For Buyers

Could the Tax Credit Be Extended Again?

The pressure is increasing on Congress to renew the homebuyer tax credits for a third time.

The first $7,500 tax credit was passed in 2008 and required first-time buyers to repay the credit over 15 years. A few months later in 2009, Congress expanded the credit to a maximum of $8,000 that didn’t have to be paid back.

At the end of last year, Congress extended the benefit again until April 30 with an extra two months on top of that to close. A new credit of $6,500 was added for move-up buyers, too.

Now representatives of the housing industry are lobbying for another extension. Some experts, including Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, who supported the earlier credits, think the time has come to let it go.

“It’s worn out its benefit,” he says. “If you extend it again, it isn’t going to do much, and what you’re doing is providing a tax break to folks who bought anyway.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (02/22/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

IRS Clarifies What’s Needed to Claim Tax Credit

The Internal Revenue Service has clarified which documentation taxpayers need to submit to claim the first-time and move-up homebuyer tax credit.

While the IRS is still requiring the filing of Form 5405, it is not demanding that all parties’ signatures be on the HUD-1 settlement document in areas where requiring both the buyer and the seller to sign the document isn’t common.

The IRS clarification says: “In areas where signatures are not required on the settlement document, the IRS has clarified that it will accept a settlement statement if it is completed and valid according to local law. … The IRS encourages those buyers to sign the settlement statement prior to attaching it to the tax return.”

For repeat buyers, the IRS is seeking documentation that home buyers have lived in the previous property for a consecutive five of the past eight years. Proof can include property tax records, home owner insurance records, or mortgage interest statements.

Source: Washington Post (02/20/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

World’s Most Beautiful Cities

Choosing the world’s most beautiful cities is a subjective enterprise. To identify urban areas where the architecture and the locale are both stunning, Forbes magazine turned to world-renowned architects. Here are their top choices:
•    Paris
•    Vancouver, Canada
•    Sydney, Australia
•    Florence, Italy
•    Cape Town, South Africa
•    San Francisco
•    Chicago
•    New York City
•    London
•    Cambridge, England
•    Tokyo

Source: Forbes, Tim Kiladze (01/22/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

Shadow Inventory Unlikely to Hurt Market

Nearly 5 million houses and condos, of which the mortgages are delinquent, will go through foreclosure over the next few years, a new study by John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. concludes.

This represents more than half of the 7.7 million households now behind on their mortgage payments. The situation is worst in Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. Burns calculates that there is an inventory equivalent to 27 months of sales in Orlando, 24 months in Miami, and 18 months in Las Vegas.

Consulting firm CEO John Burns says there is strong investor demand for these properties, so as long as employment continues to recover and interest rates remain moderate, these sales won’t have much impact on overall prices.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty (02/16/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

Luxury Homes in Foreclosure Go to Auction

An increasing number of homes with multi-million dollar price tags are going into foreclosure and that’s driving desperate owners to sell at auction.

In 2009, 18,817 properties worth at least $1 million faced foreclosure. That’s up 162 percent from 2008, reported foreclosure marketer RealtyTrac.

Prices of $1 million-plus properties are down about 25 percent since 2007 with an increasing number of desperate home owners choosing auction sales over waiting for years for the right buyer to come along.

“Any home owner selling in this economy is on the market because they have to be,” says John Brian Losh, CEO of LuxuryRealEstate.com, a Web site that specializes in high-end properties. “If they’re frustrated and they can’t figure out why they haven’t gotten any offers, they might think an auction will generate some interest.”

Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (02/11/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

Foreclosure Prevention Has Aided 116,000

The federal foreclosure prevention program has helped about 12 percent of borrowers who applied for help since the plans were announced a year ago, the Treasury Department says.

About 1 million borrowers initiated the application process, and as of January, about 116,000 home owners–12 percent–had their loans modified. But administration officials say another 76,000 applications have been approved and are awaiting signatures.

