Boise’s Best Realtors

Buy a Home-Get $8,000!

Rumors are flying and we have been fighting for the first time homebuyers credit to be extended.  Well, looks like we may have won the battle!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is expected to act later this week to extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers that is scheduled to expire at the end of next month, Sen. Bill Nelson said on Monday. 

“We should be able to extend that later this week,” Nelson, a Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters before joining President Barack Obama on an Air Force One flight to Florida. 

A number of proposals to extend the $8,000 tax credit are being considered in the Senate. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid floated a proposal last Friday to extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit through December 31, 2010. 

Under Reid’s plan, the $8,000 tax credit would be phased out over time, dropping to $6,000 in April, $4,000 in July, and $2,000 in October, before expiring at the end of 2010. 

Reid’s offer is a counterproposal to Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, who wants to extend the $8,000 tax credit through June and expand it to all buyers of homes that will be a primary residence. 

Isakson, a former real estate agent, would also raise the income limit of eligible homebuyers to $300,000 per family from the current $150,000 limit. 

Reid is in the midst of negotiations with Senate Republicans over a pending proposal to extend insurance benefits for the jobless, and a procedural vote on unemployment insurance is expected Tuesday. 

If lawmakers can hash out a deal, the housing credit would be attached to the unemployment insurance measure, a Democratic aide told Reuters. 

The U.S. real estate and homebuilding industry is lobbying Congress to extend the tax credit although critics say it gives cash to many buyers who would have purchased a home without the benefit. 

The White House has also raised concerns about the cost of expanding the credit.

Lawrence Summers, Obama’s top economic adviser, told Reuters last week that the administration would be open to extending the existing credit, but wants to see it remain focused on first-time buyers. 

The tax credit was approved in February 2008 and about 1.5 million tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service have claimed the credit at a cost to the government of $10 billion, according to officials.

If you or anyone you know would like more information on how to take advantage of this $8,000 gift from the government to purchase a home, please email (jake@jakeconklin.com) or give us a call at 866-7866.

Moving Day

Getting ready to move into a new home? Moving never seems like a difficult process until you actually get started on it. How hard is it to put things in boxes, right? And then you actually get started, and you run out of boxes, need something that you’ve already packed up and you can’t find it, or run into any of the other moving frustrations that are part and parcel with transferring all of your belongings to a new space.

Before you even start packing, the first thing you need to figure out is when you are moving. Three weeks from now? One week? As soon as you have an date, call to reserve a moving truck and crew, or at least start contacting friends and family members who can help you get everything over to your new place. Call to schedule transferring utilities, cable or dish, and any other services you receive at home to your new house. Then spend a day or two working out a moving plan.

Your moving plan should outline the time you have between now and your move, and will list what your packing goals for each week, or day, are. Start with the items you use the least often. Pack up off-season clothing, the kitchen appliances you rarely use, and anything else that you won’t need in the next few weeks. For each week that goes by, pack up everything that you will not need again until after the move. Ideally, when you get to the last few days, almost everything will be packed up and ready to go.

When it comes to boxes, too many is always better than too few. Local business, especially offices and restaurants, almost always have boxes available. Reinforce the bottoms of boxes with packing tap; even the sturdiest boxes can spill your belongings all over the sidewalk if you’re not careful. Take the time to carefully label each box—what is in it, and what room it will go in. This will make grabbing any necessities out of the box before you move a little easier, and also make unpacking less of a hassle.

A week before you move, send your new address to magazines and other mailings, notify the post office, and let family and friends know about your new address. Call anyone who has agreed to help you move to make sure that they are still able to help, and confirm your reservation for the moving truck.

Have meals ready for moving day, and a day or two after. Even a box of donuts, some juice and disposable cups are better than trying to dig through boxes to find what you need to make breakfast. Do a final walkthrough, checking cupboards, closets, and other nooks and crannies. When you unload the boxes into your new home, put them right into the room they are labeled for. This will save a lot of time when you start unpacking.

Moving can be a frustrating and stressful process, but it doesn’t have to be. By following these moving tips, your next move can be a lot easier and less of a challenge.  End the waiting game and let dollars roll in your pocket.

jake@jakeconklin.com
Conklin Team
(208) 866-7866

Factory closings, unpaid furloughs, companies going bankrupt, layoffs-even if you still have a job, it’s likely that your company is striving to cut costs by limiting overtime and deleting benefits. The current financial crisis has hit everyone hard, especially homeowners. Due to the housing bubble, many people owe more money on their homes than they are currently worth. Others are simply having trouble meeting their monthly mortgage payments. President Obama’s home refinance stimulus package offers two different solutions for homeowners.

HOME AFFORDABLE REFINANCE PLAN:

The “Home Affordable Refinance” plan is the right pick for you if you are still current on your payments, but need to refinance with a lower interest rate. This will allow you to make lower monthly payments, but still increase the equity you have in your property. The principle amount you owe will be the same, only the interest rate will change. The home must be your primary residence, and you only have until June 10, 2010 to arrange for this refinance plan.

HOME AFFORDABLE MODIFICATION PLAN:

The “Home Affordable Modification” plan is for you if the monthly housing expenses for your primary residence are more than 31% of your gross income and you can no longer afford your mortgage payments. Whether it’s because of a job loss or medical expenses, this part of the home refinance stimulus package will allow you to work with your bank to modify the terms of your mortgage. And in some cases, for every month you makes your payment on time, the Treasury Department will actually make a payment toward the principle of your loan-as much as $5,000 over 5 years! This mortgage modification plan is available until December 31, 2012.

Yes, the federal government is trying to help you pay off your mortgage; but in order to claim your own home refinance stimulus package, you need to find out more about it.

Different times call for different strategies. You will never find a boxer that only throws one punch or a doctor that only knows one procedure. In order to make more money in all seasons of your life, it pays to become a well-rounded investor.

This doesn’t mean growing a beer belly and carpenter’s crack. It means having different market strategies ready to use when the time is right, and not trying to force an ineffective strategy to work when the time is wrong.

In declining or slow real estate markets, here’s the golden rule. Hold it, Wholesale it, or Sell it Dirt Cheap.

Slow Market Strategy #1: Buy and Hold

In these markets, you often can’t sell a house for full market value if you wanted to. So why fight it? Buy with the intention of renting them and riding out the storm until values go up again. This also beats being afraid to invest and doing nothing for the next 4-7 years.

Slow Market Strategy #2: Wholesale It

And, those houses that you can get a deal on but don’t want to keep as a rental? Get them under contract and sell your agreement to another investor, who will end up buying it and paying you’re an assignment fee for finding it.

Slow Market Strategy #3: Sell it Dirt Cheap

Believe it or not, houses still sell, even in the worst of markets. This is only a problem if you are unable to lower your price without taking a loss.

The solution, then, is to buy houses so cheap (like 50-60% of market value) that you can sell them at prices higher than you paid, but are still really low (like 70-80% of market value). And don’t start out high and lower it over time, as values might go down another 5% in the next month or two. I repeat, don’t mess around now. List them with the intention of selling them really low right off the bat.

It has been a real learning experience adapting to a changing real estate market. I had to learn how to get long-term financing to hold properties, and you might have to make other adjustments. But I promise you it is worth your time and effort to do so, in order to maximize your profits and minimize your risk.