following is a few of the tax benefits to home ownership, according to Stephen Fishman, an author and lawyer who specializes in small business, tax and intellectual property law.
▪ Home mortgage interest deduction: Home owners can take an itemized deduction on interest paid on a mortgage or mortgages of up to $1 million for a principal residence and/or second home. This deduction could potentially reduce the cost of borrowing by one-third or more.
▪ Property tax deduction: Home owners can deduct from their federal income taxes the state and local property taxes that you pay on the home.
▪ Deductible home buying expenses: Several closing costs in a home purchase are also deductible, such as loan origination fees (points), prorated interest on a new loan, and prorated property taxes paid at settlement.
▪ $250,000/$500,000 home-sale exclusion: Home owners who have lived in their home for two of the prior five years prior to its sale do not have to pay income tax on the majority of their profit — $250,000 for single home owners and $500,000 for married homeowners who file jointly.
▪ 14 days of free rental income: Home owners can rent the home up to 14 days during the year and pay no tax at all on the rental income.

Source: “The Tax Benefits of Homeownership,” Inman News (Feb. 4, 2011)

Yea.. it’s a bleu cheese/dark chocolate truffle bar. Sounds disgusting but it was delicious! Seriously! You should go get one but take a friend ‘cause it’s a lot of flavor for just one person.

Anyhoo, as we sat chatting, the little chocoholic stowaway in my belly started wriggling around. She asked me if it felt like butterfly wings in my gut like everyone says it does. Now I guess I can see where this “fluttering” analogy came from but it has never felt like that for me. I think it feels more like I swallowed a fish bowl (it’s starting to look that way too!)  with a big ole beta in it. You know the ones that attack their own reflections in the glass? Sometimes it feels like there is an epic battle going on in there with all the poking and sliding around.

And we’re starting to see it too.. Little elbows or knees are starting to actually move the skin on my tummy so it looks like John Hurt in Alien.. only more marvelous and less spewy, but equally fascinating. It is becoming more and more real everyday and soon this fish of mine will be a little baby girl! Oh my heck, a little girl.. Little girls turn into to teenagers, right? Yikes.. But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves now isn’t it? For now it’s a beautiful and absolutely delightful experience that we are enjoying second of.

There is really no question or doubt as to which of these looks better…

Buyers just respond better to neat, tidy and staged. It’s more homey. More cozy.  And more likely to elicit buying signals. MOST of the time. Unless they enjoy your efforts so much that they act like fools and break your stuff. Enter my cute little first time home buyers..

A few years ago I was showing houses to a very excited young couple that had been referred to me by some previous clients that had been thrilled with the job I had done for them. We were looking at some older houses in NW Austin. You know the kind.. built in the 70’s, some updating but still in need of some serious cosmetic lovins. Now this particular day was our first meeting and we’d all heard great things about each other. They were a little nervous and were clearly trying to make a good first impression on me with witty jokes that said, “Look we’re adults and we’re buying a house! Wheeee!!!”.

We were in the second house of the day and it was absolutely adorable. It still had some of that retro charm but had been updated and staged beautifully. A little on the high side pricewise but a definite stunner overall. My cute little adult clients wandered through the house like kids in a candy store.. calling at each other from different rooms, running around the living room and kitchen playing tag. I figured this one was surely the one. Until the accident..

The house was not currently being lived in but there were vignettes of furniture throughout and the bedroom was no exception. It was fluffy and pillowed and set the room off perfectly.

In rush the adorable adults and they take one look at the bed, one look at each other and immediately pull one of these..

which turned out to be one of these..

which immediately turned into one of these..

They crashed booty first, through the beautifully made blow up mattress, popping it like a balloon, crushing the frame and tearing the bedding. There were just feet and hands and heads sticking out the top of the ruined frame. They got that “Oh dear lord, what have we done?” deer-in-the-headlights look about them as they sat staring at me like guilty kids that had just, well, broken the parents bed. And I started giggling. And they started giggling. We got to laughing so hard I could barely help them up out of the mess to see the destruction they had caused. And it was not good. Which made us laugh even harder! We finally got them out to attempt to put the bed back together but to no avail.. it was just plain smushed.

I had to call the agent to let her know what had happened and to let us know what she would like us to do with the ruin of bedding and pillows as well as how much it would be to replace the items. Needless to say she did not think this was as funny as we did but when we presented our full price offer the next day I can honestly say all was forgiven. The transaction went smoothly and my very happy clients closed on the house a month later .

