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| Hi, our neighbors, an elderly couple moved last year. They put their house up for sale last fall. It is a nice house and our neighborhood is nice. Houses sell for about the medium price for the county here.
The house was for sale all winter. We have bad winters here and no one generally is house hunting because you can't see the roof and yard ect.
I just found out that the house sold for a dollar! What does this mean? I believe they have an older son, maybe he was sold the house ? I did see him (I assume it was him) fixing the house up before it was sold.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Deeds often read, "One Dollar & Other Good & Valuable Consideration". It depends on locale.
Check the securitization document (if there is one). It won't give you the sales price but it will give you some idea based on the loan amount. /tricia
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| I have never heard of a securitization document. I did find out that the elderly couple have three children and numerous grandchildren though. |
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| Yes, I bet it now belongs to a child of the couple. It didn't really sell on the open market for $1. If you find out differently, let me know I'll be there soon. :) |
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| HA! If it were a dollar I would have bought it! It is a beautiful house!! Why would someone put their house on the market and then end up selling it like that though? Maybe one of the children is going to update the interior and try to sell it again? -renee |
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- Posted by carol_from_ny (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 08 at 10:41
| The owners may want to reduce their estate so they can claim they have no assets so when it comes time to go into a home or when they die, the government doesn't get as much. Selling for a dollar makes it a legal binding contract. It might have been their way too of giving this child his inhertance early and yet keep the house in the family. |
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| I sold one half of my house for $10 (I guess I overpriced it compared to the house in this thread) to my partner. Of course the house was worth more but this is typical practice, if you want to transfer ownership to a close person that you aren't married to. |
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- Posted by talley_sue_nyc (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 08 at 11:58
| often the $1 price will be the part they are willing to release; they structure the documents so that the only part of the sale price they *have* to reveal (to the MLS, the government, etc.) is the $1. But there are other things (often even money) changing hands. Truly selling something very valuable for so little might bring you problems w/ tax laws that govern gifts. |
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- Posted by arielitas_mom (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 08 at 12:53
| Property taxes in many areas are tied to the sales price of a home. If you are transferring the property to a family member and don't want them to pay high property taxes, that's the way to get around it. |
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| Ours are somewhat tied to the sale price. Our houses are assessed every year though. The sale price (if higher) will become the new assessment but not if it is lower. I just read in the paper that the man whom owned the house passed away in December. He is survived by his wife though. the house was sold before his death, so I think his family must of purchased it OR maybe they had to transfer ownership to his wife somehow. It is sad that we were really never able to meet or talk to them. I was hoping that the house would sell quickly so we would have a new neighbor. It still appears empty though and it was supposed to have sold in November, according to the county website. |
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- Posted by littlebug5 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 08 at 21:19
| I live in Missouri and the last house I bought was reported to have sold for "$1 and other valuable considerations." We were not related to the seller. Trust me, the price we paid was MUCH more than $1. I don't know why it was reported this way. |
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- Posted by housekeeping (My Page) on Sat, Mar 8, 08 at 0:16
| Renee, I think you have the answer to your question if the ownership was transfered to a relative. They often record a deed amount of $1 in that case as a (legal) way of not having to pay the transefer and recording taxes that are collected in NYS. Husbands and wives and children and divorcing spouses often do these kinds of transfers. And even in cases when the sale amount is not listed, in NY you can discover the actual sale price by looking at the transfer tax paid notation on the deed. In my area it is $4 per thousand of the sale price. You have to fill out a form when you sell property that states the price for capital gains tax purposes, so the county clerk does have an idea what the amount of the transfer is. Also in NY it is illegal to change (upward, usually) the assessment based solely on the sold price. This would be called a "welcome Stranger' (in a sarcastic way) policy. Sale prices can include lots of things that are not normally part of a real property assessment. Molly |
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| When my dad made his will, everything was put into a trust, including the houses & business. Each one read $1 to the Last name family trust. |
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- Posted by davidandkasie (My Page) on Mon, Mar 10, 08 at 11:38
| my stepdad bought his mom's house for $1.00 several years before she died as a way to get around any probate. she had it put inthe contract that she could rent the house until her death for the sum of $1.00 a year. maybe this couple decided the house was not selling, they did not HAVE to have the money, and a close relative wanted it so they sold it to him for $1.00 to make it legal. around here the taxes are reassessed at each sale, but they go by what they feel it should be worth. in the case of my stepdad they valued it the same as other comps inthe area for tax purposes. they will value it higher if the sale price is high, but when it is lower than other similar structures they value it higher than sale price. |
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- Posted by tulip_lover (My Page) on Mon, Mar 10, 08 at 13:03
| I have heard of this before. In my area, people record the price as $1 if they don't want the sale price to be made public. This is seen more often in wealthier communities around here. |
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