Hard Money Loans

As tax season begins, the hard-pressed filing service has a new strategy: Give it away for free

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Rep. John Boehner said Wednesday he plans to use the new political power he would gain as Speaker of the House to continue tax cuts for middle-income and wealthy Americans.

Boehner spoke at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol to update the news media on how the House of Representatives is transitioning to a Republican majority.

“Extending all of the current tax rates and making them permanent will reduce the uncertainty” about the economy, Boehner said.

Tax cuts instituted by the Bush Administration are set to expire at the end of this year.

President Barack Obama said he agrees the tax cuts should be extended for middle-income Americans but is reluctant to extend them for the wealthy.

A permanent extension of the tax cuts is “the most important thing we can do,” said Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

He is set to become the new Speaker of the House after the midterm elections gave Republicans the House majority they need to replace Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Boehner plans to meet with Obama next week to discuss the tax cuts and other transition issues.

The cuts lowered taxes for individuals earning less than $200,000 a year and families earning less than $250,000. The two categories include 98 percent of Americans.

Obama said recently in a “60 Minutes” television interview the U.S. Treasury would lose $700 billion over the next decade if tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 per year remain in effect.

Boehner took a jab at Pelosi during his press conference in the Capitol when he said he would continue to commute between Washington, D.C., and his home district in Ohio by commercial aircraft.

Pelosi uses military aircraft to fly home to California.

Meanwhile, Boehner’s Republican colleagues are pressuring him to abandon the traditional seniority system in assigning leaders to House committees.

Committee leaders are appointed by the Speaker of the House. Traditionally, the most senior members of committees are given the chairmanships.

Republican congressmen Jerry Lewis of California and Hal Rogers of Kentucky said recently that Arizona Republican Jeff Flake should be given a prominent role on the House Appropriations Committee.

Lewis and Rogers both have seniority over Flake on the Appropriations Committee.

However, Flake is known as a conservative budget-cutter and tax break advocate.

The Appropriations Committee designates how tax revenue is allocated among House committees.

The American Conservative Union is circulating a petition on Capitol Hill that urges Boehner to search for new talent in committee leadership rather than relying on seniority.

Appointing committee chairmen based on seniority “would be a signal to the millions of independents and members of the Tea Party movement who took a chance on Republicans in the election, that you have ignored their message of change, and that instead it will be business as usual in Washington,” the petition says.

Any decisions on how Boehner will choose Republican Party leaders in Congress is likely to come out of the transition team meetings that continued Wednesday.

The 22-member transition team is meeting to set rules they will follow during the move into a new Republican majority in Congress.

“Our goal is to look at how we can make the U.S. House of Representatives more open, more transparent, more accessible to the American people … in terms of how to improve legislative policy, how we can get to job number one, which is creating jobs, and how we can get at reducing deficit spending,” Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the transition team, said during a press conference.

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Companies have massive profits overseas. Unless U.S. tax policy changes, that’s where the cash will stay, says Frank Aquila

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday, their last day of session before the mid-term elections, funding government operations until after they return from their recess. The stopgap measure was needed since both the House and the Senate haven’t passed a single appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, which begins on Friday.

By 228-194, the House passed a continuing resolution extending into December appropriations for the State Department, foreign operations and related programs past the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Only one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), voted in support.

In the Senate, the the temporary spending measure passed 69-30 with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) as the sole Democrat opposing. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) offered amendments providing funding until February and reducing all non-defense spending by 5 percent, but both measures failed along party lines.

“With the new fiscal year beginning on Friday, the continuing resolution put forward by my Democrat colleagues only perpetuates the out of touch federal spending levels we have witnessed in recent years,” Thune said in a statement.

Lawmakers are scheduled to return to the Capitol for a lame-duck session on Nov. 15, when the 12 annual appropriations bills for the 2011 fiscal year are expected to be approved. A backlog of bills will also be tackled, including the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the extension of 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts that are due to expire in January.

Democrats were hoping to pass a jobs bill to address the 9.6 percent unemployment rate before the elections, but could not muster enough votes to overcome Republican opposition. They sought to extend tax cuts for middle class families earning less than $250,000 a year.

The GOP, however, wants to make the tax cuts permanent for all including high-income earners. They’ve been accused by the White House of “holding the middle class hostage,” but they argue that the government should not raise taxes during a recession.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Legislation ending tax breaks for U.S. companies that outsource and providing tax incentives to those that move jobs back home failed in the Senate on Tuesday.

Democrats were short of the 60 votes required to overcome a Republican filibuster of the measure, Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act. By a vote of 53-45, the GOP blocked the bill with the help of three Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

“This is about as pure a political exercise as you can get,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a floor speech before the vote. “The way to get U.S. businesses to produce more here isn’t to tax them even further, it’s to stop punishing them with our high corporate tax rate.”

