Taxes, Service Animals, and Letters to Sellers

I'm not really going to take these issues on because I am in no way an expert in these fields.  As a Realtor and home-owner, I am impacted though.

This past Monday we had a company-wide meeting of Berkshire Hathaway CNY agents, held at the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors building on Taft Road in North Syracuse.  The room was packed, with people coming from Utica and Oswego, and Skaneateles representing the far western boundaries.

Anthony Gatto, Director of Legal Services for the NYS Association of Realtors, spoke on legal matters.  The two topics were personal letters and service animals.  Many buyers will want to include letters with their purchase offer, trying to convince sellers to choose them over another group of buyers.  This can lead to discrimination and the perception of discrimination.  Fair housing laws are strong, and the letters, drafted with all good intentions, can be lethal.

Service animals are becoming more common these days.  In rental situations they can be problematic because landlords may prohibit pets.  As we learned, service animals are not pets.  They should be considered as necessary "props" for the person with the disability who requires them.  His example was perfect - you would not disallow a wheelchair in a rental unit, so consider the pet to be as essential as a wheelchair.  (Or a wheelchair!)  Very helpful concept!

At the close of the meeting Dan Hartnett, our broker/owner extraordinaire, talked about taxes.  He and another agent had approached Representative Katko to voice their opposition to the proposed tax legislation.  A basic outline:

Property tax exemptions will be capped at $10,000.  This means, according to the National Association of Realtors, that the average cost to taxpayers who pay over that will be $815 per year.  We are a high-taxed state.  It will certainly impact us, as Realtors and homeowners, greatly.

Because of this, the value of homes over $300,000 will drop 10%.

A third issue was capital gains.  Currently you must live in a house for 2 of the 5 years you own it to not pay capital gains on its sale.  Dan says the new proposal is 5 of the 8 years.  Since the average length of time people stay in a home is 6 years, this is problematic.

As I say - I took notes and got as much down as I could.  To find out more, go to the National Association of Realtors website - there are articles there about these tax issues.  And stay informed - call your representative - listen to the news.  It's a complex issue and once the reform is in place it may be there for years and years to come.