I just got off the phone with a lovely woman who was arm-wrestling with the IRS over a tax consequence of a short sale.
And she had some other debt and wanted to talk bankruptcy.
Made me wonder how many other folks are trying to short-sell their houses in a good faith effort to be good-do-bees and who are therefore walking into nooses that they don't see coming.
Am I an expert on the tax consequences of short sales? You gotta be kidding. Keeping up with changes in the means test and talking to the endless line of debtors outside my office door keeps me busy. And then there are my business and corporate clients.
Not a tax expert; I know a couple of good ones here in Phoenix, Arizona. Not one myself.
But I'm asking myself if it makes sense to work your behind off trying to get everybody in line for a short sale if the IRS is going to thank you with a massive new tax debt.
Oh, yeah. Some local banks are happy for you to do all the work to put together a short sale to help 'em out.
But their documentation says they can chase you for any deficiency, even though they're agreeing to permit the short sale.
Sounds like being a nice guy is a good way to get....I have a mental picture. It's not a very pretty mental picture.
