Taking Title Of Your New House
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

How you take title in your new home is key decision.Unfortunately, in the euphoria of the moment, many newhomeowners don't put much thought into it.

Title

When purchasing a new home, you become the title owner ofrecord. Essentially, this means you are listed in public recordsas the legal owner. This may sound like a simple concept, buthow you're classified as an owner can impact legal and taxissues. Here are some issues to consider when taking title.

Single



Owner

If you are purchasing the property on your own, there is reallyonly one title choice. Yep, you are going to be listed as thesole owner, to wit, in your own name. If you are investing inrental or commercial properties, you should speak with a lawyerabout purchasing the properties through a limited liabilitycompany to limit potential liabilities.

Two or More Owners

If you're married, many states require you to take title in aproperty as community property. In such states, you and a spouseare automatically considered to be joint owners regardless ofany other factors. Community property title can have tremendousbut macabre tax benefits. If one spouse dies, the living spousegets a "step up" basis for tax consequence and huge capitalgains taxes. For instance, if you purchased a home for $200,000and it is worth $400,000 when a spouse dies, the remainingspouse gets to figure any capital gains using $400,000 as thecost of the house instead of $200,000.

Joint Tenancy

In some states, spouses are not required to take communityproperty title. Instead, they and any collection of two or moreowners may take title in joint tenancy. The advantages of jointtenancy are twofold. First, you get the step up basis mentionedabove. Second, title in the property automatically transfers tosurviving owners upon the death of one owner. This means you getto avoid probate, an expensive and lengthy court process.

Taking Title

When buying a home, don't just pick title willy- nilly. Take thetime to explore the options in your state and pick the best onefor you.

About the author:Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBOhomes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page athttp://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your homefor free for one month. Visithttp://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale byowner.

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