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gurusw

American Family has a reputation for poor service. It placed 19th out of 22 companies in the J.D. Power property claims survey: https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/jd-power-2018-us-property-claims-satisfaction-study Thanks for the link. AAA is not listed here. Or is Auto CLub, CSAA, etc...

gurusw

A thread on Homesite: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=277363 Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely consider quotes from others. Meanwhile, can someone please confirm whether I need more coverage than what I have. I am not sure whether I have enough coverage especial...

gurusw

Hi, I bought a house last year, and I got home insurance policy through Geico with as high coverage as I can get. I already had my car insurance through them, and I just wanted to eliminate one decision point during that stressful closing time. Now my policy is up for renewal in a month, and I want ...

gurusw

Hi, So I decided to negotiate with Wells Fargo. But I could not muster courage to go for ARM. Anyhow the good news is that they are willing to negotiate. For 30-year Jumbo mortgage, they have given me 2 options: 1) 4.125% with 0 costs 2) 4% with $3500+ in costs 1 -> Option 1 saves me $201/month &...

gurusw

Thanks. I have one more question. How does ARM work? Until now, I was under the impression that you get a rate , say 4% for 7 years; and then the mortgate company can raise that rate by additional 5% for the remaining term of the mortgage. Now I see on the website of Wells Fargo & Chase, that th...

gurusw

That sounds like a great rate, I’d probably do it if I knew I wasn’t going to be living in the house in 10 years. Just curious, is that rate with points? It seems a lot lower the 10/1 ARMs I was looking at especially for a jumbo. I have been looking for rates on nerdwallet. From my last experience ...

gurusw

It's 10 year ARM. So after 10 years.

gurusw

Current mortgage terms: House Value: 1,180,000 Purchase Date: May 2018 20% down payment Loan: 944,000 Term: 30-year Jumbo Rate: 4.375 Monthyly payment: 4,713 Outstanding principal: 932,387 I'm considering 10-year ARM.... Current House Value on Zillow: 1,090,000 (Prices have gone down in Bay area now...

gurusw

Thank you for all the replies. Yes, I did go through the Pub 530 & also took the TurboTax questionnaire, just wanted to be doubly sure. You will want to make sure to store documentation for improvements you end up making to the property to support increased cost-basis when/if you sell the house....

gurusw

Hi,

As a First time homebuyer in California, what are the deductions that I can avail of?

I entered my mortgage interest & property taxes in TurboTax. Is there anything else I am missing?

Thanks.

gurusw

Using Form 4852 was not the recommended way to report this on your 2017 return, but since your end result is the same the IRS may be able to figure out what you did, despite the Box 7 on the 1099R possibly being different than the code you showed on the 4852 as your distribution code because the ye...

gurusw

This link seems to suggest that we can delete this particular 1099-R from our 2018 Turbo Tax entries, since we've already paid the requisite taxes on IRA withdrawal in 2017. Is our understanding correct? https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4536331-filed-form-4852-subst-1099r-for-2017-return-and-now-re...

gurusw

Hi, I have a situation with taxation of early distribution of a IRA. Status: MFJ Husband/wife are in their 40s. In the year 2017, I contributed $5500 to wife's TIRA. In January 2018, it became clear to me that we should not have done so because my income is above the threshold to make deductible TIR...

gurusw

I have been wondering about this topic too. My SALT is well above $20K. So if I receive a refund on my state tax return in the range of 0-$1,000, it would seem to me that I would not have to include it on next years federal return seeing how it didn’t get factored into the $10K SALT deduction. Is t...

gurusw

OP, you didn't pay AMT last year did you? Because if you did the refund may not be taxable. No, I did not pay AMT. Btw thanks for the replies. While I understand why state refund was taxable till now, going forward it does not make sense to me because of SALT cap. I did not explicitely mentioned it...

gurusw

Hi, While doing this year's taxes, I realized that Fed wants me to pay taxes on 2018 returns on the refund that I received from California on 2017 returns. I think this tax kicks in if the taxpayer had done itemized deductions. Fortunately my refund was only $175. However this year's (2018) CA refun...

gurusw

WoodSpinner wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:02 am Also keep in mind the $10,000 STate and Local Property Tax Deduction cap.

