Tax Impacts All Property OwnersA proposed tax that would impact all 2.4 million property owners throughout Los Angeles County was the focus at a recent breakfast meeting of the Santa Clarita Valley Division of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.Owners have until this Tuesday, March 12, to submit a protest form if they object to the so-called “Clean Water, Clean Beaches” measure.

The L.A. County Dept. of Public Works sent notices to all property owners in L.A. County to inform them about the proposed plan to provide dedicated funding through a new fee to reduce pollution in storm

water runoff that affects beaches, waterways, and groundwater. Own-ers may view the proposed fee for

their parcel at: http://dpw.lacounty.gov/bsd/bpv/wqfm.aspx

For more details about the mea-sure and plans to protest its implementa-tion, go to www.srar.com

Attend the public hearing on Tuesday, March 12, at 9:30 a.m. in the hear-ing room of the Board of Supervisors at the Hall of Administra-tion, located at 500 W. Temple

Street, Los Angeles, 90012. Hector Bordas, pictured below,

Los Ange-les County Flood Control, was one of the speak-ers at the breakfast meeting. Other speakers included Santa Clarita City

Councilwoman Marsha McLean, second from left, Nancy Starczyk, Erika Kauzlarich-Bird, SCV Divi-sion president-elect, and Bob Khalsa, 2013 SCV Division president.

Nine Common Owner Tax Sins

By Sharon Barron, President, and David R. WalkerSouthland Regional Association of Realtors®

With the tax season looming just around the corner, the decisions homeowners make today could save or cost them thousands of dollars as they prepare their tax returns. Here are nine common mistakes that tax preparation pros say homeowners make all too frequently, missteps that too often can draw the at-tention of the venerable IRS.

Sin #1 Deducting the wrong year for property taxes — A tax deduc-tion for property taxes should be taken in the year they are actually paid. Because Los Angeles County works on a fiscal year,

half of an owner’s 2012 property taxes are due on Nov. 1, 2012, and the second half on Feb. 1, 2013. Some owners pay the entire bill in 2012. Regardless of the date on the tax bill, enter the amount actually paid in 2012 when completing the 2012 tax return. Sin #2Confusing escrow amount for actual taxes paid — If a lender escrows funds to pay property taxes, don’t just deduct the amount escrowed. The regular amount paid into an escrow account each month to cover property taxes is probably a little more or a little less than the actual prop-erty tax. For example, a tax bill might be $1,200, but the lender may have collected $1,100 or $1,300 in escrow over the year. Deduct only $1,200. Don’t just add up 12 months of escrow property tax payments.Sin #3Deducting points paid to refinance — Deduct points paid a lender to secure a mortgage in full for the year in which the home was purchased. However, when refinancing, points must be deducted over the life of the new loan. If a homeowner paid $2,000 in points to refinance into a 15-year mortgage, the tax deduction is $133 per year.Sin #4Misjudging the home office tax deduc-tion — This deduction sometimes is not as good as it seems. It’s complicated, often doesn’t amount to much of a deduction, has to be recaptured if there is a profit when the house is sold, and can pique the IRS’s interest in an owner’s tax return. Claim it only if it’s worth the potential downsides.

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The VOICe FOR ReAl eSTATe IN The SAN FeRNANdO ANd SANTA ClARITA VAlleySwww.SRAR.com | Real Estate Questions? E-mail Sharon Barron, SRAR 2013 President, c/o DavidW@SRAR.com

Sharon Barron2013 SRAR President

Distressed Sale Share Falls

State’s Pending Sales Near 4-Year HighThe recent rise of pending home sales to the highest level in nearly four years supports experts who believe California's home resale market will achieve full bloom this Spring. Pending sales — a forward-looking indicator which gauges future home sale activity — climbed 23 percent from the prior month and 1.4 percent compared to the prior January, according to the California Association of Realtors.

January’s monthly increase was the highest since March 2009, and greater than the month-to-month long-run average of 12.8 percent in the past four years.

“The strong increase in January’s pending home sales is an encourag-ing indication that we’ll kick off the spring homebuying season on a solid start,” said C.A.R. President Don Faught. “However, a low supply of available homes for sale will affect buyers, especially first-time buyers looking for more affordable, lower-priced homes since they are having to compete with investors and all-cash buyers.”

C.A.R. statistics also found that the combined share of all distressed property sales dropped to 35.6 percent in January, down from 36.4 per-cent in December and down from 54.7 percent in January 2012.

The number of non-distressed property sales by owners who have equity in their property also showed significant gains. A year ago Janu-ary equity sales make up a mere 45.3 percent of all closed escrows. This January, however, the number climbed to 64.4 percent, up from 63.5 percent in December.

If traditional equity sales are on the rise, that means other categories must be in decline: of the diminishing number of distressed proper-ties, the share of short sales was 21.5 percent in January, down from 25 percent in December and down from 25.9 percent a year ago.

Similarly, the share of REO sales — Real Estate Owned properties acquired by lenders typically through foreclosure — stood at 13.7 per-cent in January. That was down from 28.4 percent in January 2012.

Sin #5Failing to repay the first-time home buyer tax credit — If the original home-buyer used a tax credit in 2008, they must repay 1/15th of the credit over 15 years. If they used the tax credit in 2009 or 2010 and then sold the house or stopped using

it as their primary residence within 36 months of the purchase date, they also have to pay back the credit. Sin #6Failing to track home-related expenses — Many people forget to track home office and home maintenance and repair expenses. File away receipts and docu-ments as repairs proceed. Sin #7Forgetting to keep track of capital gains — If a home was sold last year, remember to pay capital gains taxes on any profit. Singles can exclude $250,000 while

married couples can exclude $500,000 of profits from taxes. Sin #8Filing incorrectly for energy tax credits — If eligible improvements were made in 2012 — or in 2013 — such as, install-ing energy-efficient windows and doors,

owners may be able to take a 10 percent tax credit up to $500. Remember, it’s a lifetime credit. Read

the instructions carefully. It’s complicated.Sin #9Claiming too much for the mortgage interest tax deduction — Owners can deduct mortgage interest only up to $1 million of mortgage debt. An owner with a $1.2 million mortgage should deduct only the mortgage interest on $1 million. For more details and tax tips for home-owners, go to HouseLogic.com.The Southland Regional Association of Realtors® is one of the largest local trade associations in the nation with more than 9,000 members serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys.

‘ … Nine common mistakes that tax preparation pros say homeowners make all too frequently … ’