Renting News

One impact Obama will make on rental housing

If you own a rental home like I do, you have a decision to make in the near future. President-elect Obama has indicated that he will eliminate the capital gains tax break that is scheduled to expire in 2010. Whether he actually will try to eliminate it early, or let the benefit expire is yet to be seen. But if you have an investment property that you are considering selling, you may be in for a bigger capital gains tax.

In my case, I have a capital loss carry forward that will more than cover the gain I made on the sale of a property earlier this year. However, I now have to contemplate if I should use that offset, or just pay the tax for this year and save the capital loss for other investment gains in the future since it is nearly certain that real estate investors like me will face increased taxes going forward.

If this concerns you, contact your congressmen and senators and ask them to make the capital gains tax cut permanent.