this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
1809 points (97.6% liked)
Political Memes
5611 readers
1023 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm on the fence here. Realistically, if you can show "normal" bills related to wear&tear and maintenance, that gets you out of paying taxes in even the most expensive parts in the country. I live outside of Boston and have never come close to owing a penny on selling my home.
So the problem is the paper trail, and a good real estate attourney can help you maneuver it. What have your expenses been on the house over the last 20 years? They all count. Profit isn't just "selling price minus buying price" in this situation. At least in my state.
That does get complicated. To my understanding, normally the law works reasonably well in situations like these, but I don't know all the nuances. It's a "lawyer-up" situation, especially if there's an estate involved. I'm sure there are edge cases, but largely people end up not owing taxes on their home residence even in very pricy areas, unless their gains on it are absurd. If you bought a Boston apartment building when it was cheap and sell now, then you're likely going to be paying taxes on some of that $5M+ windfall.
But is that realistic? Who would keep such things over potentially their whole adult life? Even knowing that, I replaced my roof about 5 years ago and already misplaced those receipts. I do t know how people do it
I'd ask a lawyer. I'm pretty sure estimated costs and maintenance averages can be applied. I've known people who have sold their life-long residences in MA and not a one that I know has ever had to pay a penny in taxes.
Only person I know who ever had to pay taxes on a house sale like that was a friend who suddenly came into a lot of money and chose to sell their house (bought way undervalue and sold for much higher) before the 2 year residency mark that would trigger homestead protections.
And remember, if your'e selling something for hundreds of thousands of dollars there's always financial crap you gotta figure out. You always want an expert on your side telling you like it is.