Obama calling for raising the Cap Gains tax

[southsideirish71]

If there are people who are hurting right now because they flip houses for a living I can't say I have any sympathy for them right now. Sucks to be them. They weren't complaining when it was going great for them the last few years, when they actually were part of the inevitable problem they were causing.

 

You realize that there are some contractors that flip houses ( buy property for an investment and either rehab or knockdown and rebuild) for a living. Its not just Mr and Mrs Rich with a hobby. Contractors have to start somewhere, and not all of them have the capital to build complete subdivisions when they start out. The invevitable problem was that people that shouldn't of qualified for loans were getting them. That has nothing to do with respectable businesses that rehab houses.

Edited March 28, 2008 by southsideirish71

[lostfan]

That has nothing to do with respectable businesses that rehab houses.

And I'm not talking about those businesses. Rehabbing a house actually takes work, and work that actually increases the value of the house. I'm talking about people who buy a house, let the equity skyrocket for a little while because of the market without really doing anything to the house, pocket $100k, and do it again 2 years later. Get enough people doing that at once and it starts to raise the average price of a house to silly levels.

 

The housing market here in MD/DC/VA is insane. It makes you wonder how many people really can actually afford $450k houses. The number of jobs that pay that much is pretty limited.

[southsider2k5]

Good question - I had thought this was only on non-residence real estate. I don't think you pay cap gains on homes you live in.

 

IIRC it takes a ridiculous increase to pay capital gains on your residence, I think like 500,000 or something. Any property other than your single primary residence are considered investments, and are taxed as such.