Steven Hickox's (castlerain) Blog

A vacation property CAN be exchanged, but it is important to follows the guidelines of Rev Proc 2008-16 and Moore v. Commissioner to avoid calling the exchange into question.  You MUST rent your property, for a fair price, for at least 14 days during 12 months You MUST NOT use the property for pe...

The news is everywhere: NOW is the time to buy distressed investment property.  Very often these properties, or portfolios, are too large for a single investor.  How often have you thought, "This is the perfect situation for a group of buyers to combine their investment," and "I wonder how I coul...

The SEC has entered a new ruling that TIC (Tenent in Common) investments will be treated as securities by the SEC.  The effect of this ruling is that TIC investments must be sold by individuals licensed to sell securities and fees cannot be earned or paid to real estate brokers on these transacti...

Dear Real Estate Investors: Several of our 1031 exchange customers have adopted this strategy: They are selling investment properties that they bought 2-5 years ago at a loss.  Then they are taking their remaining capital and reinvesting in new lower priced property, priced in today's lower marke...

Dear Real Estate Investors:  We all know that several 1031 exchange companies have failed leaving investors without their funds and unable to complete their 1031 exchanges.  This is a tragedy.  We have adopted new procedures to safe guard your funds.  Now our FDIC member bank also enteres into th...

Castle United includes an oil and gas investment information company.  We asked Dana Veitch, its president to give us his personal understanding of whether oil and gas is still a good investment in light of the upcoming election between Obama / Biden and McCain / Palin.  While this is Dana's pers...

Our oft reviled President Bush helped pass significant tax reduction bills in both 2001 and in 2003. The 2003 bill lowered the maximum tax rate on long term (capital assets held more than one year) from 20% to 15%. The maximum tax rate on corporate dividends was lowered even further from a maximu...

The 1990 Tax Act provided some special tax advantages for small companies and individuals. This tax incentive, known as the "Percentage Depletion Allowance", is specifically intended to encourage participation in oil and gas drilling. This tax benefit is not available to large oil companies, reta...

Failed Exchanges Can Still Defer Taxes by One Year Exchanges begun after July 5th, that magic time of year, bring into play a little known tax regulation under Section 1031. This regulation allows you to defer tax liability for one year even though a 1031 exchange fails. The general rule is that...

If you've completed a 1031 exchange, you can use IRSForm8824.com to complete your Form 8824! You enter information about your properties from your settlement statements and tax records and it will automatically produce a Form 8824 that is downloaded to your computer. Features: *Zero Balance chec...