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See also United States v. Winthrop, 417 F.2d 905, 910 (5th Cir.
1969); Hoover v. Commissioner, 32 T.C. 618, 625 (1959); Dressen
v. Commissioner, 17 T.C. 1443, 1447 (1952); Thrift v.
Commissioner, 15 T.C. 366, 369 (1950); McCullen v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1997-280.
Petitioners argue that their purchase and sale of the
Cumberland house and the unimproved lot in Cumberland County,
together with the sale of the Fluvanna County unimproved lot
constituted a trade or business of buying, improving, and selling
property. The Cumberland County unimproved lot was held for 16
years, and as far as the record shows there were no extensive
improvements made to the property. Furthermore, we note that
petitioners treated that property as a capital asset on their tax
return when the property was sold rather than property being held
for sale in a trade or business. While petitioners appear to
have bought and sold the Fluvanna County unimproved lot in 1995,
and there were alleged but undefined improvements made, there was
no gain or loss on the transaction. We give that transaction
little weight. The only other transaction was the sale of the
Cumberland house that was held for rental income for 9 years.
Furthermore, except for the rental income, petitioners derived
little income from the alleged business activity. These property
transactions are typical of investments rather than a trade or
business of developing property. In short, we do not find that
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