Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

The City of Fremont would like to share the following information regarding two new housing programs funded by the Alameda County Measure A1 Housing Bond. The AC Boost Program provides financial assistance to middle-income working households to purchase a home in Alameda County. The program offers shared equity loans of up to $150,000 to first-time homebuyers who live, work, or have been displaced from Alameda County. For more information, view the  AC Boost Flyer . The Renew Alameda County (Renew AC) Program helps homeowners make renovations necessary to stay, grow, and thrive in their homes. Renew AC provides 1% interest loans from $15,000 to $150,000 to qualified homeowners. For more information, including how to qualify, visit  Renew Alameda County Flyer .

“Like-kind” means I must exchange the same type of property, such as an apartment building, for another apartment building.   FALSE A 1031 Exchange means that the sale and the purchase have to happen at the same time. In other words, the seller has to find someone willing to swap properties. FALSE My attorney or CPA can handle the exchange for me as my Qualified Intermediary. FALSE To do a 1031 Exchange I just need to file a form with the IRS with my tax return and “roll over” the proceeds into a new investment.  FALSE I can only defer my capital gains tax via a 1031 Exchange.  FALSE All of the funds from the sale of the relinquished property must be reinvested.   NOT NECESSARILY You must replace the debt that you had on the relinquished property with at least the same amount of debt on the replacement property.  FALSE Opportunity Zone Funds are another alternative to defer my taxes.  POSSIBLY When I sell my personal residence I need to set it up...

Happy New Year! My amazing Escrow Officer, Jennifer Thayer, put together this graph to summarize who pays for what in 2019 as there have been a ton of changes that went into effect.  Feel free to DM me if you have any questions!

Marketplace's, "Make Me Smart" podcast did a great report on the affordability crisis of housing in the US. 

You may have been getting a lot of mail about this referendum, here's a 1 minute explainer:

On Tuesday, July 10, the Hayward City Council took steps to increase the real estate transfer tax rate. The Council is proposing increasing the tax rate to $8.50 per $1,000 of sale or transfer price. The current rate is $4.50 in addition to the $1.10 Alameda County transfer tax.   Hayward officials claim increasing the tax rate will generate millions in additional revenue which will pay for city services, employee salaries and retirement benefits.  Hayward voters will have the final say about the rate increase. It is anticipated the Hayward City Council will vote TOMORROW (Tuesday, July 17) to place the transfer tax rate increase on the November 6 ballot.

City leaders in Hayward and Union City are considering increasing their real estate transfer taxes. On Tuesday, June 5, the Hayward City Council directed staff to survey Hayward residents about increasing the transfer tax rate from $4.50 to $10 per $1,000 of assessed value. Hayward officials claim increasing the rate would generate more than $8.7 million in tax revenue. Depending on the survey results, the Council may place the transfer tax increase on the November ballot. More information about the transfer tax increase and an on-line survey is available here . Union City is also planning to increase its transfer tax rate from $0.55 to $10 per $1,000 of assessed value. They claim the increase would generate, on average, $5 million in tax revenue. However, to increase the tax rate it would first need to convert from a general law to a charter city. Changing the City charter requires a majority vote of Union City residents. The Union City Council is holding a public hearing about ...

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.