Lynne Mercer's Blog

On several occasions I have written about how some of my clients have amassed a tidy retirement fund by moving into rental properties they owned, living there at least 2 years to establish those homes as their own personal residences, and then selling them and keeping $250,000 of their profit for...

A recent sales contract provided for the buyer's deposit check to be deposited to the escrow holder's account within 3 days of ratifying the contract. The third day after ratification happened to be on a Monday. By Thursday that week I still did not have a receipt from the title company handling ...

In my last post I offered a short history and explanation of 1039 exchanges with the recent update that the IRS has finally issues a regulation that you must rent income property out at fair market rent for 2 years after obtaining it through an exchange before moving into it to establish it as yo...

One of the first transactions I undertook after I obtained my real estate license in the early 1980's was a delayed tax-deferred 1031 (Starker) exchange. When I asked my broker for guidance, he advised me "not to get involved" and to stick to simple transactions. But I love a challenge, so I cons...

It seems our legislators in Sacramento have an obsession about point of sale mandates. Simply put, these are laws that require a certain act to be performed prior to the sale of a home. There have been several attempts to require sellers to replace all toilets with the latest, low flush versions ...