If you are considering selling a home in Spokane, or buying a home in Spokane it has proved over time to be a far more stable market than many.
Are you a first time home buyer in Spokane Wa? Considering an investment property in Spokane?Wondering about the real estate market statistics in Spokane? I would be very happy to consult with you and provide you with monthly market updates for Spokane Wa and the area either by e-mail or snail mail.
If you are considering selling a home in Spokane, or buying a home in Spokane it has proved over time to be a far more stable market than many.
Are you a first time home buyer in Spokane Wa? Considering an investment property in Spokane?Wondering about the real estate market statistics in Spokane? I would be very happy to consult with you and provide you with monthly market updates for Spokane Wa and the area either by e-mail or snail mail.
If you are considering purchasing a home in Spokane Wa. Here is a good update on the 2009-2010 First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit. PLUS the new incentive for other qualified purchasers!
The $8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit has been extended, expanded, and modified. It is no longer just for First Time Home Buyers, but it's also for Move-up Home Buyers.
There are many rules you need to know in order to comply with this credit, and yes, it truly is a credit as long as you're in the house for a minimum of three years. If you sell prior to three years, you will have to pay it back.
First Time Home Buyer means someone who has not owned a primary residence in the last three years. This means you could own an investment property and still qualify, but not a homesteaded property. If you are married and your spouse has owned a primary residence, but you have not owned one, you do not qualify for the tax credit. However, something new is that if you have a parent who has owned property and they co-sign for you, you could still qualify.
This tax credit is mostly referred to as the $8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, however, not everyone gets $8000. The number is the maximum number you are allotted for the tax credit and it's based on 10% of the purchase price, not to exceed $8000. In plain English, that means if the house you purchase is $80,000 or more, you will get the $8000. If you buy a $73,000 property, you would only qualify for $7300. Make sense?
Move-Up Home Buyers are a new category for this tax credit, and there are more rules. You must have owned a primary residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight years. That means, if you have owned a property that is currently being used as a rental, but you lived in it for five consecutive years prior to renting it within the last eight, you qualify. If you bought an investment property that you rented out a few years ago, but now currently have lived in it for five years, you qualify. Simple enough...
The Tax Credit for the Move-Up Home Buyer is limited to $6500 and not $8000. Same rules apply where it's 10% of the sales price, not to exceed $6500.
The income requirements have changed as well, and the limits are the same whether a First Time Home Buyer or a Move-Up Home Buyer. Single tax filers can receive the entire tax credit up to $125,000 whereas they can receive a partial credit from $125,001 to $145,000. Joint tax filers can receive the entire tax credit up to $225,000 whereas they can receive a partial credit from $225,001 to $245,000. Above these income limits, home buyers are not eligible for anything.
There has also been a purchase price cap added to this new law which was not part of the previous one. The cap is $800,000. That's a lot of house, but if you can afford that much house, you probably have bigger things to worry about than this small tax credit.
Of course there is a deadline for everything, and this new law actually has two deadlines you need to pay attention to. The first one is that you must be under contract with a property by April 30, 2010. The second deadline is that the property must close and fund prior to June 30, 2010. That way, no one can wait until the last minute to purchase homes and then hope they close on time. There is a two month buffer, but that actually means you only have less than six months to find a property and get an executed contract!!
The above does not cover every single rule in this new law, but the above takes care of 99% of the cases. There is a rule that you cannot buy a house from a blood relative and receive the tax credit, but you can buy a house from a step-relative and still receive the credit... and others that are very rare circumstances.
Email or call me today for further questions, and let's get you into a new house before six months come and go! The time will move faster than you think! And if you have a house to sell to be one of the Move-Up Home Buyers, we need to get that house on the market ASAP!
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
Great news! Homebuyer tax credit has been extended. Refer to information in the Notices. Some more good news, closed sales of single family homes on less than one acre including condos for October are up 15.2% over last month, 507 closed sales compared to 440 in September and up 15% over October last year. Average sales price for October was $177,072 while the median sales price was $164,900.
Year to date sales through October total 3,831 down 12.4% compared to last year. The average sales price through October is $189,589 compared to $206,976 last year while the median sales price is $170,000 compared to $184,900 last year. These numbers are down 8.4% and 8.1% year to date respectively.
The housing inventory is down 8% compared to last month and down 1% compared to last year. Year to date
new home sales total 459 through October compared to 705 last year or down 34.9%.
With the GOOD NEWS of the extension of the first time home buyers tax 8,000 tax credit and the new incentive of 6500 for other qualified buyers, I think things will come a long ways with a strong recovery!
Ahhhhhhh...Hawaii! I have lived where winter hits hard, my whole life. This makes vacations to the Tropics especially incredible. Let me share a few pictures I took while in Paradise.
A Maui Sunset taken 10/17/09
Look closely...that is me in the corner of the infinity pool at the condo overlooking Wailea. ahhhhhh
The perfect end to a great time: Dining at Mama's Fish House...incredible!
I cannot wait to return to the Islands...sometime soon!
I recently hire a dynamic duo- Spokane Wa. first "HOME DETAILERS!"
The do just that. You know- when you get your car detailed, and you get it back and wonder whose it is?!
WOW I mean this is the real deal.
PSK Renovations is the name of their company, and they are worth their weight in GOLD!
