There’s 100 Days Left To Claim The Homebuyer Tax CreditNovember 6, 2009, Congress voted to extend and expand the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program. There’s 100 days left to claim it.
The expiration date of the up-to-$8,000 tax credit has been pushed forward to spring, requiring homebuyers to be under contract for a home no later than April 30, 2010, and to be closed no later than June 30, 2010.In addition, “move-up” buyers were also added to the program’s eligibility list meaning you don’t have to be a first-time home buyer to be eligible for the tax credit. If you’ve lived in your home for 5 of the last 8 years, you meet the IRS requirements.Move-up buyers are capped at a total tax credit of $6,500.The tax credit’s basic eligibility requirements remain the same:You can’t purchase the home from a parent, spouse, or childYou can’t purchase the home from an entity in which they’re a majority ownerYou can’t acquire the home by gift or inheritanceAll parties to the purchase must meet eligibility requirementsThe new law includes some notable updates, however.First, the subject property’s sales price may not exceed $800,000. Homes sold for more than $800,000 are ineligible. And, also, household income thresholds have been raised to $125,000 for single-filers and $225,500 for joint-filers.And lastly, don’t forget that the program is a true tax credit — not a deduction. This means that a tax filer who’s eligible for the full $8,00 credit and whose “normal” tax liability totals $5,000 would receive a $3,000 refund from the U.S. Treasury at tax time.The complete list of qualifying criteria is posted on the IRS website. Review it with a tax professional to determine your eligibility. Then mark your calendar for April 30, 2010.There’s just 100 days to go.
If you are interested in building a new home, you won’t want to miss these lots. There are three lots total and each are 10 acres. Unbelievable views, with incredible privay and frontage make these lots ideal for anyone who wants what Emigration Canyon has to offer. You are close to the city yet out of the smog, and even closer to hiking and biking trails. Give me a call today and I’ll get you all the information you need.
Acres: 10.00 Frontage Faces: S Frontage: 0 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-152-011 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Pines, Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, View, Valley, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #4 at exclusive Snowberry canyon. Magnificent 10 acres parcel that offers mountain & canyon views. You cannot beat this price for 10 acres in emigration canyon. Road & utilities are ready. Taxes not yet assessed. Buyer to verify all info.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Acres: 10.12 Frontage Faces: N Frontage: 297 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-152-010 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #5 in exclusive Snowberry canyon. These lots are ready to go with a new road & utilities. Come and build your exclusive dream home. You won’t be disappointed with the views and privacy these lots offer, and only a short ride down the canyon.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Acres: 10.04 Frontage Faces: S Frontage: 311 Side Dim: 0 Back Dim: 0 Tax ID: 10-32-101-004 Taxes: $1
Power: Stubbed Water: Culinary Stubbed Sewer: Septic Tank Gas: Stubbed Connect Fees: Water Driveway/Access: CCRs: 1
Landscaping: Scrub Oak Terms: Conv, Cash
Lot Facts: Cul-de-Sac, Curb&Gutter, Terrain, Mtn., View, Mountain, View, Valley, Wooded
Remarks: Lot #2 in Snowberry Canyon. If you are looking for exclusivity and privacy you won’t have to look any further than these lots. Utilities and road are in. This lot offers unbelievable mountain and canyon views. Buyer to verify all. Taxes not yet assessed.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Buyer to verify all information.
Every day we keep seeing interesting articles coming out about what to do with our current financial melt down? The argument between Republican and Democrat. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? What will happen in 2010? Are we ever going to recover from this mess?
All questions I wish I had the answer to! Now I have my opinions about the whole thing. But, who’s to say I am right? Bottom line is, I don’t think anyone really knows! So in the spirit of despair and true honesty.. It’s a crap shoot. You better vote for the one person or idea you think may know what to do.. And then just accept the consequences that come with that choic…… Scary!!!
Fannie and Freddie were created to ensure liquidity in the U.S. housing market and did so successfully until the inflated real estate market collapsed about three years ago and millions of Americans began defaulting on their mortgages.
Facing bankruptcy, the two entities were taken over by the U.S. government in 2008 and so far have absorbed more than $100 billion in taxpayer funded bailouts between them.
So what do we do with Fannie and Freddi? Do we do away with them and create another Govt. run program to take their place? Is that a good idea? I would love to know everyone’s thoughts…
Mormon church buys corner lot in Salt Lake CityJanuary 21st, 2010 @ 10:18amSALT LAKE CITY AP — The LDS church is buying another lot in downtown Salt Lake City.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it bought 3.76 acres on North Temple Street as a long-term investment.Thats the same reason the church offered for its purchase announced weeks ago of a 10-acre block north of the Little America Hotel.The church picked up that parcel and a smaller one from hotel owner Earl Holding.The latest real-estate purchase is a corner lot at 400 West and North Temple from a subsidiary of restaurant chain Gastronomy.Church spokesman Scott Trotter says the church has no immediate development plans.The church through business affiliates is downtown Salt Lakes largest landowner.Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This is really interesting.. Log on to see if one of your local banks is in trouble of being seized by the FDIC.. IS your bank in trouble? Your money is safe if it is with a bank backed by the FDIC… So don’t worry, but it would be a pain.. Check it out.
Great news for all of us! A real estate investor can now re-sell a house to FHA buyers without having to have owned the property for at least 90 days. There are of course some restrictions.
On Friday, January 15, 2010, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced a measure intended to “…bring stability to home values and accelerate the sale of vacant properties.”
The temporary new policy will expand access to FHA mortgage insured loans and is meant to allow for the quick resale of foreclosed properties.
