Tax Credit Stimulus

I can't believe I haven't posted since Valentine's Day. And some really exciting things have happened in the real estate world. Most significantly, the passage of the $8,000 Tax Credit Stimulus for first-time home buyers is fantastic. For buyers who haven't owned a home in the last three years, they will receive an $8,000 tax credit that does not have to be re-paid as long as they own the home for the three years. This is a significant improvement to the $7500 tax credit that was passed last year which was the equivalent to an interest-free loan.

So what are some implications?

1. If I were renting and felt comfortable that I were going to stay in an area for at least three years, there couldn't be a better time to buy. Between our current low interest rates, a great inventory of homes at slightly depressed prices AND the tax credit, there really couldn't be a better time to buy.

2. If I were a parent of a college student or grad student (which I actually aspire to) in an area that I felt like my child was going to stay for a time period, I would seriously consider helping them make a purchase of a home to live in while they are in school.

With the income tax mortgage deduction and the affordability of interest rates, for those who have the credit to buy a home renting really makes no sense.

I have a great FAQ about the tax credit stimulus which I'll be posting to my website www.GwenMathews.com if you'd like more information or feel free to email or call me directly.

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy the day by going out and falling in love with a new house! The market is finally picking up and I'm seeing lots of activity on all my listings.

Have a great day!

pdf995 -- great free software

If you know me at all, you probably know that I love a good deal -- whether it's negotiating a great deal on house for my clients or on a pair of shoes! One of my favorite "free" finds is pdf995 which is free software that converts any document to a .pdf file. I use it all the time in real estate to convert contracts, repair requests, etc. into .pdf files. It's really simple to download from the www.pdf995.com website and while there's an option you can pay for, I've been using the free one successfully for well over a year.

Housing Bill incentives

Below are two news article links for the proposed $15,000 homebuyer tax credit recently added to the US Senate’s version of the economic stimulus bill. In light of the constantly fluctuating status of our economy, the proposals and options to help revive the economy change every day. Helping the housing/homebuyer market seems to be a bill cornerstone, though, that both parties and the executive branch all hope to keep a focus on.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gk-O6w-BLfUXwpefbNc-d3Z2X6-QD965PNM80

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05stimulus.html?hp

Additionally, a 4% fixed 30-year mortgage plan was defeated:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFSu3GqniGVvNSQKACosXSPETSNwD965NDUO0

While I am not, in any way, asking you to form an opinion or follow an opinion that I have of a proper solution, if you are of the inclination to get involved in the political process and you do feel this type of home buying stimulus would be beneficial to our business/market, now would be a good time to send an e-mail, make a call, etc., to our respective Senate & US Representative to encourage this measure.

Clean Steel

One thing I'll say for lots of snow days (and working from home today with a sick child) is the opportunity to catch up on some of my professional magazines (as well as cleaning out every closet in the house)So far, I've caught up on a few back issues of Realtor magazine, and the Real Estate Professional.

I came across one of my favorite pieces that Realtor magazine does every year: it's their story on best home improvements for the resale buck. As usual, kitchens and baths have the highest rate of return. I also found it interesting that the expectation is to have stainless steel appliances across every price level. Don't you wonder if one day we'll look at a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and think the same things we do now about harvest gold? Anyway, if you're replacing appliances anytime soon and think you might be selling in the near future, stainless steel might be worth the extra dollar difference. However, in replacing my own refrigerator in the not distant past, I discovered Clean Steel which looks exactly like stainless except it costs less, doesn't show fingerprints and VERY important in our house...magnets will stick to it! Definitely worth checking out! I have heard that you need to be careful mixing Clean Steel appliances with stainless steel in that the difference in surfaces can be noticeable.

By the way, if you are putting your house on the market, take the magnets off the refrigerator. All of them.

Not the end...

of the snow anyway! I ventured out to show property in the snow this afternoon and nearly had a second collision in two weeks as my poor battered minivan went sliding backward down an icy driveway into Stone Road. Somehow, I think this one would have been my fault. Apparently, snowy afternoons when school's being called off aren't the best times to show property. You track a lot of snow in people's houses too! Not very nice.

Want to keep up with Kentucky weather? I've become a huge fan of http://www.weather.com and the Fayette County public school website: http://www.fcps.net for school closings. Normally, I think talking about weather's pretty boring but we don't seem to be talking about much else these days.

As much as I love winter, I'm starting to think Spring.

Back to real life...

It looks like our impromptu weather vacation is finally over in Lexington. It's back to business as usual in the Bluegrass with a handful of Fayette County schools that don't have power but the rest of our children back in class. A few Chevy Chase friends mentioned at Cassidy this morning that they are still out of their houses.

I have a few pictures I'll post later of the "branch" piles we collected at our house and I think I'll be waiting for my tree guy for a few days since our needs aren't critical like so many other people.