Archive for the ‘Jim St John Brokers Thoughts’ Category

Things are still pretty darned good for buyers these day’s. Interest rates are really low, Prices are really low, Inventories are huge,  Seller are more desperate than ever with really long market times on there homes.  The ones that can’t hang end up going into short sale status, and others are forced into foreclosure’s.  This is a buyer dream market, but how long can it last. Now they have the tax credit extended till April and its not just for first time home buyers anymore. And you don’t have to close by the end of April just be in contract by the end of April. How much better can it get???

How about all the above and top it off with working with a company that is based on experience working with High Value Low Priced homes.  At Equity Magic Realty, we have been specializing in Great Deals for our clients long before the market shifted.

Right now there are so many Short Sales and Foreclosures the every agent out there had to go take a cram course’s and become a self proclaimed expert in the field of Distressed Property overnight. Wow it’s pretty amazing how many experts and #1 agents there are out there right now, holy cow.   And you watch, when the market someday shifts back to a strong Sellers market they will all be back to their old ways of nose in the air hoytie toytie….only dealing with high end waterfront homes and high rise condos.

Well OK…..when that happens we will again stand alone as the areas only company that has dedicated itself to finding the best values on the market for its clients,  not the highest commissions like all those self proclaimed #1 agents in the state.  We work hard for our clients no matter what the real estate climate is currently like. We will stick to what we know and that is finding best deals on the market for our clients and helping them achieve their goals of home ownership and real estate  investment.

We don’t claim to be #1 but we do promise this….to always place our clients best interest above our own, that is the motto we live by and it is our promise to you.

Talk again soon

Jim St John
Broker/Owner
Equity Magic Realty

Technorati Tags: filp that house, flipping, Foreclosures, housing, invest in real estate, loan mod help, mortgage, REO, sales, Seattle, seattle distressed property, seattle fixers, seattle loan mods, Seattle Short Sales, Seattle Wa Foreclosures, short, stop foreclosure

I know that alot of buyers were scrambling to get into there deal about now so they could close by the deadline of Dec. 1st. This was helping the local housing market tremendously. I’m glad to see this as it will give more incentive to try and stimulate our local home values a bit more. And it looks like not just first time home buyers are affected. Now move up buyers can get a boost too.

Here are the details from the Wall Street Journal.

Mill Creek Foreclosure

By WSJ Staff

NIck Timiraos and James R. Hagerty report:

The Obama administration blessed the proposed extension of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers on Thursday as the Senate neared a compromise that would extend the credit to more potential buyers.

Here’s a primer on who might be able to get the expanded credit, and what it might do for the housing market:

Who gets the credit, and how much can they claim? First-time home buyers are eligible for up to $8,000 on the tax credit, which is the same as the current credit. The Senate version of the bill creates a new credit of up to $6,500 for homeowners who have lived in their homes for five years. That provision would start on Dec. 1.

How long will it last? The tax credits would expire on April 30, 2010, but home buyers under contract by April 30 would be able to qualify as long as they complete the sale within 60 days. Keep in mind, this would be the third iteration of a home buyer tax credit that has been in place since mid-2008. Sen. Johnny Isakson, the Georgia Republican who has been a staunch advocate of the credit, promised that this would be the “last extension” of the credit, according to Dow Jones Newswires’ Corey Boles. “Tax credits like this only work by creating the sense of urgency to take advantage of it,” Sen. Isakson said.

Will the tax credit do anything for the high-end of the market? Probably not. The tax credit phases out for home buyers with incomes above $125,000 for single filers and $225,000 for married couples. Also, homes that cost more than $800,000 aren’t eligible for the credit. Overall, the tax credit is likely to generate only a modest further increase in home sales, says Tom Lawler, an independent economist in Leesburg, Va. For many well-paid people, he says, it won’t make a big difference: “A household earning around $150,000 is likely to buy a home of $500,000 plus, so a $6,500 credit won’t be much of a factor in pushing such households off the fence.”

What other limits does the credit have? Toddlers are out of luck. Last week’s congressional hearings spotlighted concerns about misuse of the credit, including some 500 tax filers under age 18 who had claimed the credit.

So will the expanded tax credit help sales? That’s a point of debate among housing analysts and economists. Alec Phillips, economist at Goldman Sachs, notes that expanding the credit to people who already own homes doesn’t necessarily make a big dent in the supply of housing on the market. “If these ‘step-up’ buyers already own a home and sell it to finance the new one, that hasn’t reduced the amount of inventory for sale,” he says.

But Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, thinks the extension is a big deal. Based on a preliminary analysis, he said it should mean at least 500,000 in additional sales, atop the 400,000 he estimates already have been generated by the tax credits (twice the Goldman estimate). “The tax credit is not a very efficient tax cut, but not extending it would do significant damage to the still fragile housing market,” Mr. Zandi said.

Readers, what do you think? Is this going to help the market, or is it simply reinflating a bubble?

Give me some feedback K guys.
Jim

Technorati Tags: buyers, credit, extension, fha, Finance, financing, first time, first time home buyers, home, mortgage, obama, tax, tax credit, usda 100% financing, va