That bedding is still on their bed to this day!

Yup. It’s mine. I can tell by the way my belly and tush are rapidly expanding and I have overwhelming cravings for good chocolate and BBQ chicken. And it really is an exclusive club to belong to. I never realized that before I actually went and got me one but it’s impossible to understand what the hell parents are yammering about sometimes when they talk about their parental experiences. I get it now. And honestly, I’m loving it. I didn’t join for the promised perks either. I mean up front parking at Central Market is nice but there is always some other idiot in the way or douche in a sports car parked there so I’m not expecting to actually get to use that one.

No, we got it in our heads that we wanted to be parents and grow our own little bundles of joy for the fun of it! Yes, we’re admittedly insane but we’re also very much looking forward to being a part of this club. We skipped the horrible hazing rituals (thank goodness!) as the morning sickness and demonic mood swings for the most part have passed over us. It’s as though the gods have blessed this little idea we had. Either that or they’re giving it to us easy now so that we can deal with the Gauntlet of Horror that is before us.. I know that if this kid is anything like me when I was a kid, it’s gonna be one heck of a bumpy ride!

I’ll keep you guys posted on our progress but I promise I’ll do my best to NOT be one of those parents that talk about nothing but their offspring and their cute faces and clothes and farts and poops. You’re doomed to some of that but we’ll try to keep it to a minimum here folks. So, since this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to say it to you: Happy New Year and may your 2011 adventures be as exciting as mine!

It’s okay, don’t cry anymore. I know I abandoned you for far too long but it wasn’t to hurt you to punish you in any way. I got a little busy and then there were the holidays and well.. you know how it goes. I was never really gone, I just kind of forgot about you. I know that sounds terrible but I was here the whole time. But the important thing is that I’m back, right? It’s the new year and I am here to play with you and pay attention to you so it’s a celebration! And who doesn’t love to celebrate? Even crazy cat ladies like to celebrate!

We’ve got lots to talk about so pack up all your extra kitty litter  and hairballs you little lunatics, we’re gonna write some blogs!

For those of you that know me you know that I’ve been involved in one capacity or another in the “green” movement for quite some time. I drive a hybrid, we have a manual push mower , we compost and recycle, we buy local, I’ve been the Green Team Leader for a couple years now for Stanberry & Associates and I try to get involved with the community in this vein as frequently as I can. It surprises me on a regular basis that more people do not take steps to waste less, use less and consume less. Too many people talking and not walking. Don’t get me wrong. It is not my intention to preach here; it is merely a commentary leading into a recent realization… There are so many more people doing some small part(s) than I ever knew! I am relieved to find this to be so! And frankly, I kinda feel like an ass for doubting my fellow man.

People are really getting it! Two things happened today that brought me here and I couldn’t be happier about it. Well let me back up… they have their start a few months back so I’ll tell you about that now.

One of my roles as Green Team Leader is to organize community events for my group. One of the things we’ve been doing for a few years now is a Habitat for Humanity Build Day and we get sponsors from all walks of the green movement to come and help or to donate food and money  to the cause. One of these sponsors has always been Greenling Produce. (If you live in the Austin area I highly encourage you to check them out. Fresh local produce delivered directly to your door at competitive prices.) They have always made sure that we are well stocked with fresh bananas, oranges and apples during our build days. And let me tell ya.. on 110 degree days in August up on a roof shingling a house, that tastes mighty fine!

Tonight Greenling hosted a huge Thank You Party for it’s partners (like us), customers and the public in general. They had it at an absolutely beautiful new location in South Austin called Hummingbird House. (Brides-to-be check it out! Gorgeous tropical plantings, white tents with twinkle lights everywhere, fountains and private gardens to sneak away in..) From the invitation and subsequent conversations with Greenling I figured there to be 75-100 attendees. There must have been 250+ people there all whom try to make a difference with their choices on a daily basis. For this many people to show up  way outside of town on a Wednesday night to show their support for local produce is a marvelous thing. Plus it was a potluck event and, while most of it was catered, several people prepared food at home from local ingredients (I made a dish of pecan pie bars.. Mmmm.) from Greenling and other sources and shared it with everyone. Fantastic!! Faith in humanity is renewed!

