Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

This information was from my 1031 Exchange Specialist.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me! The Tax Cut and Jobs Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017, and took effect on January 1, 2018. It is a complex modification to the Internal Revenue Code that will take businesses and individuals some time to fully understand, notwithstanding that it became effective just nine days after the President’s signature. The new law retains Section 1031 for real estate exchanges. However, Section 1031 may no longer be utilized to defer taxes for transactions involving  personal property . Real estate exchanges  are subject to the same rules and regulations as under previous law. The 45 day identification and 180 day exchange periods remain unchanged, as does the role of the Qualified Intermediary. All real estate in the United States, improved or unimproved, also remains like-kind to all other domestic real estate. Foreign real estate continues t...

For any agents out there--it could someone from any country, so be on the lookout! A person claiming to live in China will contact an agent and ask to purchase property in the area. The person will entice the agent with a request to write an offer and get the transaction open. They claim they will be in the U.S. for the closing. They also will ask to recommend an attorney to assist with the review of documents and assist with the transaction. After they get a referral from the agent they will contact the attorney and state they were referred by the agent. They will ask for help on the transaction. The attorney will probably ask for a retainer agreement and amount to be placed in trust with the attorney. After some prodding, the person from China will have a check delivered to the attorneys’ office drawn on a British Columbia Bank and allegedly paid through Wells Fargo in the U.S.—a process used in the past and not used so much today because of wire transfers. The check will be for f...

It's always best to get your ducks in order before buying a house so you have a smooth transaction.  Let me know how I can help you!

BayEast posted their housing statistics for the month of December.  You can find it here-- https://bayeast.org/community-info/community-info/ Click on the city you want and then "Housing Market Information" followed by "Current Attached" or "Current Detached"

The California Association of Realtors came out with this handy side by side comparison of the tax reforms pertaining to Real Estate that just came out and thought I'd share.