If I bought vacant land 26 years ago for $35K to build a home & am selling it now for $32K, is it best to close before the end of this year or the beginning of next year?

[cancellm]

Can I use it as a capital loss as we were going to build a house on it but life got in the way, so to speak.

[SweetieJean · Accepted solution]

It may not matter much, since a $3000 loss can be offset by ordinary income.

Do you expect to be in higher tax bracket in 2017?

[cancellm]

May 1K or 2K more but that's it and I'm sure that doesn't put me into a higher bracket, so then closing this year would be OK, correct?

[cancellm]

Maybe increase of $1K or 2K but do not think that will put me into a higher tax bracket.  So then, I guess it is safe to close at the end of the year.

[bwa]

It may not matter at all, as you can't claim a loss on the sale of personal property.  Your statement that "we were going to build a house on it but life got in the way" suggests that it was personal use property, and never intended to be investment property.