A Nevada charity, Community Health Training, Inc. (CHT), has come up with an IRS approved way for any tax payers to get their own piece of the real estate bail out. During the real estate boom hundreds of thousands of sellers used seller carried 2nd mortgages to sell and make some extra profit. They did the same thing bank do. However, now the banks get bail outs and individuals don’t.
When property values plummeted, private lenders got stuck with worthless mortgages. The IRS restricts individuals and small businesses to taking only $3,000 off their income each year until the debt was gone. A $60,000 mortgage will take 20 years. The only other options have been to try to sell it or just throw it away. However, if that mortgage is more than the property is worth, hasn’t had a payment for over a year, and the bank is threatening to foreclose on the 1st, who will buy the second?
Another option is to donate it. The IRS says the donation value will be based on one of three values. First, if the charity sells or disposes of it within 3 years, the sale value is the donation value of the mortgage. Second, donor can deduct the face value or $10,000 (whichever is less) without an appraisal. For a higher deduction, an appraisal is required based on similar mortgages sold. So long as the charity keeps it, the donor can simply give a copy of the mortgage to the appraiser (no payment history is legally required) and the appraiser must use other similar mortgages that actually sold to determine comparable value. The IRS accepts the appraised value of the mortgage. They key is the deduction limit. It’s increased from $3,000 per year to up to 50% of Adjusted Gross Income. With a $60,000 AGI that mortgage would only take two years to complete. In a 25% tax bracket that’s a choice between $750 versus $7,500 in tax refund the first year. Welcome to your own share of the real estate lender’s bail out!
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