[StinkieMcCain]

You cant 1031 exchange a primary residence.


A man is 60 and financally secure. He is too old to be buying. Just rent and live in peace. Home ownership is hard work!

[Juxtaposition109]

Once you move here all sorts of people that never visited you before will decide to visit. Once here they will insist on going to the strip and if you live here you will most likely loathe going to the strip.

[BBMW]

Let's say decades ago you bought a house in LA for $300K. Now you sell it for $700K. You move to vegas and buy a house for $300K. Your single. You can exclude from cap gains the first $250K of profit. You pay cap gains tax on $150K. If you bought a house for $750K, the cap gain would get rolled forward into the new house.

This is federal. It doesn't matter what states the properties are in. States can tax the profits from the sales separately, and however they want.

Originally Posted by hotjambalaya

Is that even if you the house in LA is your primary residence?

[skugelstadt]

Originally Posted by lacrosse

I'm 60 yrs old, no children, single, no need for a job, retired, receiving a monthly annuity check, have a health plan, 2 small dogs, love betting on sports(Vegas-where it's legal and receive payouts immediately) and have no strings attached. All I want to do is live a simple life without any stress(just retired from teaching 35 yrs of stress) hanging out in the sports books, traveling at least 6 times a year (conveniently with McCarran Airport close by is a plus). I know it's hot there but I'm use to it with the Dallas humidity that we have. Also, with the crime I plan to live in a fairly safe place unlike North or NE Vegas etc. Somebody please let me know why I shouldn't move out there. I feel right now that living in Texas has nothing to offer me.

I think you will need at least $250,000 to buy a house in a nice neighborhood.
Health care in the Vegas area is not the best
Vegas is an "island" in the desert. Not as many resources
You are leaving friends, family, security, familiarity
It sounds like you are moving here so you can gamble conveniently?
All of Texas has nothing to offer? Vegas is a lot smaller than Texas

[hotjambalaya]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Let's say decades ago you bought a house in LA for $300K. Now you sell it for $700K. You move to vegas and buy a house for $300K. Your single. You can exclude from cap gains the first $250K of profit. You pay cap gains tax on $150K. If you bought a house for $750K, the cap gain would get rolled forward into the new house.

This is federal. It doesn't matter what states the properties are in. States can tax the profits from the sales separately, and however they want.

I'm assuming you lived in it?

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

If you're talking about a primary residence and not an investment property, you're probably going to use the exemption and not a 1031 exchange. A 1031 exchange is a TAX DEFERRAL strategy, not a TAX AVOIDANCE strategy. You're just putting off the time when you'll have to pay cap gains taxes. Taking the primary residence exemption actually AVOIDS paying of taxes on the gain. AVOIDING is better than DEFERRING.

This is what is confusing me between the two of your posts, I'm talking primary residence here only. If you buy a house as your primary residence in LA living in it for many years and sell it for $700k you only get to exclude $250k of profit? I thought the whole lot was tax free if its a primary residence! I'm aware of the general picture of a 1031 as tax deferral, but thought that was only used on second homes.

More a curiosity for now, since my home is just a vacation home and not likely to make a difference for now, though depending on how things go, a 1031 may be on the cards. I was going to meet my tax accountant about it, but the deal didn't happen.



Anyway, sorry for the diversion. Back to the OP, great place to watch games and sports bet, as long as you truly are disciplined and honest with yourself with regards to wins and losses. The amount of of old dudes I see in vegas sports books hustling for a tip with their "sure fire winners" isn't a joke, and I assume many moved over to vegas just like you. I know a pro sports bettor, and he is extremely disciplined and dedicated when its game time, he's up at 5/6am studying games hard, has a 6 tv set up, and spends a long time looking at form and reviewing past games. He's one of the few people I know that can beat the spread. Unless you actually treat it like a job, and not like a bit of a laugh I refuse to believe you will end a winner on it. The level my friend bets at is bets of $10k to $50k a bet. He had the winner of the superbowl at the beginning of the season for $10k at 25:1. Last week his net win was well over $200k part of which was a $25000 4 leg parlay hitting for $108k. So be honest, do you really have the dedication to study hard, or are you going to give it all up in vig. I have no idea what a teachers social check is, but I'm assuming you'll need to be a bit better then "oooh xyz has been playing well recently so I'll bet them" to make the check last long in vegas.

The real question apart from that is, do you have friends here? You don't want your whole life to be the sports book no matter what you think right now.

Small tip, you may get a better price using the Cantor gaming app/site, since thats legal to use in vegas.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by hotjambalaya

This is what is confusing me between the two of your posts, I'm talking primary residence here only. If you buy a house as your primary residence in LA living in it for many years and sell it for $700k you only get to exclude $250k of profit? I thought the whole lot was tax free if its a primary residence! I'm aware of the general picture of a 1031 as tax deferral, but thought that was only used on second homes.

There was a different rule before 1997. It was a one-time (in your lifetime) exclusion with a lot of complicated rules. I think most people are better off with the new primary residence exclusion.

[Lv_desert]

Originally Posted by skugelstadt

I think you will need at least $250,000 to buy a house in a nice neighborhood.
Health care in the Vegas area is not the best
Vegas is an "island" in the desert. Not as many resources
You are leaving friends, family, security, familiarity
It sounds like you are moving here so you can gamble conveniently?
All of Texas has nothing to offer? Vegas is a lot smaller than Texas

Not quite 250k. Almost, but not quite.

Vegas will suck the life and last penny out of you, especially if you gamble. This guy ( OP ) is just determined to be fresh meat, so we will just roll out the welcome mat. Until you are out of money. Then you're pretty much hosed.

[lvoc]

1031 deals with investment property. You can convert a primary residence to an investment property by renting it or at least attempting to do so.. and then do a 1031 exchange to another property.

You can also convert a property obtained through a 1031 exchange to your primary residence and then sell it with the personnel exemption. Have to live in it two years and own it for five. Had a relative do this with a heavily appreciated rental property in the San Fernando valley. The requirements to make it a primary residence were less earlier on.

I presently have a client with a primary residence obtained in a complex 1031 arrangement. She is three years into converting it to her primary. She has over a half million of gain in the place but is mostly setting it up for her estate.

So in rare circumstances dealing with heavily appreciated properties some 1031 manipulations may make sense. For most people though the personal exemption for a primary residence will be the better deal.

[lacrosse]

While addressing Lv_desert for the last time- "Vegas will never suck the life and last penny out of you", that will never happen. I have been betting on sports off shore for over 30 years, while visiting Vegas several times. As stated before I never had to claim bankruptcy and have never missed any CC or mortgage payments while maintaining an excellent credit rating. I am not a degenerate gambler and have good money management and discipline and know when to stop during a losing streak. I prefer to do my hobby in Vegas where sports betting is legal and I receive payouts immediately.

Also remember that I'm a retired teacher (on a $50,000/yr pension), therefore 250K for a house is way out of my price range.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by lacrosse

Also remember that I'm a retired teacher (on a $50,000/yr pension), therefore 250K for a house is way out of my price range.

You can live in a nice area for considerably less. But it's not going to be Summerlin. So if you have your heart set on crust-cut, store-bought, white-bread Nirvana, find someplace else.

And based on your limited financial disclosures, the idea of renting for a year went from "NO!" to "HELL NO!" Renting for a year is financially shooting yourself in the foot. You'll (likely) pay more. You'll have less to spend.

If I was doing this (and I have already done this once), I would get on the real estate websites and decide which areas have the best bang for the buck. (Hint, that answer is right near my name.) And then scout those areas EXCLUSIVELY to see what neighborhoods are acceptable.