Home Equity & Senior Housing
Bob Carlson’s ideas and strategies for managing home equity and choice of housing to maintain a budget
Found 129 Articles.
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How to Beat Higher Property Taxes
Real estate values are climbing, and local property taxes are soaring with them. If the real estate tax rate stays the same and your home appreciates, your real estate tax bill rises at the same rate as the appreciation. In my recent trip to Naples, Fla., I learned that the prices of most residences there […]
Homeowner’s Hidden Tax Time Bomb
Many older homeowners are facing a problem that a few years ago was considered unthinkable. These homeowners face taxable capital gains on the sale of their homes, despite the generous $500,000 exemption for married couples. The red hot real estate market of the last five years in many areas has pushed many longtime homeowners into […]
How to Maximize Retirement Community Deductions
A portion of long-term care expenses are deductible as medical expenses. The question taxpayers often ask is what portion of the fees paid to retiree communities, such as assisted living facilities or nursing homes, can be deducted. The Tax Court recently stepped into this issue and set some new rules. When someone enters a nursing […]
Where To Retire In Style
The image of the ideal retirement that is ingrained in the imagination of most Americans includes a home in a sun-drenched retirement community. Reality often doesn’t match the ideal. Some studies show that 25% or more of those who retire to Florida leave within five years. I’ve met retirees who admit to choosing the wrong […]
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Is Real Estate The Latest Bubble?
Is housing next? One of the few bright spots through the bear market, recession, and war on terrorism is the housing market. New home construction and sale prices of existing homes continue to surge. As home prices rise, people can refinance their mortgages, take some equity in cash, and spend that cash. Many people now […]
The New World Of Mortgages
Mortgage rates still hover near their lowest levels in decades. That keeps refinancing near the top of many lists-of-things-to-think-about. If you are one of the millions thinking of refinancing a mortgage, you should know that the rules of the mortgage market changed in the last few years. Until recently, refinancing didn’t make sense unless current […]
Is It Time To Buy A Second Home?
A second home appeals to many people these days. Part of the appeal is status. It is a sign of financial success. I’ve seen polls indicating that a second home is the ultimate sign of success to a majority of people. Another reason is that a second home traditionally has been a good investment. Most […]
Get Cash From Your Home with a Reverse Mortgage, And Stay Put
Home equity is the most valuable asset of many older Americans. Even after the big bull market, Americans real estate holdings (primarily through their homes) are more valuable than their stocks. But that real estate wealth doesn’t help pay bills. You can sell a small part of a stock portfolio to pay medical bills or […]
