• 5 Feng Shui Concepts to Help a Home Sell
• 5 Things to do Before Putting Your Home on the Market
• 8 Reasons Why You Should Work With a REALTOR®
• 12 Questions to Ask When Choosing Your REALTOR®
• Checklist: 17 Service Providers You’ll Need When You Sell
• Does Moving Up Make Sense?
• Understand Agency Relationships
• Navigating Short Sales: What to Do When the Sale Price Leaves You Short
• Forms You’ll Need to Sell Your Home
• Open House Safety Tips
• How to Get an Offer on Your Home
• Moving Checklist for Sellers
• Simple Tips for Better Home Showings
• Low-Cost Ways to Spruce Up Your Home’s Exterior
• 12 Tips for Hiring a Remodeling Contractor
• Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate
• What to Have on Hand for the New Owners

• Simply Stated Closing Summary: A quick reference guide used during the closing process to help the homebuyer better understand the key terms of their settlement documents. (Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Japanese, & Tagalog)

• Prepare and Avoid: 70-Something Ways You Could Lose Your Home:  (Available in English, American, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Hindi, & Punjabi)  Title insurance is one of the most valuable forms of security that a home buyer/seller can have, yet its benefits are rarely explained.  This brochure provides the information.

• 41 Steps To Buying Your Home (Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, & Vietnamese) This color-coordinated checklist outlines the functions of the real estate professional, the lender, and the title company team.

• En Camino Al Sueno Americano -The Home Buying Process DVD This seven minute step-by-step description of the home buying process will assist in explaining the real estate process to first-time homebuyers, in Spanish.

Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate

When you sell a stock, you owe taxes on your gain — the difference between what you paid for the stock and what you sold it for. The same holds true when selling a home (or a second home), but there are some special considerations.

How to Calculate Gain
In real estate, capital gains are based not on what you paid for the home, but on its adjusted cost basis. To calculate, follow these steps:

1. Purchase price: _______________________

The purchase price of the home is the sale price, not the amount of money you actually contributed at closing.

2. Total adjustments: _______________________ 

To calculate this, add the following:

• Cost of the purchase — including transfer fees, attorney fees, and inspections, but not points you paid on your mortgage.
• Cost of sale — including inspections, attorney fees, real estate commission, and money you spent to fix up your home just prior to sale.
• Cost of improvements — including room additions, deck, etc. Note here that improvements do not include repairing or replacing something already there, such as putting on a new roof or buying a new furnace.

3. Your home’s adjusted cost basis: _______________________ 

The total of your purchase price and adjustments is the adjusted cost basis of your home.

4. Your capital gain:  _______________________ 

Subtract the adjusted cost basis from the amount your home sells for to get your capital gain.

A Special Real Estate Exemption for Capital Gains
Since 1997, up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for a married couple) on the sale of a home is exempt from taxation if you meet the following criteria:

 ·         You have lived in the home as your principal residence for two out of the last five years.

 ·         You have not sold or exchanged another home during the two years preceding the sale.

 ·         You meet what the IRS calls “unforeseen circumstances,” such as job loss, divorce, or family medical emergency.

Reprinted from REALTOR® magazine (REALTOR.org/realtormag) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.