The other thing that happened is a random connection from a real estate agent in Dallas that I’ve never met or even heard of. I received an email from Ari saying “referral for you” in the subject line. I get about 100 of those a week and they’re all some crap lead generation company trying to sell me “hot leads!” for $50+ a month. Jerks, quit filling up mah in-box with spam!! I almost deleted it when I noticed one odd thing… He mentioned that he’d already left me a voicemail with his contact’s information. “What?? No you didn’t. My phone didn’t even ring. Oh wait, yes it did. I forgot to take it off silent mode. Oops.” I met with them today for lunch and they are SUPER enthusiastic about buying sustainable, environmentally friendly property. I can’t tell you how excited this makes me! So many of today’s clients are about square footage or granite countertops, shiny new faucets, brushed nickel finishes and such (I like that stuff too but this is my favorite kind of search). These are true modern urbanites. My kind of people. Minus the hipster pants. Not a fan. I can’t get into grown men thrusting themselves into black acid washed jeans that would fit a 13 year old girl. Men should not have camel toe. Heck, nobody should!.. No, my new beloved clients don’t wear hipster pants.. just a portion of modern urbanites.. However, I digress.

Today was a great day for re-energizing my spirit in sustainability. I didn’t even realize that it had waned a bit until confronted with so many people living the same way I do. Now if I can just kick start that rock climbing, cycling, swimming, hiking, vegan lifestyle I’ve been meaning to try perhaps I could lose these damn 20 pounds I’ve been looking at for the last 12 months! Naaaaa.. I love cheese and beer too much.

I am a Texan girl born and bred and I definitely fall into that category of fanatical lovers of my state. However, there is just one tiny little teensy weentsy problem I have with living here: the summer heat. And we’re not one of those lucky locales who have summer for just a few months and then off to the next season. Oh no. It’s summer here from about April to October and then we get approximately one month of fall.  But our fall is soo nice.

This morning I did the unthinkable and got up with my alarm at the insane hour of 6:00 am. Yes, for me that is WAY early. I got up at 6:00 and sleepily brushed the dragon breath off my teeth, slipped on an ancient sports bra and pants, put on  my 10 year old running shoes and headed to the front door. Now my 11 year old black lab knows that when the practically elastic free athletic gear comes out of the drawer, she’s about to go outside. This is an idea sends the poor animal into fits of whining, slobbering and shaking from the ecstasy she knows is coming her way by means of a jog. If only that feeling were contagious.

Out the door and into the pre-dawn chill of the morning. OMG.. There is pre-dawn chill now and it’s wonderful!! I’m going to get up every morning at 6:00 to do this! (This is me fooling myself for about 15 minutes. Don’t worry, it won’t last.) We headed over to the lakes nearby and started our jog. For the first time in years I watched the sun rise over Austin and was struck yet again by the beauty of our town. I love living here. I love my neighborhood. And I love Texas in the fall.

IKEA and I have had a long standing love affair.. those ever so affordable Billy bookcases, funky office chairs and cheap kitchen gadgets keep me coming back again and again. I have hoards of otherwise useless alan keys from furniture no longer even with us and who can say no to 1.99 tupperware and .99 hotdogs. Seriously. Hotdogs and ice cream cones are .99?? I’ll take two of each! Nitrates and cholesterol be damned!

So off I go and while I’m fairly certain I’ll return, I can’t promise it’ll be soon. I may just take over one of those fake apartments they have set up to show you how easily you can live in 15 square feet of space. It’s amazing! Plus, they have wi fi for Pete’s sake! What else do I need? Wish me luck and if you don’t hear from me soon, I think you know where to look.

I have two brothers. We are all 5 years apart in age and I’m the baby of the family. I have a different dad than they do but they have always been my brothers. Several years ago, my middle brother Wayne went to the Le Chef Culinary Academy here in Austin (now called Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts) and has become a damn fine chef currently living in the Dallas area. He has even served President George Bush Sr. and Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev and they liked his meal so much that they asked to meet him personally. Yea, he’s that good.

About 6 or 7 years ago our mom acquired about 40 pounds of tomatoes (I can’t remember if she grew them or if someone gave them to her) and not knowing what the heck to do with all of them she asked Wayne to take them and do something with them. He threw them on the grill and fire roasted them with some jalapenos and made some of the best salsa any of us had ever had. My eldest brother Wesley stopped buying salsa at the store from then on and would request more from Wayne every time he ran out. He constantly urged Wayne to bottle the stuff and get it in the local stores because he was convinced that it was that good.