They recently perfected one of my listings, and made it look amazing. They walk through the home with the seller and Realtor, room by room, and give a bid per room. This way the seller can decide which rooms they want done, keeping their budget in mind. They will paint, remove wallpaper, clean, minimize, tweek, STAGE, and turn any home into it's best presentation.
With the overage of inventory, and 2 out of 3 homes NOT SELLING- Home Detailing is a very wise investment for the serious seller.
This lovely Victorian home sits on apx. 3/4 acre lot, with a private back yard!
Stunning River Rock Fireplace, 5 bedrooms, plus an office and 2 baths. Huge formal dining room, Updated kitchen, finished basement, and full of elegant charm!
Spokane Association of Realtor's Aug. 2009 Statistics:
For the first time since April 2007, going back over 2-1/2 years, we have exceeded the number of sales from the month the previous year. August 2009 sales totaled 488 compared to 475 in August 2008. The average sales price for August was $189,711 while the median sales price was $169,975.
Year-to-date sales through August total 2,884. This is down 16.8% compared to last year when 3,466 sales were reported on a year-to-date basis. The average sales price through August was $193,307 compared to the average sales price through August last year which was $208,353. The median sales price through August was $173,750 compared to $185,400. These sales price figures are down 7.2% and 6.3% respectively
The inventory as of this report stands at 3,466 which is virtually the same as last year. New home sales total 355 through August down 35.1% from last year through August when new home sales totaled 547.
Posted by: BethAnn Long of Tomlinson South Inc. 509-362-4607
This is one of the most popular questions I get when meeting with sellers when they are preparing to put their homes on the market. The answer is, it depends.
Appraisals cost between $400 to $700 in our area. Most of the time your REALTOR'S® market analysis will provide you with much of the same information as an appraisal.
When an agent comes over to talk to you about selling your home, they will most likely, have a market analysis of the current market conditions in your neighborhood and the nearby surrounding areas. They will compare what homes, similar to yours, listed for and sold for in your area. An appraiser will potentially use the same information, but will go into more depth about each property.
So, how do you decide whether or not to have an appraisal done prior to listing your home?
If you live in a typical suburban neighborhood where the homes are similar in style and square footage, you probably don't need to have the homeappraised prior to listing your home. The information on your REALTOR'S® market analysis should be current and give you a very good idea of the market value of your home. If you are still not sure, maybe you should talk to a couple of different agents and see that they are all in about the same price range, that should give you a good number for your home's value.
My advice to a seller would be that you should have a professional appraisal done prior to listing your home if you have a VERY unique property. Maybe something that is on the historical register or something that was built exclusively for you by an architect and there is not another similar home in the area. If you fit into one of these categories, I would strongly suggest pre-appraising your home.
If you do decide to have your home appraised prior to listing, hear me when I say that the appraised value is one person's opinion. If you hire 3 appraisers, you will probably get 3 different values. Just because one person's opinion of value is one number, the market value might be a different story. What someone is willing to pay for the house is the market value and what your home is ultimately worth. Don't let yourself get hung up on what an appraiser says your home is worth. If it takes time for your home to sell, other homes may come on the market and go to closing which will affect the value of your home.
The other thing that is important for you, a seller with appraisal in hand, to know is the appraisal you have is for your own knowledge. If a purchaser is placing financing on your home, the purchaser and the purchaser's lender will have their own appraisal.
The bank will most likely use an appraisal from an appraiser that is on the bank's approved appraiser list. They want to make sure that the buyer is not paying too much and that they are not lending too much money for a property.
Now with all of that said, Appraisals are very controversial these days with all of the new lending laws and guidelines. We have appraisers come from out of local areas doing appraisals and it is making the sales and loan process difficult. I think it is important for sellers to understand that the buyer's appraiser, in most cases, is going to be the appraisal that will be used for financing.
Ultimately it is up to you, if it you believe your home needs to be appraised before listing, you can do that. Just make sure you listen to your professional REALTOR® to tell you how much your home will
•· Total SF 3,787: Main 1,814', Upper 620' Lower 680', (4th level 673?)
•· 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms
•· Gorgeous kitchen has stainless steel appliances, granite countertops , under cabinet & track lighting, granite top center island with electricity, Huntwood cabinets throughout with many custom features.
•· Master bedroom has custom closet shelving, full bath with double sinks, granite countertops, sunken garden tub and custom tile flooring.
•· 2 fireplaces (custom granite with gas insert)
•· Gorgeous hand-scraped wood floors in living room and dining room
•· Custom granite and tile flooring in bathrooms and kitchen
•· New carpet, window, door and baseboard trim throughout house
•· New custom lighting throughout entire house
•· New exterior paint and lights
•· Family room features wet-bar with custom lighting and tile counter tops
•· 450 SF work room in lower basement
•· Convenient sunroom/office space on main level with sliders to deck and private backyard
•· Gas, Forced Air and CAC
•· Corner lot with underground sprinkler system
•· Private, fenced backyard with mature trees and well maintained landscaping
•· Fenced dog run on north side of property
•· Back deck plumbed and wired for hot tub
Consistent designer updrades throughout! MUST SEE TO BELIEVE! This house truly makes a statement.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
This is one of the most popular questions I get when meeting with sellers when they are preparing to put their homes on the market. The answer is, it depends.
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