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mortgage obligation, they borrowed money from relatives and
placed the Florida house on the market.
The timeshares and the South Carolina house were personal
vacation properties. They were not listed for sale until funds
were needed to pay for the Florida house. These vacation
properties were not purchased or held for sale to customers in
the ordinary course of business.
Moreover, petitioner’s ownership of the undeveloped land in
Florida does not establish that petitioner and Mrs. Wood were
dealers in real estate. Petitioner and Mrs. Wood purchased the
undeveloped land in 1976. In 1994, petitioner and Mrs. Wood
entered into a contract to sell that land, but the buyer failed
to perform under the contract. The land remained undeveloped,
and petitioner continued to own it through 1996. There is no
evidence that petitioner offered the land for sale before 1994 or
that he ever attempted to develop the land. We conclude that
petitioner purchased the land as an investment and not as
property held for sale to customers in the ordinary course of
business.
Finally, petitioner’s investment in MSPR, Ltd., does not
establish that he was a dealer in real estate. Petitioner’s
partnership interest in MSPR, Ltd., was not real property held
for sale to customers in the ordinary course of petitioner’s
business. It is settled law that a partnership is an
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