Mortgage Interest Deduction Limits Not Included in Proposed Budget

Mortgage Interest Deduction Limits Not Included in Proposed Budget

The proposal in the Administration's FY 2010 budget to limit itemized deductions, including the mortgage interest deduction, for upper income taxpayers has found no champions in either the House or the Senate. The House and Senate Budget Committees have met to formulate a Budget Resolution to provide a guide for revenues and spending. NAR had been concerned that the Budget Resolution might include references to the Administration's proposal to use a portion of the mortgage interest deduction as a means of setting aside funds to "pay for" revisions to the health insurance and health care systems. In the end, neither the House nor the Senate included any reference to the proposal. The proposed Budget Resolutions did direct the tax-writing committees to set aside reserves for funding health care reform, but left the challenge of identifying the payment mechanism to the tax writers.

Visit www.realtor.org/2009housingtaxcredit

Existing-Home sales up in Feb. 09

Sales of existing homes rose 5.1 percent from January to February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

Distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions, and total housing inventory grew 5.2 percent, to 3.8 million existing homes for sale.

At the current pace of sales, that's a 9.7-month supply of homes, unchanged from January but down from the record of 11.2 months seen in July. A six-month supply of housing is generally seen as a healthy balance between supply and demand.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $165,400 in February, down 15.5 percent from a year ago. The median home price was pushed down by sales of distressed homes, which are selling for 20 percent less than normal market price, said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

The median condominium price was down 18.2 percent from a year ago, to $172,200, and sales of existing condos and co-ops were up 11.4 percent from January, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 490,000 units. Looking back a year, condo sales were down 13.1 percent.

The median existing single-family home price was down 15 percent from a year ago, to $164,600, and sales rose 4.4 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.23 million units. That's 3.6 percent below the pace of sales a year ago.

Regionally, California saw a strong gain in sales, with the median listing price on the rise for the first time in three years.

Existing-home sales in the West increased 2.6 percent from January to February, to an annual rate of 1.2 million, but were down 30.4 percent increase from a year ago. The West has also seen the greatest year-over-year price declines, with median price falling 30.3 percent from a year ago, to $204,600.

In the Northeast, sales were up 15.6 percent from January to an annual pace of 740,000, but are down 14.9 percent from a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $251,200, down 4.8 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 1 percent from January to an annual pace of 1.04 million, down 14 percent from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $131,000, down 7.8 percent from a year ago.

In the South, existing-home sales rose 6.1 percent from January to an annual pace of 1.74 million, but were down 11.2 percent from a year ago. The median price in the South was $146,700, down 10 percent from a year ago.

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FHA Mortgage Limits Website

FHA Mortgage Limits Website
If you’re a mortgage lender or REALTOR, homebuyer or homeowner in one of the Northwest’s high-cost housing markets, the recently-enacted stimulus package has something very important to you – higher FHA mortgage insurance limits. The higher limits give homebuyers a larger inventory of homes from which to choose and give more homeowners in a volatile market the chance to refinance into, says HUD Secretary Donovan, FHA’s “safe, affordable mortgage products.” This website page allows you to look up the FHA mortgage limits for your area or several areas, and then list them by state, county, or Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Homebuyer Credit Revised Form 5405

Homebuyer Credit Revised Form 5405
Following enactment of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, the Internal Revenue Service already has posted – at www.irs.gov - a revised Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit to incorporate Act’s provisions permitting qualifying taxpayers who buy a home this year before December 1 can claim up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married individuals filing separately, on either their 2008 or 2009 tax returns.

Commerce: New-home Sales See Rise in February

Commerce: New-home Sales See Rise in February

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that new-home sales rose 4.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, up from a revised January figure of 322,000.

The January rate was the worst since records were first kept in 1963, and yesterday’s report was actually better than most economists feared it would be

The report is "another faint but nonetheless encouraging sign that the economic slide may be moderating," wrote David Resler, chief U.S. economist at Nomura Securities.

At the current sales pace, the government estimated that it would take a year to exhaust the inventory of new homes on the market.

Source: The Associated Press, Alan Zibel (03/25/2009)

Home Prices Edged up in January

Home Prices Edged up in January
Home prices rose 1.7 percent in January, up for the first time in 10 months, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which only reports prices for conforming properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Many analysts were skeptical about the results because the report excludes expensive homes with subprime loans and jumbo mortgages.

The government did note that sales numbers in January were low and that could skew the results.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department is expected to report today that new home sales fell in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000 units from 309,000 units in January. This is the lowest level since 1963.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Kelly Evans and the Associated Press (03/25/2009)

'Psychological' Blueprint Helps House Hunters

This is a great piece that I wanted to share with you. I think we in SF got so wrapped up with Feng Shui, that we forgot to pay attention to the Psychological aspects of relating to a 'home'. ~ Suzanne

Environmental psychologist Toby Israel, author of a new book, Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Place, says people’s childhood homes have a profound effect on what kinds of homes they like best.

Before anyone buys, builds, rents or remodels, Israel believes they should consider what kinds of living spaces satisfy them, she says.

One exercise she recommends for anyone searching for a home is to draw a timeline of all the places they've lived for six months or more and circle those that they liked the best, then describe why. She calls the result a "design psychology blueprint" that can help a real estate professional identify what a client really wants.

Source: Star-Tribune, Jim Buchta (03/14/2009)

Read More

• How Design Psychology Can Help You Lure Buyers
• Color Psychology: Choosing the Perfect Shade