Mike Koran at PRMI San Francisco

10/29/2026

Thank you, Riana Shaw Robinson for leaving us a review.
Read full review: https://birdeye.cx/cnajly

10/28/2026

Same house, same buyer, same sale price. One seller still owes the IRS.

The difference is what each seller could prove they put into the house.

When you sell, you're taxed on your profit, and every improvement you can document lowers that profit.

In this example, $75,000 in documented work kept a single seller under the $250,000 exclusion. Without the receipts, the same sale landed $55,000 over it.

Some of what counts goes back to the day you bought. Fees from your purchase, like title insurance, transfer taxes, and recording fees, add to your basis too. Your closing statement already lists them.

Know someone in the middle of a remodel? Send this to them.

10/23/2026

Your house went up in value. Here's how to keep it from the IRS.

If the home has been your main residence for at least two of the last five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of profit from tax when you sell. Married couples filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000.

The key word is profit, not sale price. Your profit is your sale price, minus your selling costs, minus your cost basis.

Your basis starts with what you paid for the home, plus certain closing costs like title insurance and transfer taxes. Every improvement you make adds to it: a new roof, a kitchen remodel, an addition.

The higher your basis, the lower your profit, and the easier it is to stay under that line. You do have to be able to prove those improvements, so keep the invoices for as long as you own the home.

Your CPA can tell you exactly where your numbers land.

Save this for when you're ready to sell.

10/20/2026

Thank you, Taylor Graham for leaving us a review.
Read full review: https://birdeye.cx/1eo9wm

10/14/2026

Caulk, weatherstripping, window film. All of it works, and all of it keeps something in.

The fall winterizing list is good advice. It's just only half a list, and the missing half is free.

One thing that didn't fit on the slides: if the air in the house is dry enough that your skin is cracking, check the humidity while you're at it. Between 30 and 50 percent is the range. Over 50 and you start inviting mold, which is a worse trade than dry hands.

Send this to whoever does the winterizing at your house.

10/09/2026

If the house feels stuffy no matter what you do, you've been solving the wrong problem.

Cleaning takes dust off the surfaces you can reach. The stuffiness isn't on a surface.

Once the windows are shut for the season, your furnace is the only thing moving air in the house, and it moves the same air every time. Carbon dioxide, cooking fumes, whatever comes off your cleaning products. It all stays in here with you until spring, and no amount of wiping counters touches it.

Two things actually change it, and neither one costs you heat.

Run your kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans all the way through when you cook or shower. They vent outside. Most people use them for smoke and steam and nothing else.

Then on the next mild day, crack a couple of windows on opposite sides of the house for five or ten minutes and let the air move through.

DM me and I'll send you the filter rating and swap schedule that goes with this, so the air has somewhere to go and something catching what's in it.

10/01/2026

Thank you, Adam Morris for leaving us a review.
Read full review: https://birdeye.cx/wo2pm2

09/30/2026

Most families end up guessing at what you wanted for the house in the week after a funeral.

Not because you didn't plan. Because a will only answers one question.

The house is the one that causes the most trouble. Every other asset gets divided. A house has to be kept or sold, and somebody has to decide which one.

Say why, too. If one kid gets the house and the others don't, or the split isn't even, tell them the reason while you're still here to give it.

If you're not sure how your property is titled, send me a message. I can't give you legal advice, but I can go through the deed with you and point you toward an estate attorney.

09/27/2026

09/25/2026

You can have a perfectly valid will and still have your house sit in probate for months. Here's where the gap usually is.

A will tells a court what you wanted. It doesn't control the deed.

Property titled in your name alone goes through probate first, no matter what the will says. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes straight to the surviving owner. Tenancy in common doesn't. Most states also let you record a transfer on death deed, which names who gets the house and keeps it out of probate.

Your retirement accounts work the same way. They pass to whoever is on the beneficiary form, and that name beats your will every time.

Pull your deed from the county recorder and read how you're listed. If it doesn't match what you want, send me a message. I can't give you legal advice, but I can go through how your property is titled with you and point you toward an estate attorney.