Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Real Estate

Q&A: The road to homeownership should be paved with skepticism

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Dear Liz: My husband is 46 and I am 43. We have been living in Las Vegas for six years. We are aware that we missed out on buying a home a few years ago. Are we chasing a dream or do you think that we might have another chance to buy a house in the next few years? I am also very concerned about another recession. Some websites forecast one in 2018.

Answer: Some websites forecast the end of the world in 2016. And 2015. And 2014. And so on.

Recessions, by contrast, are pretty much inevitable but they’re not really predictable. You shouldn’t try to time your real estate purchases hoping to avoid, or take advantage, of the lower prices they might bring.

In general, you need to be a lot more skeptical about what you read and what you’re told if you want to be a homeowner and not get fleeced.

Everyone involved in real estate transactions — as well as in most other financial transactions — may have an incentive to mislead you or at least not tell you the whole truth. That’s why it’s so important to do your own research and make your own decisions.

Here’s just one example. A lender will tell you how large a mortgage it will give you, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can really handle that loan. You may have other goals, such as retirement, that you won’t be able to achieve if you take on a too-large payment.

The best time to buy a home is when you want to be a homeowner, you’re financially ready to do so and you can afford to stay put for several years, because it can take a few years’ worth of appreciation to offset the costs of buying and selling a home (not to mention moving costs).

You also should make sure you have a healthy emergency fund — three months’ worth of expenses is a good start — to handle the inevitable unexpected expenses that arise when you own a home.

Q&A: Capital gains

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Dear Liz: If and when we sell our house, the capital gain is likely to exceed the $500,000 exemption limit. I am carrying over a loss of about $100,000 from stock sales. Can I use this loss to offset the capital gain from the house?

Answer: Yes. Capital losses can be used to offset capital gains, including those from a home sale.

Q&A: Why a reverse mortgage might be a good idea for some older homeowners

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Dear Liz: I recently retired to a small house I bought 30 years ago. I refinanced four times to get the rate down from 11% to 3.5%. This provided me with a low monthly mortgage (just under $450), but my current 30-year loan won’t be paid off until I’m 92. I’ll be 67 in two months, and just received an inheritance of $400,000 following the death of my parents. My only income is $2,000 a month from Social Security and a monthly pension check of $1,100, although I do have an IRA that should be worth roughly $170,000 by July.

I’m thinking about paying off the $90,000 remaining on my mortgage, which would allow it to be passed on to my sister, nephew (or whomever) without any complicated bank or loan issues. It also would free up that mortgage payment for other household expenses. The house needs some work, such as a new carport, double-pane windows, proper insulation, deck repair and maybe termite work, all of which will probably eat up the better part of $100,000. Is it worth keeping the loan just to maintain the tax deduction or does it makes financial sense to pay it off?

Answer: Keeping a mortgage just for the tax deduction doesn’t usually make much sense. Here’s why: If you’re in the 25% federal tax bracket, you’re getting back only about 25 cents for each dollar in interest you pay. Most homeowners get even less back, and many don’t get any tax advantage from their mortgages at all.

It can make sense, though, to keep a mortgage to preserve liquidity. Younger people, especially, should be wary of tying up most of their net worth in a home if that equity would be hard to tap in an emergency. Home equity lines of credit offer one way to access that equity, although lenders can freeze or reduce those lines on a whim.

Because you’re over 62, you could consider paying off the loan and then setting up a reverse mortgage line of credit.

An FHA-insured reverse mortgage line of credit can’t be shut down once it’s established, as long as you abide by the loan rules (such as paying your property taxes and insurance, and keeping the home in good condition). In fact, the amount you can borrow can increase over time with a reverse mortgage credit line. You don’t have to make monthly principal and interest payments on the money you borrow with a reverse mortgage.

Any amount you borrow will grow over time, typically at variable interest rates, and will have to be repaid when you die, sell or permanently move out of the home. That would complicate leaving the house to your heirs, but if the amount you owe is greater than the home’s worth, your heirs aren’t on the hook for the difference with an FHA-insured reverse mortgage, also known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.

In any case, preserving an inheritance probably shouldn’t be your top priority. You should focus instead on preserving your quality of life and your financial flexibility.

Reverse mortgages have gotten safer and less expensive in recent years, but you would need to exercise discipline not to waste the money you borrow on frivolous purchases. You want that equity to be available for you when you need it, such as for nursing home or other long-term care expenses.

