Side effect of First Time Home Buyer tax credit

Recently there is news about the First Time Home Buyer credit that you may have received for buying a home in 2008 to 2010.

If you were eligible, please know that IRS has been known to make many mistakes on these accounts. There were too many different scenario for them to keep up. The news said 4 million people qualified.

Now, IRS may miscalculated yr income tax because of it.

Therefore, it is important to you to KEEP YOUR HOME PURCHASE RECORD FOR 15 YEARS!

In worst case scenario, your realtor may have records of all yr home purchase contracts. But, remember, realtors do NOT have your loan papers.

Remember, keep yr home purchase contract at least 15 years! If not forever!

How I save a client $4000 in a year

Two years ago I took a listing. The house is less than 10 years old, located in a desirable part of town, house size is good for the price we listed.

However, the house had been rented before, and the renter left a smoking smell behind... In addition, when owners rented to the past renter, they rented $300-400 below market.

Anyway, the smoke smell did not help the listing despite our marketing effort. After 6 months owners decided to rent again.

This time it was rented to better qualified tenant, and at market rental price. This saved the owners $3600 that year.

While house was listed, I saw that the windows are foggy-- meaning they had broken thermal seals. Since house is under 10 years old, I investigated whether windows were still under warranty. They were! So the owners got 3 windows replaced for FREE. That saved them another $600.

Although house still not sold, at least in the past month, the owner saved $4000.

Thus is the value of Realtor!

Clark assess the current housing trend

Clark Howard (born June 20, 1955), is a popular U.S. talk radio host of the nationally syndicated consumer advocate program The Clark Howard Show. The show covers consumer and financial news, with advice on how to spend less, save more and avoid rip-offs. The show airs from flagship radio station WSB AM in Atlanta, Georgia.

His radio show is on Columbia MO local radio station AM1400 6-9pm.
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From: http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/homes-real-estate/clark-assesses-current-housing-market/nFG2d/

How bad is the housing market? Is it worse than you think? New numbers suggest that the elusive recovery could be coming sooner than you think.

As I've told you in the past, one in three people own their homes free and clear in the United States. That in itself provides some stability for the housing market.

But syndicated columnist Kenneth Harney has some new numbers that might surprise you.

Of those homeowners who have mortgages, half have at least 25% equity even at today's prices. Furthermore, half of those people actually have more than 50% equity.

Meanwhile, what percent of homeowners are upside down in their home loans? A little more than one in five. I don't mean to minimize the consequences of being upside down and what it's like to feel trapped in a house. But I want to draw that real picture for you.

We are poised for a recovery in housing, though maybe not for a year or two more. I do believe it's not being too Pollyanna to say the worst is behind us and improving conditions are not that far off into the future.

Busy in Fall

Many non-real estate people believe that once school begin in late Aug., real estate business become slow.

However, the truth is, we are quite busy this Fall. I have 3 buyers actively looking to buy, 1 listing sold in 2 weeks, and 1 duplex under contract in 1 week.

Again, in Real estate, it's not the location or the price range determine the speed of sale of a property. The main determination is the pricing. There are over 1000 listings in this city any day of the year, pricing correctly is the most important factor for getting property sold.