The legislation would have provided 24 months of payroll tax relief to businesses for each job brought back to the United States. The bill would have fixed tax loopholes that allowed employers to receive subsidies for ending their operations in the United States or expanding overseas.

Under the measure, the policy of deferral would be repealed. The policy allows companies to defer paying taxes on income of their foreign subsidies until this income is sent to the United States.

Democrats believe deferral put business with foreign counterparts at a competitive advantage over U.S. companies that employ Americans. But the ranking Republican in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), argued, “There has been no finding that such income is often earned outside of the United States by a motivation to avoid U.S. tax.”

About 4.7 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the United States from 2001 through 2009, according to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), whose state accounted for 1 million of those jobs.

“For too long, we have had policies in place that create the wrong kind of incentives and encourage businesses to ship jobs overseas,” Stabenow said in a statement after the bill failed. “If we don’t make things and grow things in America, we will never rebuild our middle class in our country.”

Democrats were hoping to pass a jobs bill this last week of session before lawmakers leave the Capitol to campaign for the general election. They were pushing hard earlier this month to pass a measure that would extend tax cuts for the middle class implemented in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration, but not those for earning more than $250,000 a year.

Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in January. But they have had a difficult time gaining support for their proposal of making these tax cuts permanent for all, which would cost $3.7 trillion over 10 years.

The Democratic plan, extending the cuts to middle class families earning less than $250,000 a year, would cost $3 trillion.

Debate on the issue has grown increasingly vitriolic, with the unemployment rate at 9.6 percent, the mid-term elections looming and Republicans threatening to regain the majority in Congress.

Congress is due to hold a lame-duck session in November, and lawmakers are expected to take up the tax extensions when they return.

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Sales slump after expiration of tax credit; long slog lies ahead.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The U.S. government has granted $434 million to the Philippines for investments in roads, community development projects and improvements in the country’s tax collection efforts under a five-year economic compact that aims to fight poverty.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III presided at the grant signing held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

The grant was signed by Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) CEO Daniel Yohannes and Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

“This compact we were signing was created by and for the people of Philippines. Reflecting the policies articulated by President Obama at Millennium Development Goals Summit, this is a results-focused program promoting sustainable economic growth. This example of country-designed solutions strives to move the poor from poverty to prosperity,” Yohannes said in a statement.

The MCC agreement provides $214.4 million to construct and repair about 140 miles (220 kilometers) of a highway that traverses 15 municipalities to improve access to markets and services for farmers, fishers, and small businesses in some of the poorest provinces in the country.

Another $120 million is allocated to expand Kalahi-CIDSS, a development project that empowers communities by encouraging their participation in poverty-reducing activities. It will provide community grants to support building of critical infrastructure such as water systems, clinics, and schools.

The project allows poor communities to design and manage projects they need to increase their incomes and improve their lives.

A $54.3 million fund seeks to computerize and streamline business processes to bolster the effectiveness of tax collection and reduce opportunities for corruption.

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It would be an understatement to say that the decline in the real estate market changed the lending environment. Lenders who used to allow stated income loans no longer offer them, or they may claim to offer them but decline 99% of the stated loan submissions offered. This is extremely bad for investors who have made their incomes solely from real estate investing, or other self employed endeavors.

Primarily because when they do their taxes they have a lot of items to deduct from their income, and so their tax returns do not effect the true gross income that they earn. W2 employees do not have this problem, as they are qualified based on their full gross income and even if they do write off their incomes, the tax returns are hardly ever requested when W2′s are provided.

A good Residential Hard Money Lender, understands this is the case for full time real estate investors, and they will not have much taxable income on purpose at the end of the tax year. Even if tax returns are requested, its just to verify that the investor really does what he said on the application provided, and not to calculate debt to income ratios.

Another benefit to obtaining a Residential Hard Money Loan is that the loan is based on the After Repair Value, and not the Purchase Price. With a conventional lender, it doesn’t matter if you are buying at 10% of value; they would still require a certain percentage down payment on that purchase price. In other words, conventional lending methods ignore the fact that you are getting the property at a deep discount.

When you obtain a mortgage with a Residential Hard Money Lender you can rest assured that the After Repair Value (ARV) is being considered in the transaction. In a lot of cases the deep discount an investor is getting will allow room for the lender to roll in closing costs, rehab costs, etc… This decreases the amount of capital that an investor has to put into their projects, and therefore leaves more capital available so that he can do more deals.

If you have a real estate investment in mind, and are concerned with minimizing risk, and maximizing return on investment, you should consider utilizing a Residential Hard Money Lender. Its easier to qualify, and they are more flexible on the structure of a transaction.

Are you an investor looking to minimize risk, and maximize ROI by partnering with an aggressive Residential Hard Money Lender? Does including closing costs, rehab costs, and basing your loan on After Repair Value sound appealing?

