Thankfully, the President signed the law extending the $8000 First-time Home Buyer Credit and adding a credit of $6500 for other "Repeat" Home Buyers. Thanks to Scott Schaub of M-Point Mortgage Services for this summary of the new law:
$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
•· The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.
•· The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
•· The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
•· The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
•· The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.
•· For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
•· For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
•· To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.
•· The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
•· The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.
•· The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
•· The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.
•· Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
With interest rates at historically low rates, and the home buyer credits, it's an amazing time to buy a home. Even if you can't sell your current home for what it might have sold for back in 2005, you'll save money on the new home and the closing costs on both selling your current home and buying your new home. In most cases, it makes more financial sense to move now, and not in a couple of years when people believe home values will have risen slightly.
I'm happy to run the numbers for you if you like. I can tell you the probable sales price for your home, and the closing costs on both selling your home and buying a new home. Please just call me at 301-717-1663 or email to Colleen.Barlow@LongandFoster.com .
According to Yahoo Finance... WASHINGTON (AP) -- To prevent inflation from taking off, the Federal Reserve will need to start boosting interest rates quickly and aggressively once the economy is back on firmer footing, Fed officials warned Tuesday.
"I expect that when it comes time to tighten monetary policy, my colleagues and I will move with an alacrity that, if needed, will be equal in speed and intensity" to when the Fed was slashing rates to battle the recession and the financial crisis, said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Although I've never been able to predict the future, one thing is certain: Mortgage Interest Rates are at a historic low right now. Home prices are lower than they were. Most "experts" are predicting that home values will slowly begin to rise now, and there are some indicators that seem to show that trend beginning around the country. If you're thinking of taking advantage of the 1% up to $8,000 federal tax credit, you need to close on your new home by November 30th. All in all, it seems that now really is a very good time to buy, if you can afford to do so.
I often asked what the square footage of a home for sale is. This is a really "gray" area, unfortunately. Most often, I will quote the square footage stated in the Maryland State Department of Taxation and Assessments (SDAT) database. This figure is normally the approximate square footage of the home, NOT including:
the basement, whether it's finished or not
hallways
baths
closet space
foyers
garage space -- even if it has a workshop section to it
SDAT does also include a "livable" finished square footage number for the basement. I find that many homes have been remodeled and expanded or have finished their basement; and SDAT's numbers often don't reflect that improvement. I'm guessing it's dependent upon whether or not plans were filed with the county when updates were done. Either way, you can see that the numbers can be somewhat misleading.
However, be aware that most builders will advertise the square footage of the homes they build as the total square footage as measured by the dimensions of the home times the number of floors PLUS the basement.
As you can see, there can be a HUGE discrepancy between these two numbers. The same home in one scenario had an SDAT square footage of 1888 and a builder's advertised square footage of 3100 square feet! Often people come to my open houses quoting the numbers they found from various sources, not understanding that they are being somewhat mislead.
Appraisers use a different paradigm than these, just to make things even more complicated.
The bottom line is this: You can't count on the square footage quote from any source to be completely accurate, since everyone uses a different definition of what space should be included in the total. Compare room sizes of competing properties to be sure that you're comparing "apples to apples". Your agent should have a laser measuring tool available which would allow you to quickly measure the rooms yourself, to be sure you're getting what you think you're buying. Buying a home is a significant investment for most of us. Protect yourself and don't rely on square footage quotes -- even from the "experts".
For instructions on the process of appealing your property tax assessment in Montgomery County, MD; please see my post below. If you'd like a free Competitive Market Analysis of your home's value, just click on the image below and fill-in the blanks:
You'll receive your market analysis by email in less than an hour. Please keep me in mind if you're thinking of selling or buying a home.
