Ten that are often missed include mortgage points, prepayment penalty, job-related moving expenses

Have you ever forgotten to claim a real estate tax deduction? I did. Years ago, after I filed my income-tax returns, I remembered a mortgage interest deduction of about $4,500, which I totally overlooked. To claim my refund, I had to file IRS Form 1040X to amend my tax return.

As a result, I learned the IRS hates to part with tax dollars already collected. Just so you never make a tax-deduction mistake like that, here are some of the most-forgotten real estate tax deductions:

1. Deduct loan-fee points paid for a home mortgage. If you bought a house or condo in 2006 as your principal residence, you probably paid the mortgage lender loan-fee points. One point equals 1 percent of the amount borrowed.

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This article was written to address what I consider the really “big ticket” items that simply cannot be ignored when buying or selling a home. These are things that, in my opinion, must be done to start the process of putting a house on the market to sell or to initiate the purchase of a home.

For most of us our homes are the biggest asset we will ever have. Increasingly, it is the one asset by which we have accumulated equity or “wealth” of any significance and by which we can borrow against to restructure debt, use as collateral for lines of credit and even draw on for a retirement fund. Consequently, when we purchase or sell our home it is often much more than just providing for, or changing the roof over our heads.

Throw into the mix the emotional component of the “home is where the heart is” and you have an extremely complex and layered investment. It is rare the individual that sees the rooms of a house only as a structure rather than the nursery they will bring home their first born, the first place they can call their own where they will entertain friends and family, the “nest” where they will begin a marriage, the room where grandmother will have her own space and be close by to care for, the place where a son or daughter will remember a childhood and maybe even a place to celebrate a wedding.

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A great site for finding real estate blogs and thus real estate news, information and ideas is Grow-a-brain’s huge depository of Real Estate Blogs.

The number of links in this list is well over 500 with a few linking to even more real estate blogs.