[roccman]

Then

1) Buy a hilariously overpriced apartment for $1 million

2) Short sell it for $600,000

3) $400,000 got reported as income, and you had to pony up 28% in taxes (at least)

And now?

$0 baby! No taxes! Great news for the housing market!

Well, not exactly. Why?

Because now millions of upside-down housing gamblers will have even more reason to short sell or just walk away.

You think America has a foreclosure and home price crash problem today?

Oh, just wait. If this sucker passes, and I think it will, it'll be GAME ON!

Inventory will explode, lawns around America will go brown, prices will come down even faster.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ealtors(R) Applaud House Passage of Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief

The National Association of Realtors(R) praised the U.S. House of Representatives for today's passage of the Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief Act, H.R. 3648, by a vote of 386 to 27. Since the early 1990s, NAR has advocated for repeal of the current law, which forces individuals to pay an income tax when they have had a loan forgiven or have had to foreclose because of their inability to pay their mortgage.

[Kingcoal]

Actually, the reason why this resolution was passed was to avoid the inevitable flood of court cases on the subject. Some defenders in these cases would successfully drag the tax code into court to be questioned. The DOJ has historically avoided any case where that has a possibility of happening.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '[')b]Then

1) Buy a hilariously overpriced apartment for $1 million

2) Short sell it for $600,000

3) $400,000 got reported as income, and you had to pony up 28% in taxes (at least)