Home Property

Can I writeoff the mortgage interest payment for tax purpose for my second home(rental property) in california

Can I write off the mortgage interest and the property taxes paid for my second property which is a rental property for tax benifits.
Both the properties are located in california.
I also own an investment property outside california. Can I also write off the interest payment for that property.

Rental property is not a "second home" for you, and you can’t write off the interest on schedule A.

Your rental income and expenses will be listed on a schedule E. You can write off those items there for the rental property, whether you itemize or not – they are totally separate.

You will show your rental income and expenses for the property outside of CA on a schedule E also.

Posted in home property rentals | 2 Comments »

Purchsing a home. What happens when the property I’m buying Is appraised less than the offer?

I’m I’m contract on a property in san Diego, ca. My offer was 299,999 I’m doing an FHA loan. The appraisal came back at 290,000, what happens now.

Depending on how your offer was worded, you might be able to back out and get your deposit back. If you still want to buy the house and the seller won’t come down on price, you’d need a larger down payment since the lender will only give a mortgage based on the appraisal minus the % they require as a down payment.

Posted in home property appraisal | 2 Comments »

Is it legal for a home owner to sell the home(Owner Financed) with out an inspection and appraisal.?

Situation: Home owner is selling a home and doing owner finance on it. The property is worth a lot less than the selling price. Since they are doing owner finance, there is no appraisal or inspection. Is this legal? On a traditional mortgage, the bank uses the appraisal to determine if they can carry the note. In this situation, the owner is the bank. It seems like they are trying to scam the buyer. Can an atty chime in?

You do not have to make an offer on the home if you do not like the terms the owner is asking;

The bank is being up front, the asking price is X, well aware it will appraised for less, so they have to carry the note: Side Note: a savvy investor paying cash would never make the deal with the bank; but I will assume the terms of the loan are good for certain buyers even if its more then current appraised value

Nothing is stopping you by making an offer contingent on inspection, lender will probably expect with time line to inspect, but will not budge at this point lowering the asking price, either wait another six months to see if the home sits or make a cash low ball offer for once again Cash IS King

Posted in home property appraisal | 5 Comments »

Should you contest with your appraisal district if they appraised your home value less than the market value?

Should you contest with your appraisal district (Harris County, Houston, TX) if they appraised your home value less than what you think is the market value?

Or, is it better to leave as that would decrease your property taxes.

Sorry to rush, but I need an answer really quick.

Thanks,

Navin

If you’re talking about what they use to assess property taxes, then the lower the better.

If you are trying to sell or refi your house, and you disagree with the appraised value that your price or loan to value is based on, realize values have come down in recent years, and that an appraisal is based mostly on what properties in your neighborhood that are comparable to yours have sold for recently. Small adjustments are made to the value to compensate for slight differences in the comparable properties, but if a house similar to yours in your neighborhood sold for $xx two weeks ago, it’s unlikely that your value is going to be much more than the selling price of that one.

Posted in home property appraisal | 6 Comments »

Does anyone know of a website that compares prices for home insurance for thatched properties ?

Any help will be appreciated.

There are several website where you can compare quotes, I found this one very useful

usinsurancequote.org

Posted in home property prices | 1 Comment »

Will a new mobile home installed on my street decrease my home value?

A neighbor recently sold part of his land and now someone has bought it for there new mobile home which was delivered today. I am worried that this will decrease the property value. There is one other mobile home on the street and the zoning in the area is mixed. All other property has houses averaging $175000 to $200,000.

You already have one manufactured home on the street so it would seem this is permitted under the covenants, conditions and restrictions of your development if any exist. Apparently you live in the "country" or at least in an area with larger lots as you mentioned that your neighbor subdivided his lot and sold part of it off so obviously the lots are large enough to accomplish this. And in those areas it is typical not to have restrictive covenants on the land that prohibit manufactured housing. And even where these types of covenants exist, they generally restrict home sizes to above a certain minimum as opposed to excluding any specific type of construction. If you were concerned with this possibility, you should have purchased a home in a community that had restrictive covenants.

However, in an unregulated environment manufactured homes are not uncommon and it is quite likely that the values in your area already reflect both the existing manufactured home on the street and the potential for others to exist. So, no, this would not necessarily lower your values.

And if this home is finished nicely and well landscaped, it might even be worth more than some older stick-built homes. There are some areas in the northeast (parts of upstate New York and Connecticut, for example) where manufactured homes are a very common product for new housing and they sell for upwards of $400,000. And in some rural areas I have seen manufactured homes that are worth over $1,000,000.

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Posted in home property value | 6 Comments »

Property not listed with appraisal district?

We have some property behind my home (60 to 70 acres of land). A business purchased the land in 2008 but our county appraisal district only shows the company as owning 31 acres; how do I found out who owns the other acreage? I have already tried both the appraisal district and tax assessor’s office but neither shows who owns the rest of the property – thanks!!

I’d be amazed if the property tax office didn’t show who owned it. They collect taxes so they know who owns it.

You need to get a plat map of the area with all the property boundaries and property id numbers. From there, it should be easy to have the tax office look it up. If they STILL can’t find information on it, then hire a title agent to do a search on it.

Posted in home property appraisal | 3 Comments »

Is a property tax valuation on a home equal to an appraisal of the home’s worth?

When the county assesses property taxes for a home, is their estimate of what the home is worth actually a "free" appraisal of what the selling price should be?

Absolutely not. Tax assessed value has NOTHING to do with real market value. I have a listing that is priced $100,000 under tax assessed value and it is still a bit overpriced.

Posted in home property prices | 3 Comments »

Where do I search for property the state bought to build a highway on?

I live in Oklahoma and I left some property that I was supposed to get paid on because the state built a highway on it. I left the state because I went home to care for my mother. It has been since 1995 since I inquired anything about it. My question is . How would I go about looking for the right person to claim this money?

You will need a time machine.

The rest of this answer pretends your question is credible, even though it is not. The pretend claim has been abandoned for at least 15 years by your own admission. Not only has the statute of limitations expired, but so has the statute of repose. Additionally, the land has been adversely possessed.

Posted in home property search | 2 Comments »

If a person’s (home) property is taken from them without their knowledge, can legal action be taken?

A dear friend of mine is going through a situation, where the city or state where she is from has taken her property and allowed a real-estate or mortgage company to buy it without her consent or knowledge. She is a disabled woman originally from New Orleans Louisiana and she had to relocate to another state due to the tragic circumstances of hurricane Katrina. She desperately wanted to move back to her home but she was unable to travel back and forth from state to state to monitor renovations etc. She had been working tirelessly with her mortgage company at the time to help her, she heard about so many other home owners whose mortgage company’s gave forgiveness debts to or at least worked with the owners due to the drastic nature of their situations. The mortgage company would not comply. She searched for trustworthy contractors and other workers who would help rebuild while she was away and she was successful. Unfortunately this is when she found out her home had been sold to someone else. She is very devastated at the whole ordeal she has been through enough already. Although she wants to move back, she now feels there is nothing she can do but continue living where she is now. I know this is because she is unaware of what legal measures and she can take. If the home is already sold to a resident is it too late to get it back? How is this possible, shouldn’t this be a special case due to a catastrophic disaster? Can someone with knowledge about this subject please help. Thanks in Advance

Due process which everyone in the US (except presumably for undocumented aliens) is entitled to have, would require proper notice and the right to be heard on such issues. Your friend needs to contact legal assistance, a law school legal clinic or pro bono lawyer for assistance. Your description of events may constitute special circumstances for relief. But your friend needs to talk with a lawyer.

Posted in home property search | 1 Comment »