As a kid, my mom always bought Sweet-hearts for my sister and I on Valentine’s Day. As I was thinking about that this morning, this question kept coming to my mind – “Do I have a sweet heart?” Am I a person that is caring, loving, pleasant, kind, and welcoming? Or is my heart sour? Am I looking to be loved rather than give love?

When I was in school, I remember every year on Valentines Day you had an opportunity to give your classmates balloons, candy grams, roses etc. At the end of the day, it was exciting to see who got the most! Each year I always had the same Valentine, my mom. She always made sure my sister and I received candy-grams and balloons at school. I remember that feeling seeing them on my desk – I always felt special, loved and appreciated by her.  

It was so important for me as a kid to receive that sweet heart from my mom. As an adult, I see how  important it is to be a sweet heart to other people. My mom had a lasting impact on my life – the love she showed me, even on Valentines Day, makes me want to love others everyday! A sweet heart has a lasting impact!

It truly is more blessed to give than receive, not just on Valentines Day, but everyday! We have opportunities everyday to love people – to be sweet hearts.  I have a choice everyday to choose a sour heart or a sweet heart – to think about myself or to love and think about others. Am I looking to be a blessing or to be blessed? 

On this Valentines Day, I am choosing to love rather than be loved! I hope you are too! 

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Theodore Roosevelt 

 
I was in the super market the other day and wondered why it was so crowded with people. It dawned on me that Valentines Day was coming up and parents were scrambling to get gifts for their children to take to school. It made me wonder about the true meaning behind Valentines Day – the day of love! Simply put, it is the day of love – a day where we think about others, appreciate them and shower them with gifts such candy, cards, toys and jewelry to name a few. Why don’t we do this everyday? Why don’t we put ourselves down and think of others each and everyday? Shouldn’t this be the norm rather than the uncommon? 

I am a firm believer of putting others wants and needs in front of my own. Many have done it for me and it is the least I can do to make good on the investment in my life. It’s why we put our personal numbers on our business cards – you can reach us anytime. It’s why we work seven days a week instead of five. It’s why you can email us late into the night and find a response in your inbox. 

At Pinewood Realty Group we care about people and we show that love by how we serve. We thrive on empowering people with knowledge that will remove any fear that can proceed a complicated transaction, such as real estate. We take a proactive approach to answering questions, following up, over communicating and giving attention to detail.

We love to help people – first and foremost. It gives us no greater joy to see the smile on a first time home buyers face. Or a veteran who never thought they would taste the advantages of homeownership in America. In the spirit of Valentines Day – isn’t that what love is?

If you know someone who needs some LOVE in their real estate transaction, we would be honored to help them throughout the process. 

We had an amazing opportunity on Monday, January 21st to participate in the MLK National Day of service with an amazing organization called MedShare. This is the same organization that has helped an organization (Something New) close to my heart get many of the supplies that were needed for a village clinic in Peru.  

MedShare has many different services that help recycle old medical equipment or supplies that are close to expiration and provides them to non-profit groups to take with on medical missions. What an amazing opportunity to give back to a company whose purpose is to help people like us help people!   

Upon arrival, we received a tour of their warehouse (one of only 3 in the country) and learned how to inventory, sort and re-box medical supplies.

In October, Something New sent a medical volunteer team with 7 oversized suitcases to the brim with equipment, bandages, toothpaste, and more. When they arrived in the Peruvian village of San Juan de Pomacanchi, they quickly put it all to use — checking blood pressure, cleaning wounds, and teaching villagers how to wash their hands and brush their teeth.MedShare’s work allowed them to take these badly-needed supplies to people without access. It was a major blessing to spend the day doing inventory, sorting/re-boxing medical supplies, and saving lives (seriously!). Contributing to a bigger purpose alongside friends is like medicine for the soul! And this work happens to be sending actual medicine to underserved communities all over the world.

Recently, we have had a lot of clients purchasing a second home, to use as a vacation home or rental property. We have also had a handful of clients that are selling a second home that was they used as a rental property. There is a common question that arises in these situations – if I make a profit, will I owe taxes? Generally, if your second home was your primary residence for two out of the last five years, the ⅖ year rule, you can avoid part of the capital gains taxes. For joint filers, you can avoid up to $500,000 of profit, and for single filers up to $250,000 on the sale.

The percentage of capital gains tax that you would pay is based on the amount of time between January 1, 2009 and the date on which the home first became your primary residence.

For example, if you bought a second home on January 1, 2007 and made it your primary residence January of 2015 for two years and then sold it January 2018,  33.3% of your profit on the residence would be tax-free, up to the $500,000 primary residence sale exclusion limit.

Another common question that is asked, “Can I split the time between both residences, sell them and claim them both as my primary residence?” Clever, but unfortunately the answer is no!

Another option, is a 1031 exchange. If you treated your second home as an investment property, you could potentially escape capital gains tax through a 1031 exchange. However, there is a little catch to this, you must reinvest in a relatively short amount of time. With a 1031 exchange, you place your funds with a third party, such as a bank or title company and then reinvest in another property within 15 days of the sale of the first property and close on its purchase within six months (second home and capital tax).

You can usually sell your primary home without worrying about taxes, but different rules apply to vacation homes and rental properties.

We hope you find this article helpful!