Condo Column: Condos can’t cut off utilities, but is cable TV a utilty?

Dear Poliakoffs: We live in a 47-unit condo in Palm Beach County. One of the owners has not paid for maintenance in 10 months. The association pays the water and cable. Can the association under Florida condo law shut off the unit water and cable for nonpayment of maintenance after notification? – P.P.

Dear P.P.: Your question is an extremely frequent one, as many condo associations have common utility contracts. Effective July 1, 2010, in addition to its ability to file a lien against a unit that is delinquent in paying its share of the common expenses and foreclosing on that unit, a condominium association may deny a unit owner who is delinquent for more than 90 days the right to use the common elements, common facilities or other association property, until the monetary obligation is paid.

In addition, if the delinquent unit owner also happens to be a member of the board, he or she is deemed to have abandoned the office, creating a vacancy to be filled in accordance with law.

via Condo Column: Condos can’t cut off utilities, but is cable TV a utilty?.

Reverse mortgages offer benefits, pitfalls

Things have been pretty bad in the mortgage business for the last three years. So, Phyllis Taylor found her paychecks getting slimmer.

Taylor, who works for a mortgage firm, could no longer afford her mortgage. She thought she might have to sell her house in Chesterfield and move to something cheaper.

Instead, she took out a "reverse mortgage" big enough to pay off her current home loan, along with some other debt. Her monthly payments disappeared.

"For me, it was a no brainer," said Taylor, who says she is "a little bit over 62" years old. "It eliminated a big headache."

via Reverse mortgages offer benefits, pitfalls.

Why 2011 May Be the End of the Housing Crash – WSJ.com

There might finally be some good news this year about the nation’s dismal housing market. Or, at least, the bad news could stop.

Either way, it will be welcome relief for current homeowners as well as for potential real-estate investors. Reasons to be optimistic have been sadly lacking since the housing bubble burst in 2006.

For sure, last week we learned the widely watched S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index fell 1% in December, its fifth straight decline. The index tracks 20 major markets.

via Why 2011 May Be the End of the Housing Crash.

Some homeowners, who can afford the mortgage, still default as a strategy

She has a sales job with a six-figure salary. He owns a successful tech company. And they are in foreclosure.

But unlike countless other Americans faced with losing their homes, this couple could make the $5,200 monthly mortgage on the waterfront property in Pompano Beach that they bought for $585,000 in 2004. Foreclosure was their decision – not the bank’s.

They crunched the numbers: $525,000 outstanding on their first mortgage and a $245,000 second mortgage on a home now worth about $319,000. His business was way down, her company was laying off workers and other investments had tanked. It made no sense to hang on to their underwater home. So they stopped paying their mortgage and waited for the foreclosure notice. It came in October.

via Some homeowners, who can afford the mortgage, still default as a strategy.

Broward hopes to buy the Ocean Waterway Mobile Home Park in Dania Beach, to tear it down because of noise from the new runway

Harold Allen thought he’d live in his single-wide mobile home forever. He added so many flourishes — marble floors, multi-colored driveway, a new deck, an elaborate outdoor waterfall — he’d poured $150,000 into it by the time he was finished.

Now Broward County wants to tear it down.

Allen and his neighbors at Ocean Waterway Mobile Home Park found out about a month ago that their Dania Beach community will be in a high-noise zone when the new airport runway opens. Their manufactured homes cannot be soundproofed. So Broward County airport officials want them gone.

via Broward hopes to buy the Ocean Waterway Mobile Home Park in Dania Beach, to tear it down because of noise from the new runway

Figuring tax deductions on rental property

Q. I have two questions in regards to rental properties. On June 30, 2010, I moved out of my primary residence that I owned and rented it out July 1, 2010.

First question is, how do I determine the value of the home to calculate the depreciation? I purchased the property in 2007 for $192,000 and lived in it until June 30, 2010. Of course the value has dropped, since it’s a Florida property. But what does the IRS use to determine the value?

Second question is, since I lived in the property for six months and rented it out for six months in 2010, can I only depreciate and write off expenses for six months? I’m assuming that is how it’s done, but cannot find anything to detail that for me.

via Figuring tax deductions on rental property