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View Full Version : Strange real estate deals



Stephen Tashiro
05-18-2019, 11:02 PM
Hatch NM, a rural NM village, population about 1,700. Yet look up 725 Uvas Springs Rd, Hatch NM on your favorite real estate website.

Brian Elfert
05-18-2019, 11:14 PM
What is so strange about it? Someone built a big fancy house on a ranch and it now selling the house and ranch.

Rich Engelhardt
05-19-2019, 5:34 AM
The owner has recently had major legal and financial issues.

It's all a matter of public record if you wish to look into it further.

I prefer not to say any more on the issue - other than the owner is listed as Dean Horton.

Perry Hilbert Jr
05-19-2019, 11:35 AM
A law firm I worked at 40 yrs ago, arranged a wild deal. An old man died owning a big ocean front hotel on a famous Beach. He had never filed tax returns and the IRS had started sending him letters about filing returns. The family accountant figured the taxes and penalties owed would be about what the hotel was worth. The only heir was a ex pat American living in Switzerland. We hurriedly arranged a swap of the beach front hotel even up for a hotel in the Cayman Islands. The Japanese buyer purchased the hotel in the Cayman islands specifically to swap for the American hotel. The heiress than made a searate deal to swap the hotel in the Islands for a seaside hotel in Italy. The whole deal went through and was filed at the county land records, four days before the IRS tried to file a lien on the beach hotel. It was too late and the American in Switzerland got a trust interest in Italian hotel worth about 6 million. The Japanese buyer got an American hotel worth about 8 million. I was low man at the firm and went crazy with all the gofer stuff, running back and forth to places to check records and get signatures. Four law firms were involved and the settlement occurred in the Bahamas with a courier taking documents to the US courthouse land records.

Jamie Buxton
05-19-2019, 12:06 PM
A law firm I worked at 40 yrs ago, arranged a wild deal. An old man died owning a big ocean front hotel on a famous Beach. He had never filed tax returns and the IRS had started sending him letters about filing returns. The family accountant figured the taxes and penalties owed would be about what the hotel was worth. The only heir was a ex pat American living in Switzerland. We hurriedly arranged a swap of the beach front hotel even up for a hotel in the Cayman Islands. The Japanese buyer purchased the hotel in the Cayman islands specifically to swap for the American hotel. The heiress than made a searate deal to swap the hotel in the Islands for a seaside hotel in Italy. The whole deal went through and was filed at the county land records, four days before the IRS tried to file a lien on the beach hotel. It was too late and the American in Switzerland got a trust interest in Italian hotel worth about 6 million. The Japanese buyer got an American hotel worth about 8 million. I was low man at the firm and went crazy with all the gofer stuff, running back and forth to places to check records and get signatures. Four law firms were involved and the settlement occurred in the Bahamas with a courier taking documents to the US courthouse land records.

Somebody is cheating on their taxes. You're helping. You don't see that as unethical?

Matt Day
05-19-2019, 1:50 PM
They likely don’t want anyone to see their taxes either. Wink wink

Perry Hilbert Jr
05-19-2019, 4:55 PM
The deceased cheated uncle sam. We represented the heiress. We did what we could to legally help her avoid taxes. Is it unethical to take a legal deduction? If you find a dollar on the sidewalk, do you include it in the amount of income reported and pay tax on it? Wouldn't not reporting it be unethical? It is not illegal to owe money, it is not illegal to take steps to keep that money out of the reach of creditors so long as done legally. I am sure the law has changed since then.

Malcolm Schweizer
05-19-2019, 5:50 PM
A law firm I worked at 40 yrs ago, arranged a wild deal. An old man died owning a big ocean front hotel on a famous Beach. He had never filed tax returns and the IRS had started sending him letters about filing returns. The family accountant figured the taxes and penalties owed would be about what the hotel was worth. The only heir was a ex pat American living in Switzerland. We hurriedly arranged a swap of the beach front hotel even up for a hotel in the Cayman Islands. The Japanese buyer purchased the hotel in the Cayman islands specifically to swap for the American hotel. The heiress than made a searate deal to swap the hotel in the Islands for a seaside hotel in Italy. The whole deal went through and was filed at the county land records, four days before the IRS tried to file a lien on the beach hotel. It was too late and the American in Switzerland got a trust interest in Italian hotel worth about 6 million. The Japanese buyer got an American hotel worth about 8 million. I was low man at the firm and went crazy with all the gofer stuff, running back and forth to places to check records and get signatures. Four law firms were involved and the settlement occurred in the Bahamas with a courier taking documents to the US courthouse land records.

I see it all the time. I bet the law firm in Cayman was either Maples and Calder or Appleby’s.

Mel Fulks
05-19-2019, 6:55 PM
No one got killed and they legally saved money. That's the way it works. Sometimes we want the other team to win and
don't get our our way.

Gary Ragatz
05-19-2019, 8:56 PM
If you find a dollar on the sidewalk, do you include it in the amount of income reported and pay tax on it? Wouldn't not reporting it be unethical?

Answers: "probably not," and "yes." But de minimis non curat lex, right?

Maybe a more appropriate question, given the context is, if you find $1 million on the sidewalk, do you include it in the amount of income reported and pay tax on it?


It is not illegal to owe money, it is not illegal to take steps to keep that money out of the reach of creditors so long as done legally.

Correct - but Jamie's comment was about ethics, and I'm sure that if you've worked for a law firm, you know that there's a difference between what's legal and what's ethical.

Doug Garson
05-19-2019, 9:11 PM
The deceased cheated uncle sam. We represented the heiress. We did what we could to legally help her avoid taxes. Is it unethical to take a legal deduction? If you find a dollar on the sidewalk, do you include it in the amount of income reported and pay tax on it? Wouldn't not reporting it be unethical? It is not illegal to owe money, it is not illegal to take steps to keep that money out of the reach of creditors so long as done legally. I am sure the law has changed since then.
You admit the deceased cheated, is it ethical to help someone benefit from someone else's cheat?