Time Is Running Out For First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Time is running out for those who might want to cash in on the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. The economic stimulus program that gives first time home buyers and individuals who have not lived in a home they own for the past 3 years an $8,000 tax credit if they buy a home ends on November 30, 2009. Changes that have been made in the mortgage and appraisal industries extend the time necessary to process your home purchase. What this means to the home buyer is that if you don't get a home purchased within the next week you will most likely not meet the November 30 dead line and you will not get the $8,000 tax credit. It could take as much as 45 days to close on a home today, especially if the buyer is using an FHA loan to finance their home. The guess as to whether the tax credit will be extended or even expanded is pretty evenly split. If you have been thinking about buying a home and qualify for the first time home buyer tax credit, my advice would be to move quickly and cash in on the tax credit.

What do you need to do to effectively market your home?

To effectively market your home you need to know how to utilize all of the social media available to you as well as traditional real estate marketing tools. For years the most effective real estate marketing tool was the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) where local listings were entered into a database by Realtors who were members of the local association of Realtors. Today the MLS system is still an important tool to get your home in front of all Realtors in the area, but you must also get your home's information on the internet. Progressive real estate firms do this by maintaining a company web site that is linked to corporate web sites and major internet search sites like http://www.realtor.com/, http://www.zillow.com/, http://www.trulia.com/, http://www.googlebase.com/, http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.youtube.com/, http://www.facebook.com/, and even http://www.twitter.com/. We should also mention Craig's List. This list goes on and on but these are the major tools used to ensure your home listing receives maximum exposure to prospective buyers. In addition to your homes listing information you need as many pictures of your home and its features as the various sites will allow. It is also desirable to have virtual tours that can be linked to listings and if you use YouTube and FaceBook you will need videos of your home. Some progressive real estate firms have systems that will text home listing information to prospective buyers when they dial a telephone number and enter a house code along with links to on-line flyers, virtual tours, and videos of the home. This all sounds very complex. That is because it is. I would advise you to seek the help of a good Realtor in a progressive real estate firm to help you market your home. You can contact Coldwell Banker Heart of America Realtors at 309-664-3505 to find out more about the many marketing channels used to market real estate today.

Tax Breaks Homeowners Should Know About.

In addition to the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit there are other areas where homeowners can take advantage of tax breaks. Some home owners can qualify for the $8,000 tax credit on the purchase of a home even if they have owned a home before. The homeowner must not have owned a home in the last 3 years and the home they are buying must be their primary residence. Points paid to buy down the interest rate on your mortgage may be deducted along with PMI payments. In some cases the costs of moving can be deducted if you are relocating as a result of a job change. Owning a home has some advantages too. You can deduct mortgage interest, taxes, and some home improvements and energy credits. When selling a home you do not have to pay taxes on profits up to $250,000 for single filers or $500,000 for couples filing taxes. If your home was foreclosed you may be able to exclude the mortgage debt that was forgiven. Read more about these tax breaks here.

New government loan regulations could affect when you can close on your new home.

In 2008 amendments to the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) and Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) were passed by congress. These amendments added steps designed to prevent deceptive lending practices. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae also adopted the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) to ensure appraiser independence, add valuation protections, and enhance the overall integrity of the valuation process. Changes made affect when you can close on your home. Following are the major changes.
1. The buyer must receive a copy of their home appraisal at least 3 days prior to closing on their mortgage.
2. The buyer must receive initial mortgage disclosure information on their loan at least 7 days prior to closing on their mortgage.
3. No up front fees can be collected by the loan agency until mortgage disclosure information has been received by the borrower. The only exception to this is a fee for the credit check which may be collected at the time loan application is made.
4. If the annual percentage rate on the mortgage changes more than .125% from the initial Truth In Lending disclosure a revised Truth In Lending disclosure must be provided to the borrower at least 3 days prior to closing on the mortgage.
You can read more about these changes here.

Pets may become stressed out when children return to school.

During the summer months when school is out and vacations are scheduled you spend a lot more time with your pets than you do when children return to school and you return to work. Pets can become stressed when the summer routine is suddenly changed. They may suddenly begin to exhibit destructive behavior patterns like: Hyper-salivation or drooling, Soiling the pet owner’s belongings, Chewing or scratching at doors or their crate, Non-stop howling, barking, or meowing, Compulsive grooming or licking, or Tearing up furniture or pushing items off counters. If your pet is displaying any of these behaviors they may be suffering from separation anxiety. You can read more about this and how you can condition your pet to avoid these behaviors here:

Existing Home Sales Up 4th Straight Month.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes are up for the 4th straight month in a row. July home sales were up 5% over July home sales in 2008. The last time existing home sales climbed 4 months in a row was 2004 and the last time home sales were higher than the year before was 2005. Here in the Midwest existing home sales jumped 10.9% in July to a level of 1.22 million and are 8.0% above a year ago. Read more here.

Government Cash for Clunker Program Ends August 24 at 8 PM.

It has been interesting to follow all of the plans that make up the economic stimulus package. One that was particularly interesting and on the surface appears to have been very successful was the Cash For Clunker program. This program provides between $3,500 to $4,500 toward the purchase of a new fuel efficient car when the buyer trades in an older "gas guzzler". This program could account for about 700,000 transactions completed over the past 3 months once all of the applications have been processed. So far only 1 in 5 applications submitted by car dealers have been approved. Car dealers also claim that the government has been very slow in making payments on approved applications. The general public has also questioned the fairness of the program since it is very limited as to which vehicles can be covered under the plan. It has been a boon to the car industry and financial institutions, but at what cost to the tax payer. The true benefits and fairness of the plan will be debated well into the future. Read more here.