Avoiding the fiscal cliff - goodbye Edward Mooney

Here's the lead headline from the Weekend Wall Street Journal's Greater New York section, "Ex-Rockefeller Co-op Is Sold, Beating  'Cliff".  Not only did the article detail this $23 million sale, including when Nelson and Happy lived there, then only Happy, then some other rich notables, it gave information about several other sales of this magnitude that closed in recent days.

It's not just the really wealthy, those who have access to the expertise of the largest and most powerful law firms and the advice of elite private bankers, that are making these end of year moves to avoid much higher capital gains taxes.  Mere mortals with common sense and a modicum of awareness are also participating.

The former Rockefeller co-op sale closed on Thursday.  On Friday at 5:30pm my wife, two daughters and six other members of her family(that's 9 partners) closed on the sale of the oldest townhouse in Manhattan.  With one good lawyer, a supportive broker, and the involvement of an interested observer or two, several months of negotiations with the buyer and among the many partners ended successfully after a nail-biter of a day.

Of course this transaction from a monetary point of view was nothing like those in the article, but it wasn't all that shabby.  Given the provenance of the building, it seems somewhat notable.  Google Edward Mooney House to take a look.