Try a Dutch Auction to sell house with no takers. david ingram expert US CANADA cross border non-resident income tax help and pr

 

My question is: Canadian-specific

QUESTION: We are locating to Prince Rupert from Burns Lake my husband has been there for 4.5 months now and my kids will be moving soon to start school. I am left behind until the house sells. I did have it MLS listing for 3 months and it was not shown once not even to another realtor. So I decided to list on my own,I have it on property sold.ca ID#2690, in local newspaper, and on pin up boards around town and even in the next towns near by. I don't understand why I have had no lookers? or buyers. I did lower the price when with realtor from $298000 to $268000 I am really wanting to sell, any suggestions? 

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david ingram replies:

Yep,

Do a Dutch Auction

Set a price and reduce it by $100, $150 or $200 a day until someone comes along and buys it.

Back in the 90's when real; estate was not selling in Calgary (sort of like now), I wanted to sell a townhouse I owned in Calgary.

I put a price on it and the listing clearly said that it was to reduce by $150 a day which equals $1,050 a week. 

I have no idea where the paperwork is but the unit went on the market and attracted an amazing amount of attention.  The agent was empowered to accept the first purchase offer at the full price for the day.,  It went four weeks and then on the same day, three offers came in for the same amount.  She took the full price (but $4,000 or so less than the starting price) offer with the earliest closing date. 

It actually sold for $2,000 more than the realtor's original suggested listing price.

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Anything with real value will sell if the price is low enough and there are buyers (people who need the product).  The bad news for you as a seller is that prices are falling in BC and there is now a surplus of property on the market.

The good news is that you should be able to buy in PR for an equivalent lower price.

Try a Dutch Auction.  It starts tongues wagging and word of mouth sells. If your price gores down lower than you just cannot take, you can stop the price reductions at anytime.

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SUGGESTED PRICE GUIDELINES - Aug 5, 2008
 
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This is not intended to be definitive but in general I am quoting $900 to $3,000 for a dual country tax return.

$900 would be one T4 slip one W2 slip one or two interest slips and you lived in one country only (but were filing both countries) - no self employment or rentals or capital gains - you did not move into or out of the country in this year.
 
$1,200 would be the same with one rental
 
$1,300 would be the same with one business no rental
 
$1,300 would be the minimum with a move in or out of the country. These are complicated because of the back and forth foreign tax credits. - The IRS says a foreign tax credit takes 1 hour and 53 minutes.
 
$1,600 would be the minimum with a rental or two in the country you do not live in or a rental and a business and foreign tax credits  no move in or out

$1,700 would be for two people with income from two countries

$3,000 would be all of the above and you moved in and out of the country.
 
This is just a guideline for US / Canadian returns
 
We will still prepare Canadian only (lives in Canada, no US connection period) with two or three slips and no capital gains, etc. for $200.00 up. However, if you have a stack of 1099, or T3 or T4A or T5 or K1 reporting forms, expect to pay an average of $10.00 each with up to $50.00 for a K1 or T5013 or T5008 or T101 --- Income trusts with amounts in box 42 are an even larger problem and will be more expensive. - i.e. 20 information slips will be at least $350.00
 
With a Rental for $400, two or three rentals for $550 to $700 (i.e. $150 per rental) First year Rental - plus $250.
 
A Business for $400 - Rental and business likely $550 to $700
 
And an American only (lives in the US with no Canadian income or filing period) with about the same things in the same range with a little bit more if there is a state return.
 
Moving in or out of the country or part year earnings in the US will ALWAYS be $900 and up.
 
TDF 90-22.1 forms are $50 for the first and $25.00 each after that when part of a tax return.
 
8891 forms are generally $50.00 to $100.00 each.
 
18 RRSPs would be $900.00 - (maybe amalgamate a couple)
 
Capital gains *sales)  are likely $50.00 for the first and $20.00 each after that.

Catch - up returns for the US where we use the Canadian return as a guide for seven years at a time will be from $150 to $600.00 per year depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence of rental houses, self employment, etc. Note that these returns tend to be informational rather than taxable.  In fact, if there are children involved, we usually get refunds of $1,000 per child per year for 3 years.  We have done several catch-ups where the client has received as much as $6,000 back for an $1,800 bill and one recently with 6 children is resulting in over $12,000 refund. 

Email and Faxed information is convenient for the sender but very time consuming and hard to keep track of when they come in multiple files.  As of May 1, 2008, we will charge or be charging a surcharge for information that comes in more than two files.  It can take us a valuable hour or more  to try and put together the file when someone sends 10 emails or 15 attachments, etc. We had one return with over 50 faxes and emails for instance. 

This is a guideline not etched in stone.  If you do your own TDF-90 forms, it is to your advantage. However, if we put them in the first year, the computer carries them forward beautifully.

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IRS Circular 230 Disclosure:  To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, please be advised that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used or relied upon, and cannot be used or relied upon, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.--

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Disclaimer:  This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment.   Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract exists between the reader and the author and any and all non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent and appropriately qualified legal practitioner or tax specialist for expert help, assistance, preparation, or consultation  in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com or www.garygauvin.com.  If you forward this message, this disclaimer must be included." -


 



 

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