FIRST TIME HOME BUYER STIMULUS - Did You Get Lucky or What? 

This is a great opportunity for you first time home buyers out there who have been kicking around the idea of purchasing a home. It seems that it paid off for you by waiting until 2009 to buy that home. The $7,500 tax stimulus that was offered in April, 2008 (to expire July, 2009) was a non-interest loan where one had to repay over a (I think) 15 year period every year when your income tax was filed. 

The newly enacted bill was raised to $8,000 and doesn't have to be repaid as long as you occupy your home for a 3 year period. This plan is put in place of the existing $7,500 plan. You can actually put $8,000 (or 10% of your purchase price) into your pocket next April 15 by purchasing a home by the end of November, 2009.  If you purchase prior to filing your income taxes for 2008, you may claim the tax credit this year!  What a deal.   Let's say that the federal income taxes that you owe don't even total the $8,000 - guess what - you get a check for the difference.

The inventory is great right now and the prices haven't stabilized yet. There are great opportunities to negotiate even further on asking prices. And interest rates fell again last week. Who knows where they'll be next week but the point is that they are historically low. 

I urge you to contact your real estate agent or me, if you don't already have an agent. Your luck may not hold out beyond next November!

Check out the resources on my web site and then contact me for detailed information on available homes.

Ramblings of a Real Estate Agent

I don't know about other agents, but I'm exhausted just trying to keep my sellers informed and on track.  The reality checks have been grueling.  There was a ray of sunlight last week when one of my sellers accepted an offer that was about $50,000 below initial asking price.  They sat back and looked at the bigger picture and determined that for every month they had been in their home, they had experienced a $1,000 appreciation!  Wow, I'm determined to use that in my business when I need to from now on.  Now, they're the happiest clients that I have and they'll get to go on knowing that their home will be appreciated by the new owners.  The fact that they were at home when it was shown and they felt comfortable with them (buyers) didn't hurt either.

Note to Sellers: During the past few years when values were increasing rapidly, it's important to keep in mind that most of that appreciation was artificial - on paper only. You purchase a home for shelter and for long term investment. If you have been in your home more than 6 years, please sit down and note your purchase price and then your current estimated value. Unless you used your equity for other reasons with an equity line of credit or a 2^nd mortgage or refinanced and took money out, you should see that you have experienced a perfectly acceptable rate of appreciation. You can't lose what you never had! So get real with your pricing and let your Realtor do the job they were hired to do.

You may have been one of the lucky homeowners who did sell when the market values were high - but you also paid more for your replacement home than you would today.

There are, regrettably, those of you who got caught up in the whirlwind of home values and now you owe more for your home than you can sell it for today. You used your "artificial" equity and now you're stuck. Perhaps you just purchased within the past 3 years and now you need to sell but can't get what you owe because your loan was close to or even 100% of the appraised value. You have the option of asking for a "short sale" from your lender if your situation poses a hardship. This would be preferable to foreclosure. I feel sorry for you, but your choices are limited.

Hey, I can't retire next year as expected and I'm certainly not alone there. I feel a little better now.

Get More Info - Home on Deep Water (7 plus feet) Southern Maryland - Just Reduced to $550,000.  Take a closer look if you're thinking about a 2nd home.  Large lot with 180" on St. Leonard Creek.

Patuxent Appreciation Days - Solomons Island, Md. 20688

 

October 11-12, 2008

 

Patuxent River Appreciation Days (PRAD) is a festival in recognition of the economic, social, recreational, cultural and historical impact of the tributaries and environs of the Patuxent River and the basin through which it flows. The festival is held annually on Columbus Day Weekend on the Calvert Marine Museum grounds.

The festival brings together community, county and state government agencies, the Calvert Marine Museum, the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, and other historical and environmental groups, which share a desire to preserve the Patuxent River and to celebrate its positive influence on the area's quality of life, in the past, present, and future.

Sample some of our local specialties and fresh seafood. Listen to some good music and visit our local merchants for great information and crafts. See more information and get the full schedule at www.pradinc.org/schedule.html

Increasingly, buyers are getting just plain tired of waiting to look for that home.  This observation after I've received 4 new buyer clients in the past week.  They all have been searching the internet for months and months.  A few had already seen some homes but primarily they've been just waiting for the right time to jump in.  They all have been working with a lender and know what's expected of them.  I have had to work with a couple of them to do a little tweaking but they are prepared and ready.  I said it had to happen and it looks like it is finally a reality.  I'm not expecting an avalanche of buyers but I do think that in spite of all of the gloomy financial forecasts that we may have a little spurt of activity to round out the year.

I seriously screwed up when I purchased the Verizon 6800 smart phone in May.  I was a month getting my email to work and then the signal was so weak that I rarely received a call.  Messages didn't appear for a day or 2 sometimes.  About 2 times a day it would freeze and I would have to remove the battery to reset it so that I could perhaps make a call.  I think that Verizon has been dealing with lots of issues on this phone because I didn't even have to beg for them to replace it with a Blackberry - my first choice anyway but it was out of stock for 3 visits in May.  These issues were driving me crazy as I do sell real estate for a living and work mostly from home where the signal was alway very weak.

I have my Curve working (with one exception) after just a day and a half.  The signal strength is wonderful wherever I've tried using it.  What a luxury to be able to sit at my desk and receive phone calls instead of running to the deck where my phone lived so that I might receive calls.

This may seem silly, but one of the primary reasons that I wanted the Blackberry in the first place was because when one viewed an email message, any phone numbers within that message were highlighted.  It is possible to just scroll down to the highlighted number and push the trackball to respond to the email by phone is necessary.

I checked this out on my phone and it asked me if I wanted my phone to proceed with the call - I responded "no" thinking that it just meant this particular call.  Well, it must have mistaken my reply to mean that I never wanted it to do that.  Now, I can't fix it.  I have successfully eliminated the feature that most appealed to me.  I can't find any reference to this feature on any web site.  If anyone can help, I would be most grateful.