You would be required to get counseling before applying for a reverse mortgage, but you also should talk to an independent, fee-only financial planner to make sure this approach makes sense.

Q&A: Capital gains taxes explained

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Dear Liz: Do I understand correctly that I must live in a house for two years before selling it to avoid paying capital gains tax, regardless of how much I may profit from the sale?

Answer: You do not. You must live in a home for two of the previous five years to exempt up to $250,000 of home sale profits. (Married couples can exempt up to $500,000.) After that, you’ll pay capital gains taxes on any remaining profit.

Even if you didn’t last the full two years, you may be able to claim a partial exemption if you meet certain criteria, such as having a change in employment, a health condition or other “unforeseen circumstance” that required you to move out.

Q&A: How a short sale can short-circuit your credit score

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Dear Liz: In 2010 I was laid off from my construction management position. I was unable to find work for 28 months. The bank tried to foreclose but I was able to arrange a short sale of my home in March 2012. Shortly after that, my unemployment benefits ran out and I was unable to pay my obligations (two credit cards totaling around $9,500).

I did get a good job in June and in July worked out payment plans to get the back debt caught up. I have since paid this debt off (November 2016) and pay any credit card balances in full every month. I also pay my car loan on time using automatic debits.

My credit scores remain stuck in the 675 to 690 range and none of the steps that I take seem to help. I know that after seven years the negative information regarding the mortgage and the credit card past dues will drop off. Since I did the short sale and not a foreclosure, though, why are my credit scores treating me as if I did a foreclosure or chose bankruptcy?

Answer: A bankruptcy theoretically slices more points off credit scores than either a foreclosure or a short sale. The hit you take from a short sale, though, depends in part on how your lender reported the transaction to the credit bureaus.

If the lender reported a deficiency balance — which is essentially the balance of your mortgage that wasn’t repaid after the sale — the impact will be similar to a foreclosure. If the lender opts not to report the balance, the credit score impact will be somewhat less. After the foreclosure crisis started, some lenders opted not to report those balances as an incentive for homeowners to arrange short sales rather than let their homes go into foreclosure.

You’re already doing most of what you need to do to repair your credit, including having different types of credit (credit cards are revolving accounts while car loans are installment accounts) and paying those debts on time.

One tweak you can try is reducing your credit utilization on those cards. If you regularly charge 30% or more of your credit limits, try reducing your charges to 10% of those limits or less. It’s good that you pay in full, but the balance that’s used in most credit scoring formulas is the one the credit card issuer decides to report. It’s often, but not always, the amount that shows as your balance due on the statement closing day. Reducing the amount of credit you use may boost your scores a few more points. Other than that, you simply have to wait for time to pass and for your responsible credit use to undo the damage of the past.

Q&A: Capital gains tax on home sale profit

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Dear Liz: I recently sold a home and am trying to escape the dreaded capital gains tax. I’ve done everything I can to reduce my overall tax bill, including maxing out my retirement contributions. I don’t want to buy a more expensive home to escape the gains tax. Any thoughts?

Answer: Buying a more expensive home wouldn’t change what you owe on your previous home. The days when you could roll gains from one home purchase into another are long gone.

These days you’re allowed to exclude up to $250,000 in home sale profit from your income (the limit is per person, so a couple can shelter $500,000). In other words, that amount is tax free, as long as you lived in the home for at least two of the previous five years. Beyond that your profit is subject to capital gains taxes. The top federal capital gains rate is 20%, plus a 3.8% investment surtax if your income is more than $200,000 for singles or $250,000 for married couples.

Here’s where good record-keeping may help. While generally you’re not allowed to deduct repair and maintenance costs from that profit, you can use home improvement expenditures to reduce the tax you owe. Home improvements are added to your cost basis — essentially what you paid for the property, including settlement fees and closing costs, and that’s what is deducted from your net sales price to determine your profit.

You’ll need receipts plus credit card or bank statements to prove what you paid. Improvements must “add to the value of your home, prolong its useful life, or adapt it to new uses,” according to IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home. Examples of improvements include additions, remodels, landscaping and new systems, such as new heating or air conditioning systems. You can include repairs that are part of a larger remodeling job, but you can’t include improvements you later take out (such as the cost of a first kitchen remodel after you do a second one).