Section 1031 deals have strict guidelines

Section 1031 deals have strict guidelines

Question: When you sell a duplex where you live in one unit and the other unit is a rental, do you have to do a 1031 tax-deferred exchange or would part of the duplex be classified as a personal residence?

Answer: The short answer is “yes.” Under tax law, you may sell your principal residence and keep any profits up to $250,000 per person ($500,000 for a married couple) tax-free. No longer do you have to buy a replacement home of equal or greater value to avoid paying capital gains tax. But investment property owners are still subject to the capital gains tax on their property sale profits – unless they exchange the funds into another investment property.

Home equity: Owners see it as a gold mine

Home equity: Owners see it as a gold mine

Forget debt consolidation. Never mind the remodel. Some Southern California homeowners, flush with home equity, are using the American Dream to finance the Hollywood one: Make a movie. And much more.

The stack of cash that property holders accumulated during the past few years by virtue of owning in one of the hottest real estate markets in the country is gold to be mined — and many are mining it.

Bob Golub, 48, is a father of three and has been a stand-up comic for the past 26 years. He and his wife, Emilie, bought their West Hollywood home about six years ago for $305,000. The house is now worth close to $1 million.

Many megamansions for sale, but nobody’s buying

Many megamansions for sale, but nobody’s buying

It’s the ultimate trophy property: A 29,000-square-foot spread on Biscayne Bay with 13 bedrooms, a gun room, fingertip identity-scanners, and, for privacy from gawkers on passing boats, a machine that shrouds the backyard in mist. Yet several years after putting the home on the market, no one has offered owner Thomas Kramer anything close to his current asking price of $50 million.

Still, he isn’t entertaining a cut — because showing it is entertaining enough. Sears Chairman Edward Lampert and singer Enrique Iglesias have visited, according to people who showed the house; director Michael Mann used the home to shoot scenes of the new movie version of Miami Vice. “I’ve met unbelievable, interesting characters,” says Kramer, 48, a real estate developer.

Farmland prices skyrocket

Farmland prices skyrocket

Farmland prices are soaring across Florida, rising an average of 50 percent to nearly 90 percent between 2004 and 2005, a new University of Florida survey reported Friday.

But agricultural land prices are being pushed to record levels by speculators and urban growth pressures, not success on the farms, said survey author John Reynolds, a professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“It’s land-buying fever,” Reynolds said Friday from his Gainesville offices, in the heart of fast growing — and urbanizing — Alachua County.

The Bronx: So Close … Outsiders Tiptoe Into the South Bronx

The Bronx: So Close … Outsiders Tiptoe Into the South Bronx

At 168th Street and Nelson Avenue in the South Bronx, you can look 134 blocks downtown and see the upper third of the Empire State Building pop up unexpectedly like a silvery beacon. So close to Manhattan, and yet so far away.

On that corner, though, the consequences of Manhattan’s wealth are beginning to be felt. It is the site of the first new-construction, market-rate condominium in the South Bronx – a direct consequence of the real estate boom that has driven prices sky high in the rest of the city.

“Prices are getting so out there in the city or Queens, the Bronx becomes very affordable,” said Alden Madruga, the director of sales for the condo developer, the Jackson Development Group.

Architects propose a slice of Manhattan in Orlando

Architects propose a slice of Manhattan in Orlando

Orlando hasn’t seen anything like this before.

Two of the four ultra-modern buildings planned for the downtown block across from the Orange County Courthouse would feature sides that don’t align vertically. Picture building blocks stacked by a woozy toddler.

“There’s going to be controversy and discussion about it, because there’s nothing like it in Orlando. But I think that’s good — art is controversial,” said Tim Lemons of the city’s Development Review Committee, which gave preliminary approval to the design Tuesday.