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spent on construction costs does not quantify the number of hours
that petitioner spent on real estate activities.
Petitioner attempted to recollect his participation in his
real estate activities at trial and attempted to summarize his
estimates from trial in his brief. Petitioner asserts that his
hours of participation in his real estate activities were 1,425.5
and 1,494.4 in 1995 and 1996, respectively.
Respondent argues that petitioner has not established by
reasonable means that he spent more than 750 hours in real
property trades or businesses. We agree. Petitioner has not
recorded the number of hours spent in any activity and has
discarded his calendars. His attempt to reconstruct or estimate
his hours through testimony such as that described above produces
a generalized description of his activities and a vague
approximation--or “ballpark guesstimate”--of his hours. His
testimony regarding his real estate activities is inadequate and
unpersuasive under the circumstances. His estimated hours of
participation in real estate activities are unreasonable.
The airplane flight logs that document petitioner’s flight
time would be a credible source and reasonable means to
demonstrate petitioner’s activities and hours spent in real
estate activities; however, petitioner’s flight time that was
related to his real estate activities in 1995 and 1996 does not
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