Today CNN/Money has been heavily advertising their new interactive map which shows their predictions for when each area of the country will "hit bottom" and how much further they believe each area's housing prices will drop. Unfortunately, for us (the closest areas defined for the Washington, DC Metropolitan areas are labeled Bethesda and DC) they are predicting that prices in the Bethesda, MD area will drop another 11.1% and will hit bottom in the second quarter of 2010. This type of thing only slows our chances of recovery, by discouraging potential buyers. Here's the link to their report . Click on the "Interactive Map" and then zoom in to the DC area to see the marker for Bethesda or DC ...
The Potomac 20854 zip code is fairing much better than the rest of Montgomery County, MD. This chart compares home sales in the Potomac 20854 zip code between February 2008 and February 2009. You can see that more homes sold (25 in 2009 compared to 17 in 2008) and for a slightly higher average sold price of 0.78% in Potomac, Maryland.
2009
2008
% Change
Total Sold Dollar Volume:
$ 30,986,596
$ 20,907,150
48.21 %
Average Sold Price:
$ 1,239,464
$ 1,229,832
0.78 %
Median Sold Price:
$ 930,000
$ 1,260,000
- 26.19 %
Total Units Sold:
25
17
47.06 %
Average Days on Market:
117
175
- 33.14 %
Average List Price for Solds:
$ 1,384,864
$ 1,359,282
1.88 %
Avg Sale Price as a percentage of Avg List Price:
89.50 %
90.48 %
Montgomery County as a whole didn't fare as well for the same time period. Below is the chart for the entire county. You see that the total number of home sold dropped from 484 sold in February of 2008 compared with 448 sold in February 2009. The average sold price dropped 25.52%.
2009
2008
% Change
Total Sold Dollar Volume:
$ 188,924,221
$ 274,052,306
- 31.06 %
Average Sold Price:
$ 421,706
$ 566,224
- 25.52 %
Median Sold Price:
$ 315,500
$ 415,000
- 23.98 %
Total Units Sold:
448
484
- 7.44 %
Detach/Attach Average Sold:
$ 540,399 | $ 279,302
$ 737,151 | $ 359,838
- 26.69 % | - 22.38 %
Average Days on Market:
118
121
- 2.48 %
Average List Price for Solds:
$ 473,121
$ 619,091
- 23.58 %
Avg Sale Price as a percentage of Avg List Price:
89.13 %
91.46 %
I hope and pray that CNN's forecasts don't hold true. I believe that the Washington, DC Metropolitan area will lead our country's economic recovery, hopefully turning around before the end of this year. Wish you all the best life has to offer. Colleen Barlow, Realtor, Email: Colleen.Barlow@LongandFoster.com
If you received a property tax assessment that you believe is too high, or if you recently purchased a home for less than the assessed value, it may be worth the effort to appeal the property tax assessment-even if you are in the middle of the three year assessment cycle. Information on the appeal process can be found on the State of Maryland Department of Assessments website: http://sdatcert4.resiusa.org/appeals2008/.
If your property is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, you may contact the local assessment office and ask for Roberta Ward, who is extremely helpful and can walk you through the process. Her email is rward@dat.state.md.us, and her phone number is (240) 314-4511.
I'm happy to do a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) to help you determine the market value of your home, if you should decide to ask for an appeal. Please just email me at Colleen.Barlow@LongandFoster.com and give me the address of your property and details such as the number of bedrooms, baths, square footage (if you know it), and any information on updates you've made to the property.
Some interesting facts from the Maryland Association of Realtors were just released...
Did you know that 45% of the total Maryland County/City local government revenues come from real estate taxes?
The most current assessment for the fiscal year beginning July 2008 estimates the total vlue of Maryland real estate at almost $700 Billion.
Over the past 5 years, the value of the total assessable base of real property in Maryland has risen over 90%. I find that amazing.
My home's assessed value is currently about 15% over what I believe I could sell my home for. There are pockets around Montgomery County where homes are selling over their current assessed value, but they are few and far between. The vast majority of us are paying taxes on an assessed value far above what we could sell the home for in this economy. Personally, I'm glad my property's up for re-assessment in the first quart of 2009.
