Home Buyer Tax Credit, Round 2

Resource for More info:

From MAREI

• FHA & the Home Buyer Tax Credit
• First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Brochure
• HUD: Using First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credits
• IRS Form: First-Time Homebuyer Credit
• First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Information
• Homebuyer Tax Credit – Summary of Changes
• Home Buyer Tax Credits – FAQ

From NAR

• NAR’s Presentation: The 2009 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit PDF
• NAR’s Presentation: The 2009 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit  Power Point  
• The Basics from National Association of Realtors
• Tax Credit Comparison Chart
• Home Buyer Tax Credit FAQ
• President’s Podcast: Tax Credit Expanded and Extended
• Tax Credit as Down Payment on FHA Mortgage Flyer
• Making Home Affordable Program
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Other Sites

• http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/  From the National Association of Home Builders
• See How the House Voted

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Keys to Understanding Short Sales

Our very own Realtor Paul Surles will be participating on a panel of short sale experts in the Kansas City market on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 for members of the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors (KCRAR).  Working with short sales is one of the hottest topics in real estate today and this is sure to provide practical short sale tips for Kansas City-area Realtors.  Following are topics to be discussed:

• Buyer issues, such as presenting multiple offers, expectations, etc.
• Short sale procedures for some of the major lenders in our area
• Seller issues, such as credit, possible ongoing financial obligations to lender, expectations, etc.
• Educating buyers and sellers about short sales, including the estimated timeline from offer to closing and the approval process for short sale offers.
• Broker Price Opinion ( BPO ) preparation, the importance of listing at fair market value and encouraging lenders to obtain other valuable opinions at the time of listing rather than after an offer.

Paul Surles’ short sale experience includes being a listing agent, buyer’s agent and investor.  To find out more about Paul Surles, visit www.PaulSurles.com or contact him directly about helping you with a short sale at 913-488-7588 or Paul@PaulSurles.com.  For local Kansas City real estate investment property visit www.MetroREOSales.com.  More information about the panel discussion and to sign-up can be found at www.kcrar.com.

K-State to Build in Olathe Kansas

In 2007, Olathe granted 91 acres to the Kansas Bioscience Park and K-State Olathe Innovation Campus, which is at College Boulevard between Lone Elm Road and Kansas 7 highway.

Now, the design team for the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus filed a zoning application Friday with the city for construction of the first building on the 38-acre site.

Read full details from the KC Star:

Whats up with home sales figures?

One report says that home prices are rising, and they are. 

But the number of sales are declining.  We had strong gains in June and July, but these gains may be due to the $8,000 tax credit getting people that would have been buying anyway in August and September to buy early, skewing the numbers.

Now those sales that would have happened in August and September are not going to happen, as they went rhrought a few months early.

Plus home sales traditionally decline once school starts anyway.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the tax credit is working. “Home sales retrenched from a very strong improvement in July but continue to be much higher than before the stimulus. The first-time buyer tax credit is having the intended impact of bringing buyers into the market, allowing them to take advantage of very favorable affordability conditions,” he says. “Some of the give-back in closed sales appears to result from rising numbers of contracts entering the system, with some fallouts and a backlog contributing to a longer closing process, but the decline demonstrates we can’t take a housing rebound for granted.”

If we look at who was doing the buying – 30% of purchases were from first time home buyers and 31 percent were distressed homes.

But with the expected rise in foreclosures coming in the next 12 months, Yun feels that we need to extend the $8,000 tax credit to keep sales strong.

Read Article from NAR