That really has impacted our returns, CA resident as well.

I know

gurusw

It is not a matter of when they were assessed, but when you paid. For example, lets say in the rush of being a new homeowner, you overlooked paying 2a and thus paid it late sometime after the new year. In that case, you would only be able to deduct it for 2019. ... Here's a potentially useful trick...

gurusw

Hi, I am dealing with property tax deduction for the first time. I bought a house in California in May 2018. In my county, the tax year for the property taxes starts at Jul 1 and ends at Jun 30 of next year. 1) The seller had paid all the property taxes from Jul 2017 to Jun 2018. So she made me pay ...

gurusw

Presumably the calculator was not also updated for the majority of the population for whom these limits do not impact, but received a significant income tax reduction due to an increase in the standard deduction and a reduction in income tax rates. These items would allow more after tax income to b...

gurusw

Hi, The below calculator is famous for rent vs buy decisions: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html But I think it has not kept up to date with the new tax laws, and it is giving wrong forecast to the homebuyers who are taking more than $750K of mortgage, and/or wh...

gurusw

chillyuber, this is in Fremont.

gurusw

HornedToad, $1M includes retirement. A couple of years back, I was saving $60K per year. Then my income started to improve, and now my savings are reaching $100K per year. So when I initially did the calculations, I thought I can put additional savings in RE & afford a house. I don't think my li...

gurusw

Thanks everyone. We have moved between states 2 times since my son is 3, and the family is just tired of moving again. Maybe we made wrong choices in the past. I know places like Atlanta can be very cheap, but I have friends moving to bay area for better job opportunities from different places in th...

gurusw

CurlyDave, Thanks for the encouragement. I cannot project future income or job stability. But I am working for 20 years, and my experience is that the pay raise will average out to be 6% to 7% per year. Of course things are getting riskier as I get older in this industry. If I get stuck in my career...

gurusw

Luckywon, Thanks for the positive vibe there :) TravelGeek, My job is as seure as any 40+ year old's job in the Tech industry. Although my current employer does not have bad reputation of firing people or layoffs. But if things go downhill, these companies will do anything for survival. My spouse is...

gurusw

usnaron, I started seeing the validity of these articles as I started figuring out what all my new house needs. Plus the cost of additional utilities, gardening, etc. lotusflower, Thanks for your input. Btw I forgot to mention in my previous posts that my both cars are fully paid. One has 20K miles ...

gurusw

Buster, The reason for home was to build equity & not pay rent in retirement years. Also we want our kid to have a home where he form memories, where he makes friends & attends same schools with them. Basically he build bonds with them & the place. At rental place, people come & by t...

gurusw

Hi, I briefly read some threads on bay area housing. But I thought of presenting my personal situation for direct feedback. We are in escrow for a SFH of $1.2M. Down-payment $240K. Mortgage $960K. Closing cost $10K After moving in, there is expense of $10K for appliances and necessary upgrades. Sing...

gurusw

Hi, Recently I executed some steps to do backdoor ROTH IRA contributions. 1. I used to hold Rollover IRA with Fidelity. I transferred all the money from Rollover IRA to my 401K plan. 2. After doing that, I recharacterized the "2017" excess contributions of my ROTH to non-deductible IRA. Fo...

gurusw

I called Vanguard & they gave explanation about $94.88 deduction. Fed withholding is $86.25 and State withholding is $8.63. There is no penalty. TurboTax is asking me Vanguard's Fed ID & State ID, and the rep wasn't able to provide me that... meaning he did not know. Do you know if I can lea...

gurusw

So are you saying that $6362.48 was withdrawn from your wife’s IRA account? This would represent $5500 + $862.48? But then $6267.60 was deposited back into the taxable account? Thus your assumption is that $94.88 was withheld for taxes? You could be right though that seems an odd amount of witholdi...

gurusw

Just to be clear, there are two options. 1. You can ask for a return of the 2017 contribution plus earnings. You do this before the due date. If this is done correctly, there are no taxes on the withdrawal of the contribution. Taxes and a penalty if under 59.5 yrs are only due on the earnings. This...

