Real property information management, retention and transferal system and methods for using same
The present invention is in the field of computer systems and processes for managing real and personal property. One aspect of the invention is directed to capturing history of a (real) property, which may include a description of the property, the personal property located on the real property, the projects and maintenance performed or to be performed on the property and their impact on the owner's tax basis in the property. Another aspect of invention allows for sharing of this history with an online community and for transferring the history (or portions thereof) on sale to a buyer.
1. A computer-implemented system for managing information relating to a home having an owner, the home having a tax basis used in computing a gain or loss to the owner upon a sale of the home, the system comprising:
one or more databases configured to receive and store information comprising first tax information relating to the home before one or more projects are performed on the home, second tax information relating to the home after the one or more projects were performed, and audit information relating to the first and second tax information;
one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions encoded thereon; and
one or more computer processors, programmed via the instructions to:
receive first input relating to one or more projects performed on the home, the first input comprising costs associated with the one or more projects;
automatically determine whether the one or more projects result in an improvement to the home; and
in response to determining that the one or more projects result in an improvement to the home, automatically add the costs associated with the one or more projects to the first tax information to produce a sum and store the sum as the second tax information, the difference between the first tax information and the second tax information representing an increase or decrease to the tax basis of the home;
wherein:
the first tax information and the second tax information each comprise one or more of a date, and a numerical value expressed in a currency; and
the audit information provides a summary of the first tax information and the second tax information.
2. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer processors are programmed to receive input relating to the one or more projects comprising one or more items of information other than the costs associated with the one or more projects, and to cause the one or more items of information to be stored in the one or more databases.
3. The computer-implemented system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more items of information comprise an image file depicting the home and one or more captions for the image file.
4. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more databases are configured to store a history of modifications to the tax basis of the home.
5. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer processors are programmed to receive the first input relating to the one or more projects from a user via a screen interface.
6. The computer-implemented system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer processors are programmed to:
receive further input relating to an additional project performed on the home, the further input comprising costs associated with the additional project;
automatically determine whether the additional project results in an improvement to the home;
in response to determining that the additional project results in an improvement to the home, automatically add the costs associated with the additional project to the second tax information to produce a sum, and store the sum as third tax information;
cause data comprising a tax basis audit trail to be stored in the one or more databases, the audit trail data comprising a date, project information, and a numerical value expressed in a currency associated with each of the first tax information, the second tax information and the third tax information.