While economic news on the housing front is doom and gloom nationally, the news isn't as bad in St. Louis. Certainly new home sales are down and resale has taken a hit too but many of the national reports are skewed by the statistics of the East and West coasts and Florida. While experts are predicting a slow growth for our economy, at the recent annual Economic and Housing Price Outlook held at St. Louis University. economists predicted that they expect house prices to decline 1.8% - a better forecast than in other areas of the country. Surprisingly, this rate parallels a present 1.8 job growth rate of about 25,000 jobs added to the local economy.
This report was published by Stltoday.com, the on-line site for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. For the complete article, see Experts Predict Slow Growth for Local Economy. An additional article at Stltoday.com titled, Housing Sales, Prices Take Another Dip while reiterating a downward slide, also points out a silver lining - that lenders are starting to work with troubled borrowers so if a foreclosure is avoided, the house may not come on the market to compete with other homes. This could hopefully help stabilize the market.
Realtors let's not add to the gloom - help our seller's understand that it's not just their home. encourage them to do all things possible to make their home stand out in the marketplace because some homes are selling! My next blog will include useful information about what my company, Prudential Select Properties is doing to help homeowner's stand out in the marketplace!
President Bush signed Tax Relief into Law - the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act which has been largely supported by the National Association of Realtors since the 1990's. This bill states that "any debt forgiven on a mortgage secured for a principal residence will not be taxed." Also, the U.S. House and Senate also passed two other bills aimed at helping consumers - The Mortgage Insurance Tax Deductibility and the Terrorist Risk Insurance Act.
The Mortgage Insurance Tax Deductibility is just what it says - mortgage insurance premiums are tax deductible for ALL mortgages originating in the next 3 years. For those who put less than 20% down, this could be worth about $350 to the average taxpayer.
The Terrorist Risk Insurance Act is an extension of the bill passed after Sept. 11 and extends the act for another 7 years and now also includes domestic terrorism. It is felt by the real estate industry that this extension of a federal guarantee to help cover catastrophic losses will encourage investment and stimulate the economy.
On a state level, the Missouri State Senate passed into legislation a bill to protect homeowners from unexpected tax increases as a result of reassessment. Many St. Louis Countian's received a substantial increase at the last reassessment. This bill will increase state tax breaks for low income senior citizens, require local governments to roll back the tax rate so that homeowner's tax bills can rise by no more than the rate of inflation and it also requires that homeowner's receive notice in the spring of an increase rather than the "Hello, Merry Christmas - your tax bill just increased 30%"! Stltoday.com
So my mantra will be - let's find the good in the bad, help the bad get better (oh - that really ugly paint color can change) and all try to keep a positive attitude!
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