The Arizona Republic ran a story yesterday on the current state of real estate in Gilbert, Arizona.
This news article did touch on a little bit of tax trivia which a lot of folks may not know. If you end up foreclosing on a home or short selling then the portion of the loan that is not re-paid is taxed as ordinary income. So, if you had a $200,000 loan but you ended up foreclosing at $150,000, that $50,000 is considered income. Uncle Sam will tax it as such. The Mortgage Reports has a very good explanation of this here.
In the Republic article an agent was quoted as saying the whole mortgage meltdown was putting a lot of fear into the market. I think he is right, but like I mentioned in an earlier post, the vast majority of people can still qualify for a good mortgage. The average person does not need to worry.
Our very own Jay Thompson/The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was called upon to provide his expertise. It’s always good to see a local resident and local blogger called upon by old media. I think it provides a bit of a buzz!
The rest of the article was pretty descriptive of the overall state of Gilbert real estate. There really wasn’t any earth shattering news in my opinion. Almost every homeowners knows:
Gilbert’s housing market is struggling, according to data from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. Fewer homes are selling, homes are staying on the market longer and the average sale price has dropped from July 2006.
I hear this every time I meet someone new and tell them I’m in the mortgage business.