Wes died several years ago of a rare lung disease (no pity is necessary). Wayne took what Wes had been saying all these years to heart and entered his yummy chipotle concoction into the Houston Hot Sauce Festival’s amateur competition… and he won first prize! Then he did it again in San Antonio. Thus Two Brother’s Salsa was born. He bottled it and started taking it to flea markets under the moniker Dos Ermanos. No, you’re right. That’s not how you spell brothers in Spanish and the folks at the flea markets gave him the craziest looks until someone was kind enough to point out the mistake. Silly gringo can’t spell!

He decided that perhaps his best move was to keep it in English and to start promoting Two Brothers Salsa at Farmer’s Markets and stores across Texas. With a lot of help from Mom he is now in 17 stores and markets in Texas and has loyal customers from across the nation. He is working on a distribution deal with a big natural foods chain and hopefully will be on the shelves by the end of 2010. It’s been a huge success at the festivals and markets and it’s fun to do because we do it as a family. These photos are from this years Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival but we’ve done Fredericksburg, New Orleans, Hearn, Houston, San Antonio and several others. It’s usually hot as Hades because some genius decided that most hot sauce festivals need to be in the summer so you’re not only burning your skin to a crispy melanoma but your taste buds are burning right out of your head. Oh well. They’re fun to do ‘cause the hot sauce crowd are party people and party people are my kind of people.

Soon to come: Little Sister Green Sauce!!! (hint hint Wayne!!)

Salsa photos provided by Merrick Ales Photography.

Kelly and I were having a particularly giggly time as we pulled up to our first house on the second morning of searching. I think we were talking about World of Warcraft or something equally geeky and neither of us noticed the real estate sign of the same Realtor as this house across the street too. See as agents, we call ahead to make appointments to see houses if they are occupied or if they’re vacant, we just go on by. The house on our agenda was vacant so in we went without a second thought.

And we walked right into a woman in a satiny negligee who apparently had just poured herself a post coital cup of coffee. We all shrieked in embarrassment and Kelly and I turned and rushed back to the door. We just looked at each other in horror and then burst into giggles all over again. The woman then came to the door in a robe and actually apologized to us! She said that she was so sorry but her house wasn’t going on the market until the following week and her Realtor had come by that morning to put the lockbox on her door. Oh my heck.. I had gone into the wrong house! And they were doing, well you know, it!

While Kelly did not end up picking the house of lovins, we did find a fantastic place perfect for their needs. All the usual processes ran as smooth as could be until the afternoon before we were supposed to close on the house. I got a phone call from the panicking lender informing me that FHA was refusing to approve the loan on the house because there was too much exposed wood and peeling paint on the back of the house. “Are you fricking kidding me?? Why are we hearing about this at 5:00 the day before closing?” Ok.. let’s kick it into problem solving mode asap. I called Kelly and Ethan and told them to cancel any plans they had for the evening and to go to the hardware store and pick up any color of paint from the reject bin and some paint brushes and I’d meet them at the house with ladders and scrapers and we were gonna paint the back of the dang house by moonlight if we had to!

They showed up with cans of miscellaneous paint, spray paint, brushes and a case of beer (these are my kind of people). As we got started, Kelly was reading the directions to the spray paint while holding a beer in the other hand. The directions called for “vigorous shaking of the can” so she furiously shook the beer and sprayed it like a fountain all over the place. We all watched her do it too but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) stop her. Oh my goodness, hilarious! We scraped, painted and drank till we had done the best we could do under the circumstances. I called the lender and sweetly suggested that that damn FHA inspector get their butt back out the house first thing in the am so that we could close as scheduled. And you know what? It totally worked! They came out, and while they weren’t particularly impressed with our paint style, they approved the house for closing. Hurray! We’re closing!

The day after we closed I got a phone call from my giddy young clients and they had some exciting news for me. They had gone back to their Technicolor house after the closing to start planning furniture layouts and dreaming of remodeling options. Ethan took Kelly by surprise when he got down on one knee and proposed to her in the middle of their vacant new house. He had never let on that that was his plan all along but it sure helps explain why he was so eager to comply with my suggestion that we paint the house that night.

They have been married for 4 years now and are currently expecting their second daughter. Yea. I love my job.