Since we are talking about taxes and capital gains, a couple of points:
1. Federal cap gains tax rates are about to take a huge jump from the current 15%, effective at the end of this year. So anyone contemplating the sale of an appreciated property should get going now with the sale.
2. CA cap gains are HUGE compared to most states, where sometimes it is zero. In selling a property recently, I was shocked to see it was about 40% of the Fed. amount. And escrow was forced by law to withhold an amount that will greatly exceed my CA tax liability, send it to Sacramento, which will keep it a total of 1 1/4 years until I file my CA taxes and get most of it back (probably in an I.O.U.) Thanks, Sacramento.
