Cheddar,
Great article, thanks for the link. According to Michael my realtor was on point:
"The capital gains exclusion is only allowed once every 2 years. Thus, the partial exclusion still cannot be used if another exclusion had been claimed for another sale in the past 24 months, and in the event of a married couple the full $500,000 exclusion is only available as long as neither spouse has used it in the past 2 years (if one spouse sold a home recently and the other did not, the second spouse can still use his/her individual $250,000 exclusion). On the other hand, as long as “no more than once every 2 years” requirement is met, there is no limit on home many times an individual can take advantage of the primary residence capital gains exclusion throughout their lifetime!"
A few details that might clear this up, the first house was only in my name, our second house is in both of our names. I believe my realtor was suggesting that we remove my name from the current mortgage/house before selling so that technically my wife would be selling her house (using her once every two year opportunity to exclude cap gains) and I would have sold my house (accessing my one time every two year exclusion) and therefore we'd both be able to claim the exclusion from capital gains tax. Does that work even if we file jointly?
onemorebike
p.s. It might help to know the first house was purchased at 105000 and sold for 233000 and the second house purchased for 210 and hoping to draw about 250-260 - so even if do have to pay, at least it will be on the smaller gain.
