Local real estate professionals question the accuracy of a new Web site that provides free estimates and information on more than 60 million property addresses.

Accuracy issues aside, the Web site has already attracted hundreds of thousands of curious consumers. Just six hours after launching the site earlier this month, Zillow.com crashed and posted this message: “Due to overwhelming demand, our beta site is down. We’ll be back online as soon as possible. Please check with us again later.” (more…)

search for : real estate, Zillow

When trees are felled by heavy snow and homeowners who have suffered damage are concerned about the possibility of liability to their next door neighbor, who will bear the cost to remove the debris and repair the damage?

Homeowners should carefully review their home owner’s insurance policy — often called the “hazard policy.” Many policies are now written in relatively simple English, so you should be able to understand what position your insurance carrier will take should you decide to file a claim. In most cases, your carrier will reimburse you for any damage caused to your property when a tree falls, subject of course to the amount of your deductible. (more…)

search for : homeowner, liability, home owner’s insurance policy, hazard policy, insurance carrier, deductible

If you sold your home: sellers can cash in one of the biggest perks in the tax code. Couples can sell their home for a $500,000 profit without paying a cent of income tax. Single taxpayers can pocket $250,000.

If you bought a home: A benefit of buying a home is that you generally can deduct the mountains of interest you pay. That probably means you’ll graduate into the class of taxpayers who can save more by itemizing mortgage interest, property taxes, certain loan costs and a raft of miscellaneous expenses rather than settling for the standard deduction every taxpayer is entitled to grab. But there is a limit to what you can write off. You can deduct interest on up to $1 million of so-called acquisition debt and up to $100,000 of home equity debt. (more…)

search for : home, tax code, income tax, interest, itemizing mortgage interest, loan, standard deduction, taxpayer, home equity

I’m in the middle of trying to buy a condo. So far, two appraisals have been made. The first came back “inaccurate” and was $5,000 less than the second one. Why the disparity? How does this affect me as a buyer?

It might be that the first appraisal was the more accurate of the two, but your bank would not accept it because a loan for that amount is less profitable. And that sounds harsh. But it’s becoming all too common as some lenders and agents pressure appraisers to overstate the value of a home so that they can make their numbers work a little better on a deal. Why is that? Well, if they don’t, the deal doesn’t get approved and they don’t get their commissions! (more…)

search for : condo, appraisal, bank, loan, agent, commission

What are the tax aspects of purchasing a condominium in 2005 and then renting it until I can move in?

Owning a condominium means owning a dwelling unit in a multi-unit building. You also own a share of the common areas of the multi-unit building such as lobbies, elevators and land. Dues or assessments you pay to the condominium association for maintenance of the common elements are deductible. You cannot deduct special assessments you pay for capital improvements; however, you may be able to recover your share of such costs by depreciating such costs. (more…)

search for : condominium, multi-unit building, common area, Dues, assessments, condominium association, capital improvement, depreciating

Renting can be a wiser choice than owning for many people, including those of limited means and people who expect to move shortly. There are signs that rising home prices may be leading some to choose renting over buying. The rental vacancy rate declined to 9.6% in the fourth quarter, compared to 10% at the end of last year and a high of 10.4% in the first quarter of 2004, according to the Census Bureau.

New data released late last month by the U.S. Census Bureau put the homeownership rate at 69% in the fourth quarter of 2005, down from 69.2% a year earlier. While the decline itself is too small to be considered statistically significant, it is the third quarter in a row that the rate hasn’t posted a year-over-year gain — and it’s the first time since 1994 that the rate at year-end hasn’t increased from the previous year. (more…)

search for : Renting, rising home price, ental vacancy rate, U.S. Census Bureau