For those who are struggling with their property taxes, consider appealing your assessment. Please see my blog's earlier entries for information on how to go about doing that.
I appreciate Warren Buffett's views. Here's a short summary of an op-ed piece he wrote featuerd in the New York Times on 10/17/2008:
First, I loved the title of his editorial, "Buy American. I Am." You've got to appreciate the patriotic tone he sets.
Warren Buffett is the Chief Executive of Berkshire Hathaway. Without a doubt, he's one of the most respected investment gurus of our day. He says that the financial world is a mess here and around the world. He emphasizes that he can't anticipate what will happen in the short term, but that he's been busy buying American stocks for his own personal account.
Buffett feels that at this point in time, cash is a riskier investment than U.S. stocks. He belives that in the long term stocks will outperform cash - period.You might think it would have been impossible for an investor to lose money during a century marked by such an extraordinary gain. But some investors did. The hapless ones bought stocks only when they felt comfort in doing so and then proceeded to sell when the headlines made them queasy.
He says, "I don't like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasize that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I'll follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: "Put your mouth where your money was." Today my money and my mouth both say equities."
HomeServices of America, Inc., part of Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., announced it plans to spend "$200 million over the next couple of years paying 20 to 25 cents on the dollar for distressed brokerages around the country. That capital, which will triple the company's market presence, comes from the same source that last month invested $5 billion in the struggling Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc."
HomeServices Chair, Ron Peltier, said, "We think the longer-term prospects for housing are very compelling, and we think it's a perfect time to expand our position."
It's a difficult time for the world, economically, but I have faith that we will all come out of this stronger and better than ever. Perhaps it really is time to start, as Buffett suggests, investing in America again.
As for the real estate market here in Montgomery County, Maryland, or more specifically here in Potomac and Bethesda, MD; I was fortunate to sell a home in Bethesda listed for $1.4 Million this week. I've had buyers interested in making offers on two of my other listings in Potomac. I also received offers to purchase two listings which were rejected by my Sellers. Other agents I network with are also reporting an increase in activity this week. Could it be that we're at the bottom? I only WISH that I had a crystal ball which worked, but I remain hopeful. Please call if I can help you buy or sell.
I'm thrilled to let you know that I now offer an interactive Home Value / Market Snapshot tool which I think you'll love. It's actually similar to Zillow, in that it uses an interactive Map with icons to show you all of the homes for sale, under contract, or sold around your home. It's BETTER THAN ZILLOW, because it contains all of the homes sold in the MLS and if you click on any of the homes, you'll see the information that is in the original MLS listing, including the virtual tours, photos, and other details. Here's a screen shot of what it looks like:
If you'd like to receive one of these for your neighborhood, just go to my website:
No need to save those SOLD postcards, or search the State Department of Assessments and Taxation for home sale data with bare-bones information -- you can have an updated report emailed to you monthly if you like.
I'm pleased to tell you about a new listing I'm offering for sale. It's a very unique home -- almost a castle really. The home was built by a man who owned a quarry, or so the tale is told. He hand-picked the stones, and had this 12,000 square foot castle with 5 fireplaces built for his lovely wife and their many children. He built gorgeous stone planters, patios and retaining walls all around the property. Stone walls line the streets along both entrances to the estate. (There's an entrance from Piney Meetinghouse Road and the main entrance on Piney Glen Lane.) There's a pool, guest house and tennis court on the estate. Perhaps the best feature of all is the second, flat, buildable lot which is almost through the subdivision process. Recently renovated, the property is offered at $3.35 Million. All offers will be considered.
If you'd like a castle of your own on 5 private acres in Potomac, with the potential to subdivide and build a second home (perhaps for one of your heirs?); I'd be happy to show you the estate at 12308 Piney Glen Lane in Potomac. Just give me a call at 301-717-1663 to arrange a time.
Potomac, MD is a great place to live, and a great place to work. I enjoy helping people buy and sell homes in Potomac. Our town is a wonderful place to live!
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.
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