Quick/Painless tax ? +++TIPS

**T_FUND** · 01-08-2008, 03:26 PM

Hi! First off, Happy New years everyone!
I am new to the real estate community. I have been studying and researching for the past 3 months as well as talking with more experienced people. I recently heard from a friend about a 250k tax break when buying your first piece of r/e. I was wandering if anyone here knows anything about this or where the resource would be to look it up. fwiw, I plan on working in Texas.

The reason I ask is because I have a fairly large amount of liquid assets that I am interested in putting to work. I am both considering owning a quadplex or flipping some lower priced homes.

I am semi-educated in both topics but if anyone would like to throw in any tips/advice/info or other investing ideas I would also be interested to hear.

Thanks a lot, in advance

-Regards

**jasonbshepard** · 01-08-2008, 05:42 PM

I think what your talking about is the exemption on capital gains tax on real estate. 250k of profits are exempt if your single and 500k if married as long as the property was owner occupied and lived in by you for at least 2 years.. I don't know all the tax implications but if you were going to sink some money into real estate as an investment i would seek a competent tax attorney/accountant

**Mike Taylor** · 01-09-2008, 04:04 AM

Now is a great time to buy, just make sure you can re-sell it. I think Jason is right about the 250K thing, I have never heard of anything like you are talking about for 1st time home buyers.

**LOTrainer** · 01-11-2008, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by T_FUND

Hi! First off, Happy New years everyone!
I am new to the real estate community. I have been studying and researching for the past 3 months as well as talking with more experienced people. I recently heard from a friend about a 250k tax break when buying your first piece of r/e. I was wandering if anyone here knows anything about this or where the resource would be to look it up. fwiw, I plan on working in Texas.

The reason I ask is because I have a fairly large amount of liquid assets that I am interested in putting to work. I am both considering owning a quadplex or flipping some lower priced homes.

I am semi-educated in both topics but if anyone would like to throw in any tips/advice/info or other investing ideas I would also be interested to hear.

Thanks a lot, in advance

-Regards

I just wanted to quickly welcome you to the Real Estate Forum! I was a first time homebuyer for this year's taxes, and I wasn't aware (nor told) anything about that tax break. I'm curious now....

**YourVirtualAsst** · 01-15-2008, 01:56 PM

You don't receive the tax break until you sell the home. It doesn't apply now.

**mWoods** · 12-10-2009, 10:56 AM

The $250K tax break you are referring to is the exclusion of capital gains once the property sells as long as it has been your primary residence for 2 of the past 5 years. If you do purchase a quadplex you will have to live in one of the units for 2 years to qualify for the tax break. This tax break is only available for primary residences. If you wanted to flip properties then you can consider doing a 1031 tax deferred exchange. This is where you roll the profit from one home/investment into another and defer the capital gains tax. Consult your accountant for more detailed information.