Effective February 1, 2010, FHA, while maintaining what the release describes as “very strict conditions and guidelines to assure that predatory practices are not allowed” will temporarily waive the 90-day owner seasoning period.
For more details on this very important and exciting change, click on the link below:
This is great news, finally someone on the Govt. level trying to do something to help thin out the massive amounts of inventory the Real Estate market is dealing with. Put all your personal opinions aside, this is good news for everyone. I think this could have a real impact on my local market of Utah Realestate. I am glad that some legislature actually thought of an idea that could help us sell homes in UTAH…
Back to interest Rates. Here is an intersting article written by Josh mettle, a local Salt Lake City Loan officer about the future of Interest Rates. I really think he nailed it on the head.. It is going to be an interesting year… For those of you interested in more info regarding the Utah Realestate market.. Let us know..
As the real estate market begins to show signs of life and recovery I’ve been getting a lot of clients and REALTORS asking me what’s ahead for real estate and mortgage rates in 2010. I’ve been doing a lot of research and man, there are a lot of differing opinions out there on what will move mortgage rates and what experts are predicting for 2010. I’ve boiled it down and I’m going to make it simple for you to understand.
Rates are going up in 2010, no doubt about it. Here’s why:
The US Government and the Federal Reserve are wrapping up their Mortgage-Backed Security Purchase Program and when all is said and done they will be the proud owner of $1,250,000,000,000.00 (or $1.25 Trillion) in mortgage loans funded through Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae. The purchase program announced late 2008, was effective in dropping the 30 year rate from the 6.25% to 6.50% range to around 5.00% for almost all of 2009. The Fed has already drastically reduced the funding of this program, as a result rates have begun to rise and by the end of the 1st quarter in 2010 the program will end and rates will return to the range they were in prior to the program’s inception. See chart below:
The US Government’s MASSIVE fiscal deficit has the Treasury auctioning off record levels of Treasury Notes. The sale of these notes is how our Government funds the US debt. Unfortunately for us, not only are we going more and more in debt as a country, but the sale of these Treasury Notes is in direct competition to raising money for mortgages. In other words there is only so much money to go around in the world. If more is going to finance the US Government’s debt, then less goes into funding mortgages and Wall St. has to raise rates to find investors for new loans.
INFLATION is the 4 letter word for mortgage rates. You see as an owner of a mortgage at say 5% interest, you have a fixed rate of return every year (5%) for your investment. But when the costs of goods and services you’re buying and using are going up, your 5% return buys less and less every year. So what do you do? You adjust the rate you want to receive to cover the increase in costs and services. If inflation goes up 2%, you might want 7% instead of the 5% you wanted last year. We’ve seen relatively low inflation thus far, but rest assured it is coming. History tells us that virtually every extended period of low interest rates is followed by inflation.
Low interest rates are to the economy like coal is to an old steam engine locomotive; you keep adding more and more getting the train up to speed to reach your destination by the scheduled time. Well this train, which is the US Economy, doesn’t have any brakes, so as the Fed starts to raise interest rates to slow down the economy it’s virtually like trying to stop a train at the correct station with no brakes. Can you imagine trying to add just the right amount of coal that you get to the station on time but you have to coast into the station and stop with not brakes? Exactly, it’s virtually impossible and that’s what the Federal Reserve is doing with the economy, they need to get things moving and get us there on time but history tells us we don’t have the brakes to slow things down, the economy is turning all this liquidity (money) so fast that inflation is almost a foregone conclusion at some point in our future.
So where does this leave real estate for 2010? This will largely depend on your location, the local employment picture and the number of foreclosures in that area. What I’m seeing here in Salt Lake County (Utah) is a steady increase in demand and some appreciation is already being seen in established sub-markets that aren’t still suffering from oversupply by speculators and builders run wild. I’m forecasting a continued shakeout of foreclosures for many Salt Lake areas and homes appreciation ranging from -5% to + 3% depending on your sub-market. I believe the first 6 months of 2010 will be relatively hot for the Salt Lake market, we’ll have a temporary slowdown as rates are rising through the summer and we see the tax credit expire in June. Towards the end of the year things will get back on track as people continue to realize this could be there last chance to get in on a deal.
I think most importantly, the market is signaling us that the bottom is near and this could be the best opportunity to get in. Today, interest rates on a 30 or 15 year fixed mortgage are virtually at an all time low, the Federal and State governments are throwing huge amounts of money at you and me to buy a home and all indicators point to us being at the tail end of things.
I find this quote by Warren Buffett particularly interesting and applicable at this moment.
“We simply try to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”
You all need to check out this website.. I love new contemporary ideas that push the limit of our little minds.. So often the residential architecture becomes stuck in the whats popular rut..
I think the next time I build a house for myself I am going to do something like this. I can envision a home in the Mountains in Salt Lake City Utah with one of these unique designs.. Let me know what you think? Some of these look and seem to be cost appropriate for the tough economic times? Now some of them are crazy complicated, but sure would be a fun project..
NEW YORK – A town house dubbed New York City's skinniest house has sold for $2.1 million.
The red, 9 1/2 foot wide, 42 foot long brick building in Greenwich Village was built in 1873 on land used as an alley between homes. The town house was listed for sale last August at $2.7 million. The two bedroom, two bath home last sold in 2000 for $1.6 million.
A plaque on the narrow Bedford Street home notes poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once lived there; so did anthropologist Margaret Mead.
The newly-sold building was listed on real estate Web sites Wednesday as a rental available for $10,000 a month. An e-mail seeking comment from the listed rental agent Wednesday was not immediately returned.
You know, I love when I read about these crazy real estate sales throughout the country.. This is the type of stuff I love.. Maybe we will start to see Utah Realestate have some of these crazy properties..
