With tax season upon us, individuals who own vacation condos must be certain they are able to claim every tax credit and/or deduction allowed them by law. The following is an excerpt from my book, Condo Living: A Guide to Buying, Owning & Selling a Condominium and is part of a tax credit series for the condominium owner and investor. "There are specific limitations on the allowable business deductions available to a taxpayer who uses a vacation home for both personal and rental purposes. [...]
It was a surprisingly quiet week, given that it was the final week in the 1st quarter of 2008. Typically, markets tend to be quite fidgety as fund managers and investors shift their cash around to make their balance sheets look nice. However, we saw a decline in volatility across both stock and fixed-income markets with very few earth-shaking events.  February's existing home sales numbers came in 2.9% better than January's read, implying to some that we may be nearing a bottom in the[...]
This turned out to be the most "interesting" auction to date in Orlando. A complete contrast from downtown Solaire last month, and nothing like the Lake Mary auction of last year, the Tradewinds auction in MetroWest finally solidified the notion that right now, your average home buyer is both terrified - and somewhat clueless. A pre-auction show of hands revealed that most attendees had never attended a real estate auction before; most clearly came without a Realtor and few had done their [...]
After reading a letter online from a concerned parent, I couldn't resist this one. I should start by asserting that however flippant this post seems, it's really not a funny subject. With all the condos out there being rented by investors who were unable to flip, many of them out of state, it's not surprising that most landlords have no idea what's going on in their second homes. Clandestine meth labs are an increasing problem. A rented apartment or house is the perfect place to set up shop for [...]
Last year we reported that MetroWest was to get a new sub-station - and here it is snapped by yours truly on the way to the dry cleaners. Gotta love that iPhone. Sources reveal it should open the middle of April (for "sources" read, "the guy at the Chinese take-away next door"). Since hiring it's own police officers last year, crime in MetroWest has dropped to virtually zero - and yet I still here people talking about what a bad neighborhood it is. Last week a Realtor who was thinking of [...]
The Fed has flexed some serious muscle in the last week and a half, and I am feeling very positive about the outcome thus far. Here's the play-by-play: Bear Stearns suffered a liquidity emergency (kinda like what would happen if everyone in New York flushed at the time to water, only with money), ignited by some Wall Street whispering about looming balance-sheet problems. Everyone tried to get their money out, and Bear simply didn't have the cash or collateral to cover it. So, JP[...]
So here's the post-auction pricing at Solaire for what's left - any thoughts? For more on Solaire at the Plaza, visit our Solaire Condos page.
It has been another crazy week in the financial markets. This time, however, there is a nice balance of good news and bad news. Hey, half and half is a better ratio than we've seen in recent days. So let's get to it. Tuesday, March 11th marked the best single-day gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 5 years. This was a result of the Fed introducing a new and innovative financial instrument to the market called the Term Securities Lending Facility. The most noteworthy function of [...]
A National Association of Home Builders quarterly index that measures builder and developer confidence in the condo market dropped 11 points in the final quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. The Multifamily Condo Market Index, based on a survey of builders, stood at 18.8 in the fourth quarter on a scale of zero to 100. A score below 50 indicates more negative responses than positive responses. Sounds bad right? It is - if you're a builder. But if you're in the [...]
(407) 901-5161
Orlando Property Enterprises | All rights reserved