If so, you owe it to yourself to see if you too can qualify for an Investor Rehab Loan by visiting this website: http://www.residential-hard-money-lender.com/

The American Dream is often paired with owning one’s own home.  For decades Legislator’s have protected that dream with allowing home owners to claim the mortgage interest paid on their homes as a tax deduction.  With a possible phase out of this deduction, could the dream fade?

“There are no cows more sacred in the tax code than the deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes. Together, they add up to at least the $ 75 billion annual subsidy for housing and Homeowners. ” The New York Times.

In 2002, 37.2 million taxpayers claimed the deduction, writing off $336.6 billion, or about $9,000 per taxpayer. Representing about 37% or so of itemized deductions, it was slightly more than itemized deductions for deductible state and local taxes, and twice as much in deductions as charitable donations.  Clearly, the mortgage deduction is important and worth a huge amount of money.

In 2005 it was estimated that:

* The mortgage interest deduction will cost the Treasury $72.6 billion, according to congressional estimates.

* The $250,000 and $500,000 tax-free exclusions of home sale profits for single sellers and joint filers, respectively, will cost $23 billion .

* Property tax write-offs cost $20 billion, and tax subsidies for local and state housing bond programs account for $1 billion.

When a congressional committee examined the distribution of homeowner benefits for 2004, it found that people earning $200,000 and more a year – just one-half of 1% of all homeowners filing for deductions – pocketed 22% of the $70.2 billion in write-offs in 2004.

In 2007, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) unveiled a draft of his “carbon tax” legislative reform package. Part of this draft legislation was a phase out the mortgage interest deduction on large homes. The phase-out schedule for the mortgage interest write-off, beginning with houses of 3,000 square feet, which would lose 15 percent of their deductions, and ending with houses of 4,200 square feet and larger, which would receive no deductions at all.

Dingel said: “In order to address the issues of climate change, we must address the issue of consumption-we do that by making consumption more expensive.”

Naturally, with the real estate market bust, the Dingell package was shelved. Once the housing market recovers, lets’ say two years from now, it’s a very good bet the administration will be looking hard at ways to increase taxes to pay down the huge bailouts. The unusual financial troubles and the move to green, will be the perfect time to push through such legislation.  Unlike the Dingel proposal ,which was aimed at larger homes, the future legislation will most probably cover all mortgage interest deductions. To increase its’ chance at passage, it is a good bet it will be a phased in plan with deductions decreasing over a number of years.

To get the reversal of the sacred deduction started, President Obama’s impending budget proposes a cap on the mortgage interest rate deduction.  Couples earning $208,850 or more would loose the deduction. Where currently households at the 33% and 35% tax rates are allowed the deduction, Obama would reduce their deduction to only 28% of the value of those payments.  This is likely a first step to what seems to be a total elimination of mortgage tax deduction.  If (when) this passes, Obama will find it easier to lower the earning cap for the mortgage tax deduction, leading up to an even lesser amount in the future.  It seems on the horizon that the mortgage interest rate will be only for low income earners.

Amidst the turbulence of the housing market in the U.S., the easing of property prices has created some of the best investment opportunities for single-family home investments in the last 20 years. Therefore, now is the ideal time for eligible investors to capitalize on the current market conditions and build long-term wealth through acquiring high cash flow properties.  But first, it is important to consider disposing of underperforming assets by utilizing a 1031 exchange (1031x).

Section 1031 of the IRS provides investors with a legal means to defer their capital gains tax liability upon the sale of an investment property.  To qualify, an investor must identify a replacement property within 45 days of the sale of the relinquished property, and close escrow within 180 days with the assistance of a 1031 exchange facilitator.  The favorable tax treatment enables investors to sell properties currently in their investment portfolio – which may be under-performing assets – and avoid the capital gains taxes that would otherwise be due.

Presently, housing prices have declined sharply as millions of homeowners work through the foreclosure process. As a result, this has dramatically increased the market demand for rental properties as former homeowners are forced to become renters.  The good news is investors can take advantage of these conditions by exchanging into higher-performing properties without capital gains tax consequences.

The Obama administration has attempted to further stimulate the housing market by providing government incentives in the form of up to an $8,000 first-time home buyer’s tax credit.  While the unit sales volumes of single family homes has risen in recent months, these additional measures should add further fuel to the fire, which will likely cause property values to rise once again. Therefore, this will provide much-needed equity appreciation, making the positive cash flow available in today’s market an even more attractive investment for 1031 exchange participants.

The current crop of performing single-family properties may permit investors to increase their cash-on-cash returns to as much as 10%-15%.  Furthermore, the average rate of appreciation for single family homes has been more than 5% annually for the last 60 years, which has helped create internal rates of return of greater than 20% per year using leverage when acquiring a property.   Homes that are currently not performing at these levels should be carefully analyzed to see if better returns can be created by disposing the property and utilizing a 1031x to acquire new assets.

Kevin Conlon is co-founder of Meridian Pacific Properties.
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