No, I don't mean the end of the world or the start of nuclear hostilities.  I mean the end of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, which is set to expire December 1 of this year.

To have a realistic chance of closing in time, you need to get your home under contract (have a purchase agreement signed by both parties and in hand, that is) in the next week or so.  Banks and the appraisers working for them are going to be so busy from now on, closing times will be hard to come by.  If you aren't working with a top-notch lender, you might want to think about changing.  Or at least check in with him or her to make sure the time frame is still realistic from their point of view. 

Talk to your favorite realtor NOW.  Hopefully someone like yours truly whom you've come to trust and rely on.

Go get 'em, tiger!

There is, indeed, an $8,000 tax credit waiting for all first-time homebuyers who buy their home between January 1st and December 1st of this year.  So if you have never owned a home (or have not owned one in the last three years) you may qualify for this tax credit when tax time rolls around next year.

Just what is a credit?  As opposed to a deduction (which is a reduction in the amount of income which is taxed), a credit is an actual reduction in the amount of tax you pay.  If you owe less in taxes than the credit is worth, you get the extra back in the form of a check or direct deposit. 

Here's an example:  next February after the Super Bowl when you sit down to do your taxes you find you owe the IRS $1500 in total taxes for 2008.  "Crap" you say, or something to that effect.  Then you smack your forehead, say "Hey!  I almost forgot!  I bought a house last year!", sink back into your chair, and have another pretzel and swig of beer, smiling.  Because you bought that house, instead of you paying the IRS $1500, the IRS pays you $6500!  Sweet.

There are some conditions, though.  Here's the actual Form 5405 First Time Homebuyer Credit which has everything you need to know about qualifying and filing for your $8,000. 

GET YOUR REFUND NOW!

Here's what might be the most important thing:  the 2008 Form 1040 has a line for the First Time Homebuyer Credit (line 69).  So even if you already filed your 2008 return, you can file an amended form, include the $8,000 credit, and get your check right away!  You don't need to wait until 2010. 

Life is good, no? 

Call or email me, and we can talk about how to best go about buying your first home so you can take advantage of $8,000 right away!  (Not to mention great prices and low home loan interest rates!!)

507-317-0177 or jim@MankatoHomesOnline.com 

The last I heard, the official percentage of buyers looking online for homes was 84%.  That's a lot of internet seekers!  It's also why I focus so much of my efforts on attracting those buyers to my site, and why I've worked so hard to get www.MankatoHomesOnline.com onto the first page of Google search results for the most important search terms Buyers use.

So when someone searches Google for terms like these:

• Mankato real estate (the most popular, by the way)
• Mankato homes for sale
• Mankato houses for sale
• Real estate in Mankato
• Real estate in Mankato MN
• Homes for sale in Mankato
• Homes for sale in Mankato MN
• Houses for sale in Mankato
• Houses for sale in Mankato MN
• Realtors in Mankato

they will find my site on the first results page.  (Many other ther search engines like Yahoo,com, Ask.com, and AOL.com get similar results.)

What does that mean to you?  I get your home much more web exposure than the average Joe Realtor who simply puts your home on the local MLS, a sign in your yard, and hopes.

And that's just the beginning!  More info in future blogs... keep watching.

So if you're thinking of selling your Mankato real estate, think of web exposure for your listing, and think of www.MankatoHomesOnline.com.

Jim Scheller
Nu Star Realty of Mankato

Visit my website:  http://MankatoHomesOnline.com

Spring is of course the time when more people begin looking for homes than any other, at least in Minnesota.  Especially if you're a young man thinking of low interest rates, many affordable homes available, and $8,000 in pocket money when tax time comes next year!  Oh, to be young again, and free!

You do have to be a first-time home buyer to qualify for that eight grand, but still.  Happily the government defined s first-time home buyer as a person who has not previously owned a home or a person who has not owned a home in the previous three years!  Very nice.

And what's the latest in loan (mortgage) rates?  If you're in the Mankato area with good credit, rates less than 5% are available.  Here's a link to find out more:  http://www.bankrate.com/  (Check the national overnight averages, or plug in your zip code to get more localized information.) 

As far as the number of homes goes, well, there was a page and a half of foreclosure notices in the paper this morning.  Even though there is talk of the economy picking up in some sectors, it looks like there will still be a steady stream of foreclosed homes coming onto the Mankato real estate market, in addition to all the homeowners who simply want to sell for reasons of their own.  There's no lack of homes to choose from!

Visit my website:  http://MankatoHomesOnline.com

Realtors are professionals, and many of them have been around doing deals for many, many years.  They probably have an idea of which lenders, inspectors, appraisers, and closers in the area are solid and which you might want to think twice about using.

