Our cousins have this great beach house in Makena...super private and really really cute. 
Question: What is twitter?
Answer: A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing? Answer on your phone, IM, or on the web!
You can check us out at http://twitter.com/sakarablackwell or http://twitter.com/hiltonblackwell
Request to be a friend and follow us.
Today is Secretary's Day aka Administrative Assistant's Day aka Bianca & Kyle's Day Hilton and I took them (and my liitle brother Rob who is visiting from the East Coast) to Orchids at The Halekulani for a special lunch to thank them for all they do.
Bianca is our Executive Assistant and handles a range of things from personal errands to banking to appointments to client services. Kyle is currently a graduate student at HPU and working under an internship. He will be taking on an official position in May, most likely Project & Marketing Assistant.
Lunch was great...as is anything "Halekulani"...fresh malasadas for dessert...yumm.
How is LEED Developed?
The LEED Rating System was created to transform the built environment to sustainability by providing the building industry with consistent, credible standards for what constitutes a green building. The rating system is developed and continuously refined via an open, consensus-based process that has made LEED the green building standard of choice for Federal agencies and state and local governments nationwide. Click here for more information on the LEED Development Process.
What is LEED Certification?
The first step to LEED certification is to Register your project. A project is a viable candidate for LEED certification if it can meet all prerequisites and achieve the minimum number of points to earn the Certified level of LEED project certification. To earn certification, a building project must meet certain prerequisites and performance benchmarks ("credits") within each category. Projects are awarded Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification depending on the number of credits they achieve. This comprehensive approach is the reason LEED-certified buildings have reduced operating costs, healthier and more productive occupants, and conserve our natural resources.
Note for Product Manufacturers and Service Providers:Although USGBC does not certify, promote, or endorse products and services of individual companies, products and services do play a role and can help projects with credit achievement. (Note that products and services do not earn projects points.) Learn more here about how you and your company can help advance green building, while also achieving your own environmental and economic goals.
Who Can Use LEED?
Everyone: Architects, real estate professionals, facility managers, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects, construction managers, lenders, government officials...
The LEED program also includes a full suite of training workshops and a Professional Accreditation program to develop and encourage green building expertise across the entire building industry.
We attended a CCIM lunch today to learn more about building green in Hawaii
Revenue Procedure 2005-14: Excluding and
Deferring Capital Gain Simultaneously
Under Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), when a taxpayer sells a principal residence, they are entitled to exclude $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for married taxpayers) from taxation. Under Section 1031 of the IRC, a taxpayer may exchange investment property for other investment property and defer capital gains on the sale.
Under Revenue Procedure 2005-14, when a property is used for both purposes – i.e. as a principal residence and for investment – a taxpayer may take advantage of both the 121 capital gain exclusion and the 1031 capital gain deferral.
What types of property qualify?
Property that is currently rented out but was, within the five years preceding the date of the exchange, used by the taxpayer as a principal residence for at least two years; property that has two structures – the taxpayer’s residence and another used for business; and, property with one structure used partially as a residence and partially for business. For guidance, Revenue Procedure 2005-14 provides six detailed examples.
Property currently rented, but used as a personal residence in prior years. If the taxpayer owned and lived in the residence for two of the preceding five years, they are eligible for the $250,000 Section 121 exclusion even though on the date of transfer, the taxpayer no longer lived in the residence. Note however, if the principal residence was originally acquired as investment property and later converted to a residence, in order to qualify for the 121 exclusion, the taxpayer must have owned the property for a total of five years and of those five years, must have used it as a principal residence for two years. In other words, property used for investment but later converted to a principal residence and then
converted back to investment must meet the two-year and five-year requirements.
Property with two separate structures, one used as a principal residence and
one used for business. Section 121 is applied just to the residence and Section 1031 is applied to just the investment portion.
One structure with a combined use as a principal residence and for business/investment. The entire property is treated as the taxpayer’s principal residence for purposes of satisfying the two-year use requirement. The taxpayer must allocate the basis and amount realized using the same method the taxpayer used to determine depreciation adjustments.
Some rules to consider. First, Section 121 must be applied to gain before applying Section 1031. Second, the exclusion under Section 121 does not apply to gain attributable to depreciation deductions claimed for periods after May 6, 1997 with respect to the business or investment portion of a residence, but Section 1031 may apply to such gain. Cash or other non-like kind property (“boot”) received in an exchange is taken into account only to the extent the boot exceeds the gain excluded under Section 121. Finally, the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 repealed the once-in-a-lifetime exclusion provision in Section 121 and replaced it with the elective exclusion of $250,000 (or $500,000 if applicable) and made this exclusion available
every two years.
Although Revenue Procedure 2005-14 is highly beneficial, the application of the rules can be complicated. Thus, a prudent taxpayer should carefully consider these rules and the examples in the Revenue Procedure with the assistance of their tax advisor. Likewise, the taxpayer should inform their intermediary and their closing agent before starting an exchange that they intend to exclude cash under Section 121 so that the excluded cash is not included
in the exchange proceeds.
Contact Julie Tumbaga at JTumbaga@Orexco1031.com or 808.524.6737
Natural greenery in our cities provides a spiritual and physical connection to nature. It seems to absorb the stressful and volatile components of our cities promoting our health and wellness.
By dressing hard and unforgiving facades of concrete and iron in green soft plants we rejuvenate our minds and physical fatigue is greatly reduced.
For example, there are several studies showing that hospital patients who have been in rooms with a clear sight of fully blooming trees have required less pain relief drugs and recovered more quickly than patients who were in direct sight of concrete walls. A Green Roof or Wall can fill the spaces and walls surrounding patients with vitality extending up to blue skies.
A Green G-Sky wall is going into a new Whole Foods store in Vancouver. Maybe we will see one in the new Whole Foods Kaka'ako! Cross your fingers.
