Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

The average Kansas City home seller has lived in their home for about 6 years.  A LOT of items, much of it junk, can build up in a home’s living and storage areas during that time. You’ve probably seen some of the worst case scenarios if you’ve watched the TV show Clean House. But even mild problems need addressed when selling your home.  In some of my previous posts, I’ve covered the options of disposing of items and also storage of items when preparing your home for sale. But there’s another excellent option for the items that fall in between “worthless” and “keepers”. You can donate the items to charity. In addition to helping those in need, it can also be tax deducible if done the right way.

You know that when it comes to de-cluttering, it can not come at the expense of another room or even the home’s storage areas. So, after you’ve organized the items you no longer you need, you can move forward the plan to donate those items. First of all, make sure you take details notes on the items you’re donating. When it comes to valuing the items, there’s no exact formula used by the IRS for verifying the amount you place on the items. But if you drastically overestimate the value of your donations, you’re asking to get audited. Consult a tax advisor as it relates to donating item for tax purposes. (Thank you random italicized voice.)  Should you ever get audited, you’ll be glad you have good records detailing the items you have given to charity. Most of us probably don’t have the receipts from when we purchased the items, but it’s important that you do assess a value to every item. Know this much, the value is going to be something less than what you paid for the item.

Should you ever get audited, it would probably help if you have taken photos of the donated items. To  help you “do the right thing” when assessing the value of donated items, here’s an IRS link for Determining The Value Of Donated Property and here’s a short YouTube video from the IRS It’s my understanding that if you donate less than $500, there’s no special document necessary to take the deduction at tax time. It can get more complicated after that and if you’ve donated items over $5,000  I’ve heard that an actual appraisal is required. Tax rules change all the time and this article is not tax advice.  Remember, I’m just a Kansas City real estate agent talking to you about donating items when selling your home. Always contact a CPA for tax advice.

If donating items when readying your Kansas City home for sale is in your future, here’s some great options in the metro area...

Posted by Jason A. Brown