Take the time to get the advice of your Realtor when deciding about these things.  At least get your Realtor's opinion while your getting the opinions of your friends, neighbors, relatives and everyone else.

You may be glad you did.

I'm sure you know of Karen George, a delightful AR poster and SEO specialist.  She wrote a couple of blog entries about tags for blogs.  Here they are:  Part one, and part two.

These seem like very good ideas to me, but a question raised in one of the comments to these posts was never answered that I could see:  is there some way to delete tags from the tags list here on activerain?

I made the same mistake Karen did, and would like to edit down my list of tags... can I do so?

Your replies are appreciated.

By the way, Karen George's blog is a serious resource.  If you haven't already taken a look, you should.  She has lots of SEO tips I have never seen before (although I'm not an expert by any means), and she wrote wonderfully. 

This was suggested by a real estate investor friend of mine.  Using rental information, this is a quick way to evaluate whether a property is worth looking at any further.  After checking out the idea while doing my own analysis of rental properties for myself and my clients, I found it to be pretty accurate.

Here's what you do:  take the amount of monthly rent the property brings in and multiply that by 100.  If the price is at or below that number, you might want to take the time to look further into whether the property will cashflow or otherwise meet your investing goals.  Usually if the price is much higher than that the property won't make much sense and you don't need to spend the time or energy analyzing it.

Having said that, when interest rates are low, the multiplier should probably change to reflect the lowered cost of money.  I haven't thought about it before, and I'm not in a position to run any numbers at the moment, but I would imagine you might safely raise the multiplier to 110 or so and be safe.  After all, it is just intended to be a quick rule of thumb, after all.

Hopefully that will be of some value to those of you interested in investing in rental real estate.

"When the Lord gets ready, you gotta move!"  You might remember these lyrics from a song by Mississippi Fred McDowell.  Or you might remember the way the Mick Jagger and company sang them.  As memorable as that song is, if you're an Buyer looking at REOs, you might want to remember them as a reminder about what to do when good bank properties come onto the market.

I just had a call from an investor to whom I've been automatically sending listings for new bank properties.  He got this new REO listing notification yesterday, and called me just now to go see it.  Well, today is all of day number three on the market, and after getting in touch with the listing agent, I had to call and tell him it was effectively sold already.  Ouch.

(I'm sure you can do this with your MLS.  If you're not already sending listings to your contacts, or if you know you can but haven't taken the time to figure out how to do it already, then you should sit down right now and take care of it.  This single capability has been a godsend to me.  I've increased the number of Buyer contacts I'm "working with" exponentially with this tool.  You can make it work for you as well.) 

The moral of the story is that if you think a house may be a good deal, someone else probably will too, and you better make darn sure you get over there to take a look just as soon as you possibly can.  And while you're at it, try to either

•·         have an approval letter ready to go or be able to get one immediately from your lender if you'll be financing your purchase with a conventional loan, or

•·         have a proof of funds letter from your bank ready to submit with your purchase agreement if you're paying cash.

Sometimes banks will entertain offers for a few days, and ask all interested parties to submit a "highest and best" offer by a certain date and time, but as my story today proves, you certainly can't count on it.

Good luck!

If you've been following my series on Contracts for Deed, you've seen quite a bit of information come your way.  Here's a quick summary:

•·      A contract for deed is another way of buying a house, but with the seller providing the financing for the buyer instead of a bank or other lender.

•·      Because the seller is doing the financing, and because he probably doesn't want to be in that position, you will probably have to pay for the privilege of buying his house.

•·      That means a higher price than you might otherwise pay, and a higher interest rate than banks are offering.  Sometimes a significantly higher rate. 

•·      You may have your credit checked before the seller agrees to finance you.

•·      You will also have to get the seller out of the deal when the balloon payment is due, or sometime before.  You'll most likely do that by refinancing, but you could also do that by selling the house for enough to pay him off.

•·      That's one of the main reasons to buy on a contract for deed:  it is easier for someone who already owns a home to get it refinanced than it is for that person to get financing to buy the house in the first place. 

•·      The worst thing from the seller's point of view is to get his house back from you in terrible shape.  In order to keep that from happening, you will need to provide a substantial down payment.  Part of this will be to pay his Realtor's commission, if he used one, and the rest will be insurance:  the more money you have in the deal, the less likely you are to either cut and run or let the house fall into disrepair.

•·      You will be responsible for paying for repairs, insurance, taxes, etc.  It is your house.

•·      If you're thinking of entering a Contract for Deed as a buyer, you should have your attorney review the document.  Better would be to have your attorney prepare the contract, but that may be problematic.

There you have it.  I probably missed some important and obvious points, but at the moment they are not coming to mind.

Good luck with your new home!