Any home based business success stories out there?

[Dave Benjamin]

Certainly reduction/elimination of mortgage interest deduction would hurt home sales but I'm not sure how a reduction in taxes on capital gains and dividends would. One of the things fueling this real estate recovery/boom the last few years has been the ability to sell without getting reamed on the first $250K of capital gain. Lots of properties becoming available that otherwise would not have been sold.

It's not home sales I'm concerned about. It's home values. For the vast majority of Americans the largest asset and core of their net worth is their primary residence. Between both places I own I write off in excess of $20K/ year. Take away that tax writeoff and I can't afford to keep both properties. If the mortgage deduction was eliminated I'd be in deep doo-doo because that tax deduction fuels the real estate market. I would suddenly find my property devalued. For some people the combination of market devaluation and loss of tax deduction would force them to literally walk away from the property and default on their mortgage. Amplify that by hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions and you'll see the worst recession ever. However, as in previous recessions, the richest of the rich would not suffer. In fact they would likely prosper by picking up some real bargains. Soon the interest deduction would be reinstated by Democrats that would be elected by a landslide and some of the wealthy upper crust would enjoy huge gains.

For an example of my prediction happening on a smaller level look at what happened when Reagan instituted the luxury tax on aircraft and yachts. Boatbuilders and aircraft manufacturers went bankrupt or out of business practically overnight. Now we have our government fighting to achieve conflicting goals. They want to preserve tax cuts for the rich and fund the war in Iraq as well as continue to subsidize large corporations through their corporate welfare program. So they're doing things like freezing potentially "fraudulent" tax returns submitted by lower income Americans and reducing expenditures on food stamps and other subsistence type programs. Of the frozen tax returns only a very small percentage are actually fraudulent but it's a lot easier attacking poor people who can't afford lawyers than going after the tax cheats that are scamming millions. Of course a lot of those folks donate to the GOP so they'd be the last ones the administration would go after.

 

[4fanman]

Kiyosaki is nothing more than a book seller...

LandGreen,

A good place to begin is reading the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” series by Robert Kiyosaki. Keep in mind; Robert makes a lot of his money off of selling people like us books. GVE

If you do a search on Kiyosaki you will find he is pretty much a fraud. He is nothing more than a guy selling books. He is a good writer and is able to get you really pysched about real estate, but when people started looking at what he really has, his background, his questionable military service, they found a lot of questions that he could not answer.

I'm not knocking real-estate, it's something I'm interested in as well, but I wouldn't waste any money on Kiyosaki's books. Do a search and decide for yourselves.

While looking up Kiyosaki I found this guy's web site. He pretty much discredits RDPD page by page. Again, read and decide for yourself.

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

 

[psysicx]

How does one find foreclouser lists?

 

[Dave Benjamin]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate? I'm not defending the guy but that's irrelevant. Besides the POTUS has questionable military service and that hasn't held him back. I can't imagine what he'd be doing if his Dad wasn't HW Bush. Perhaps he'd be managing a pizza place or 7-11. Or writing real estate books like Kiyosaki.

I think you can find foreclosures through court records.

 

[Floyd R. Turbo]

For an example of my prediction happening on a smaller level look at what happened when Reagan instituted the luxury tax on aircraft and yachts.

Reagan? Big guy, liked horses, First in line for the open spot on Mt. Rushmore, THAT Reagan?

No. The luxury tax was introduced as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconcilation Act of 1990, passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress and signed by Bush I when he reneged on "Read My Lips." It was repealed in 1993, after even most Democrats realized what a bad idea it was--too late for a lot of boatbuilders, but hey, at least we stuck it to those rich guys, right? While I found lots of people willing to take credit for the repeal, I couldn't find any references to who introduced it, and I gave up looking, but I'd bet the farm his or her name was followed by a D.

No disagreement with your larger point, just giving credit where credit is due.

 

[4fanman]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate?

Nothing, directly. It just supports the case of his lack of credibility. All I'm saying is check the guy out before spending money on his wares. There are too many other credible sources out there to waste time and money with him.

 

[TV9Driver]

Any homebuilders out there? I'm in the process of starting up a land/property development company and just wanted to get an idea of the cost of homebuilding since Katrina. I had heard a 20% increase in material costs.

 

[dtfl]

TV9Driver - not a builder, but have friends who are building. In Niceville - near Eglin AFB in the panhandle - new homes in nice subdivisions are going for $245 sf. Not kidding. Condos on the water, preconstruction, are $800-1000 sf. Folks in MS are getting custom homes done for $100-150sf.

 

[psysicx]

The builder I talked to in Tx said he could build me a house for $65 sf.

 

[Dangerkitty]

The builder I talked to in Tx said he could build me a house for $65 sf.

For $65 a square foot you are not going to be getting the highest quality building materials. Might be at code but without a doubt not the best.

You get what you pay for when you are building a house. If you buy a house strictly by what the price per square foot is, you are going to be dissapointed in the long run.

I paid $115 a square foot for my house in Dallas back in 2001 and I got a good deal. Not the most expensive house in the neighborhood but not the cheapest either.

 

[Jeepman]

What does Kiyosaki's "questionable military service" have to do with real estate? I'm not defending the guy but that's irrelevant. Besides the POTUS has questionable military service and that hasn't held him back. I can't imagine what he'd be doing if his Dad wasn't HW Bush. Perhaps he'd be managing a pizza place or 7-11. Or writing real estate books like Kiyosaki.

I think you can find foreclosures through court records.

Great Dave, now Bush is going to spend more tax payer dollars monitoring your phone calls!:smash::laugh:

 

[Uppercrust]

There is an Airtran Capt who mows lawns on our street during his extra time. I believe he charges 50 bucks. We considered it but then again...........

 

[Ty Webb]

There is an Airtran Capt who mows lawns on our street during his extra time. I believe he charges 50 bucks. We considered it but then again...........

You mean your parents considered hiring someone to mow the lawn. You do still live in their basement, don't you, Snake?

The real question is why they don't even trust you to operate even a simple lawnmower.

 

[psysicx]

Thats true the average in Socal is between $85-100 sf.

 

[Diesel]

porn, porn, porn...

Videos, toys, and noveltys.

It's a cash cow.