Another 830,500 home owners are currently in a trial modification review period during which banks make sure payments are feasible for the borrower and ensure the qualifications of the assistance program are met.

For those who qualify, the Home Affordable Modification Program brings monthly loan payments down to 31 percent of home owners’ pre-tax income.

Nearly 60,500 people have been denied permanent modifications.

Source: CNNMoney, Tami Luhby (02/17/2010) and USA TODAY, Stephanie Armour (02/17/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

Top 5 Most Affordable U.S. Markets

How affordable or unaffordable is it to buy a home? Well, it depends heavily on the part of the country where the buyer chooses to live.

Earning the U.S. median income of $64,000 a year is enough to allow buyers to purchase 70.8 percent of all homes sold in the country during the last three months of 2009, according to a joint report from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.

But some parts of the country are a lot more affordable than others. Here are five major housing markets that housing analysts judge to be the most affordable major markets in the country.
· Indianapolis
· Detroit
· Dayton, Ohio
· Youngstown, Ohio
· Akron, Ohio

Source: CNNMoney.com, Les Christie (02/17/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

‘Affordable’ Housing Less Attractive Now

Affordable housing projects all over the country have been a tough sell the last couple of years. Some of the reasons include hard-to-get mortgages and a dwindling difference in prices between affordable units and market-rate properties with no restrictions on resale.

The problem is particularly acute in Far Rockaway, N.Y., where New York City housing officials and developers are frustrated by slow sales of existing units, which prevents the remainder of the project from being built.

City-subsidized housing in Far Rockaway and in various other parts of the city selling for $250,000 to $350,000 is sitting on the market for as long as 18 months, even though prices have been cut as much as 30 percent.

City Housing commissioner Rafael E. Cestero said when the projects were planned, these units ”were deeply affordable” compared with what was then on the market. ”We had no idea what was going to happen,” he said.

Source: The New York Times, Cara Buckley (02/19/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

10 Home Features Buyers Want

Home designers and builders speaking at the recent International Builders Show in Las Vegas say that buyers are seeking cost-effective features and rejecting things that don’t have lasting value.

“It’s all about family togetherness – casual living, entertaining and flexible spaces,” says Carol Lavender, president of the Lavender Design Group in San Antonio.

Paul Cardis, CEO of Avid Ratings, which conducts an annual survey of buyer preferences, identified these must-haves in new homes:

1. Large kitchens with islands
2. Energy efficiency, including energy-efficient appliances, super insulation, and high-efficiency windows.
3. Home offices
4. Main-floor master suite
5. Outdoor living space
6. Ceiling fans
7. Soaking tub in the master suite and/or an oversize shower with a seating area
8. Stone and brick exteriors rather than stucco or vinyl
9. Community walking paths and playgrounds
10. Two-car garages, but three-car garages are even more desirable

Source: MarketWatch, Steve Kerch (01/30/2010)

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Elliott Robinson, JD – Associate Broker
Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta
315 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Ste. 100
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 431-2117
Web: www.elliottyouragent.com
Blog – www.elliottonrealestate.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/elliottrob

Home Price Reductions Level Off

The share of homes on the market with price reductions declined to an average of 21 percent as of Feb. 1, according to Trulia.com, which has been tracking the information since April 2009.

This is a significant decrease compared to November 2009, when 26 percent of homes had at least one price reduction

The total dollar amount cut from home prices dropped to $22.6 billion as of Feb. 1, down from $28.1 billion in November, a 19 percent decrease.

The average discount for price-reduced homes is holding steady at 11 percent off the original listing price.

Here are the cities with the largest decrease in listings with price reductions between last November and this month, according to Trulia.
•    San Francisco, -46
•    Oakland, Calif., -43
•    Sacramento, -42
•    San Jose, -40
•    Indianapolis, -39
•    Seattle, -37
•    San Diego, -33
•    New York, -33

Source: Trulia.com (02/16/2010)

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