So Far, I have not discovered how/where to enter this speculative real estate investment into turbo tax. It was not a second home or a rental, merely a speculative venture because of the location.
The question is: How do we enter this investment speculation into turbotax? And, would our cost basis be all costs/expenses over the entire 14 year period?
What follows is a brief description.
We purchased unimproved land in 2005. It was near/in a major metro-plex, lakeside, not within any city limits, no water/sewer and had no county maintenance (roads). Roads throughout were cooperatively maintained or ignored by landowners. Development and expenses during ownership was always a cash basis. The metroplex was experiencing major development and we anticipated selling soonest for profit.
We developed the property, getting county permits to drill a water well, install a sewage facility (septic) and contract the electric coop to bring electricity. Doing most all work ourselves, the first few years we completed the private utilities, a 4B2B house, out buildings, pump house for the well, etc. Renting the property was considered while we awaited developers and annexation to buy us out, but never happened. The downturn in 2009 very was disappointing and it took area developers years to regain momentum.
Finally, in 2017, the developer, with city annexation cooperation, communicated to all private land owners in the un-annexed area that they were no longer interested in individual buyouts. All owners would have to cooperatively negotiate a sale in an all or none affair. Understandable as they would have to permanently seal all wells and undo all septics. Many in the area committed to a “never in our lifetime” stance. Being retired, we could not wait this out. We committed to a 100% refurbishment to try to recoup what we could on our failed speculation. We sold in 2019 for a small loss.
So, this scenario was not found anywhere in the turbotax or community help. We never capitalized any expenses or taxes during our 14 year ownership. An all cash affair, we just kept books on actual expenses. We never lived there or vacationed there. Only worked.