gurusw

You entered it as your wife's, not yours, correct? Yes, entered as my wife's. Also I am now able to get "1099-R entry screen" in Turbo Tax that allows me to enter all the amounts myself plus the explanation. Btw I see 10% taxes were withheld plus 10% penalty on the taxes. Does that sound ...

gurusw

First of all, Alan, thanks for the detailed reply. For me, TurboTax has taken care of the situation correctly. I just have a small query on this. I had made monthly contributions to ROTH in 2017 Jan to Nov ($500 each), and TurboTax is asking me date of ROTH contributions. What shouldm I answer? I th...

gurusw

So for 2017 returns, for my wife's part, am I supposed to report her non-deductible contribution to tIRA as well?
Or am I supposed to skip that since I withdrew that amount before the tax filing deadline.

gurusw

Hi, Can someone please help shed light on my situation above? So far I have found this myself. In Feb 2018, I recharacterized my ROTH contributions to Non-deductible IRA. Fidelity took out $5500 of contributions plus the earnings on that amount from ROTH, and deposited all the money in my non-deduct...

gurusw

Hi, Status: MFJ In the year 2017, I contributed $5500 to ROTH & contributed $5500 to wife's TIRA. In January 2018, it became clear that we should not have done so because my income is above the threshold to make ROTH contributions and deductible TIRA contributions on wife's name. In Feb 2018, I ...

gurusw

Thanks for the replies. I asked the same question to my mortgage broker, and he replied as follows: "Typically, as long as the loan continues to be paid, the lender does not look at the loss of the primary borrower - this would be just as applicable if your spouse was on the loan as she is not ...

gurusw

1. If you have children and no will, the heirs will be spouse and children whether you put spouse on title or not - else only spouse. 2. Who will get the proceeds of your life insurance policy? Will that person clear off the mortgage dues from the proceeds? 3. Do you claim mortgage interest deducti...

gurusw

Hi, We are first-time home buyers, and still searching for houses. My spouse is home-maker. Both of us have good credit scores (800+). We have joint bank accounts where the money for down-payment is parked. I have life insurance enough to cover mortgage. I am told that my spouse can be on the title ...

gurusw

Hi, I am just reading this thread (and many such others) since we have just actively started shopping for houses. Since we just started, I am wondering what is the best way to go about starting the procedure. Some houses that I visited asked me whether I have pre-approval. I also see there is a diff...

gurusw

For WIFE'S contribution: Neither spouse is eligible for a Roth contribution, but your wife also cannot do a back door Roth contribution without taxes on the conversion because of her 17,000 pre tax IRA with no plan to roll it to. So not third option for her. Therefore, her options are limited to a ...

gurusw

For WIFE'S contribution: Neither spouse is eligible for a Roth contribution, but your wife also cannot do a back door Roth contribution without taxes on the conversion because of her 17,000 pre tax IRA with no plan to roll it to. So not third option for her. Therefore, her options are limited to a ...

gurusw

Thanks again. I am also looking at this as a foundation step for future investment planning. Hence more questions. For YOUR contribution: Since your MAGI appears set to exceed the Roth income limit indefinitely, keeping the contribution and paying the excise tax so you can assign it to a future year...

gurusw

Alan, thanks for your comprehensive reply. I am still digesting your analysis. I will post my questions (if any) later.

gurusw

Btw I had talked with Fidelity yesterday to explore the possibility of recharacterizing excess ROTH to Traditional, and then back to ROTH. The rep told me that IRS no longer allows 2 recharacterizations.

gurusw

For 2018, MAGI will be more than 199K.
both contributions have 10+% gain.

gurusw

Here’s my tax filing situation for 2017. - MFJ - I am the only earner, covered by 401K plan at work - AGI/MAGI > $196K - I have already contributed 5500 to ROTH - Spouse contributed 5500 to Traditional IRA - Between these 2 accounts, I have 15% capital gains Now I realize that because of AGI/MAGI, I...

gurusw

Thanks for the replies again. I took some time to digest the information here, and on Internet. So it boils down to this for me. Form 8606 was indeed due for me in 2011 & 2012 because of ROTH conversions. But my then CPA did not file it! However as you are saying, 100% of the conversion amount w...

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