The House voted 403 - 12 on Thursday to extend and expand the first time homebuyer tax credit. The legislation to extend unemployment benefits to American workers also contained the provisions for the tax credit, was signed by President Obama on Friday.
The new tax credit is extended until April 30th, 2010. As long as a valid contract is signed by April 30th, 2010 - the actual closing on the house can happen up to July 1st, 2010 and still qualify for the tax credit.
Not only was the program extended but it was also expanded to include long time homeowners and increased the income eligibility limits for both first time homeowners and existing homeowners.
Here are the new changes:
These new changes should allow millions of people to qualify for the new homebuyer tax credit that were not eligable before.
But don't hold your breath that the tax credit will get extended again; Because we mean it this time!
Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory following the release of weaker than expected employment figures. The stock markets are reacting relatively well to the news with the Dow up 10 points and the Nasdaq up 8 points. The bond market is currently up 8/32.
Interest rates can move up or down very quickly. I will try to keep you updated if there are any big moves.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mt. Rushmore from the Canadian side --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try to fly a flag today in memory of the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. It just blows my mind that it has been eight years already since these scumbag terrorists attacked our country.
Is it just me or does it look like a face coming out of the smoke cloud?----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, is the deadline to appeal property assessments to the Value Adjustment Board. If you feel the market value on your property is too high then you have till over the weekend to go online and register your appeal.
You have by now received your Proposed property taxes for 2009. Your market value should be lower than the previous years. This year one of two things happened to your your property taxes, either your market value went down and your taxes went down or your market value went down and your taxes went UP.
Go to this link PAPA search page then look your property up by name or address.
In this example total market value went down and the total tax came down.
In this example market value went down but total tax owed went up.
The reason for the increase is because of the homestead. The assessed value is lower than the market value because the owner has been in the home for a number of years at a time that the market value was lower than the current market values.
The assessed values can only go up 3% per year under the current homestead rules until they reach the current market values which is the reason for the increase in property tax along with the increase in milage rate for the example above.
Those of you that have non homesteaded properties or have homesteaded properties with assessed values equal to the market values need to make sure that the market value for your property is accurate. If your market value should be lower you can save yourself a lot of money not only this year but in future years as well.
This is not something that you should try to do yourself as the property appraisers office is not going to adjust your values unless you go in front of the appeals board and all of your paper work is done exactly right.
I suggest using the following company as they come highly recommended http://propertytaxreductionservices.com/index.html (I am not affiliated with this company in any way).
The cost is $119 then 30% of the first year savings. You can call Helen at 954-627-6600 for more info.
You must first register your appeal online by Monday with the Value adjustment Board to appeal this years taxes at this link:http://www.mypalmbeachclerk.com/tier2.aspx?id=988
Then you can contract with Property Tax reduction Services to handle your appeal from there, including all appraisals, forms and representing you at the court house in front of the appeals board in your absence.
To Your Financial Health,Todd Dawkins---------------------------------------------------------------- Interest Rates
Interest rates today are between 5.00% and 5.25% a great level to take advantage of.
Word on the street has it that retail sales might come in lower than expected next week and as a result we could see interest rates improve from today's levels.
As you know anything can happen with interest rates, they can move up or down very quickly. I will try to keep you updated if there are any big moves.
Cheek and Chong’s take on the current economic climate and what it might do to the price of their weed. This is funny but not for the faint of heart. If you are offended by bad language etc.. Don’t Watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTN_McAF8JQ
Many homes are priced very attractively when compared to cost to build. Many investors are snapping up homes under $50,000 for cash.
Buying for cash is a requirement for getting these properties in today's market. First off because of the current credit crises, getting a mortgage on these properties is not an option. Secondly, these homes are bank owned properties that the banks got back through foreclosures and at these fire sale prices, cash is the only way to get them.
Investors are buying homes at $26 to $50 a sq. ft., when cost to build these same homes are at $75 a sq. ft. or higher. The other reason to purchase these lower end homes is because the first time home buyer market is what is moving, thanks to the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit and investors want to turn over there inventory as fast as they can.
It makes perfect sense, You can buy two houses for $45,000 each put $5,000 into each for clean up and repairs for the same price of buying one $100,000 home.
But what if prices keep dropping? Prices may keep dropping, but they will drop on the homes that are at "market value" that are already not being sold.
The homes that are being purchased from the banks at wholesale prices are already discounted below a future 10% to 20% drop in housing prices. How much down side risk can you really have on a home priced at $30 a square foot?
Investors are making a tidy profit in this market. This is actually shaping up to be one of the best times to invest in real estate. Investors are buying first time home buyer properties from $ 30,000 to $50,000 and flipping them for $75,000 to $125,000 depending on the home of course. The best part is there should be no shortage of homes to invest in, as there is expected to be another wave of foreclosed properties being released by the banks over the next year!
The problem most of us are having today is coming up with that amount of cash to purchase an investment home, especially in this economy. This is where we have to get a little creative. Here are a couple ways to get started.
First instead of thinking you have to come up with all the money for this type of investment yourself consider getting with family members, friends or other investors to pool your money and resources. Starting with one investment at a time it won’t take long to increase the number of properties your group can purchase simultaneously. Soon you will be able to go solo if that’s makes sense for you.
Another way that has actually been around for quite a few years, but for some reason has remained relatively unknown, is using retirement funds to purchase investment properties.
What a great concept, not to mention avenue, for diversifying your portfolio. Actually the reason it is not widely advertised is that the companies that service your retirement accounts don’t make money when you take your money out of their control. So why would they advertise that to you?
Just think, buying investment properties, selling them for a nice profit and Not having to pay Capital Gains Tax. You pay tax at your regular tax rate when you are able to start withdrawing your monies at retirement.
You don’t have to buy and sell just homes either you can buy homes and build a portfolio of rental properties, or you can buy land or commercial property or in a business. In fact, according to IRS rules, you can invest your retirement monies in anything other than Collectibles, Life Insurance and the stock of S-Corporations.
As with anything else there are guidelines. In order to utilize your retirement funds such as a 401K you must set up and have them rolled into a self-directed IRA.
At that point you will now have complete control as to how your Retirement Dollars are invested. Now you can invest and take advantage of your areas of expertise instead of letting some fund manager, whom you’ve never met, churn youraccount.
Todd Dawkins www.MortgageCreditCare.com 2424 North Federal Highway; suite #415 Boynton Beach, FL 33435By Phone: 561-714-5541 (Office)By Fax: 561-732-0311 (Fax)By e-mail: ToddDawkins@gmail.com
First Time Home Buyers , FHA and VA Purchases and FHA Streamline Refinance , Jumbo Loans , Reverse Mortgages and HECM for Purchase Program , FREE Loan Modifications , Loan Application Information ,
Copyright © 2010 Meridian FinancialPortions Copyright © 2010 a la mode, inc.Another XSite by a la mode, inc. | Admin Login| Terms of Use| Site Map
