More Real Estate Professionals pushing for extension of the tax credit

Here's the link:
http://rismedia.com/2009-09-15/realogy-ceo-richard-smith-urges-first-time-homebuyer-tax-credit-expansion/

A free picture viewer, resizer, etc. for Windows

Faststone. This was provided by some of my inspector friends. I haven't used it, yet, as I have other software, but I intend to.
For those of you who don't know, a resizer will allow you to decrease the resolution and/or size of you picture, which will allow it to be uploaded to sites faster.
http://www.faststone.org/index.htm

Remembering the Fallen

Eight years after the terrible events of 9/11, remember those that were sacrificed on this day.

The Ten Cannots

In 1916, a minister and outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker, published a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots:

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

An email I got minutes after the last post from FixHousingFirst.com

Expand and Extend the Homebuyer Tax Credit! First and foremost, a thank you.  As part of the Fix Housing First coalition, you helped win the $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit in the stimulus bill last February. Without the collective voice of home buyers, homebuilders, realtors, suppliers, manufacturers, etc., this never would have happened. But now we come to you with good news and bad news. First the good news: The tax credit is working. In addition to some positive numbers on increased sales and decreased inventories there is a bunch of anecdotal information as well. The only provision in the stimulus bill targeted directly at individuals, it is helping people realize the dream of home ownership. And, just as we had predicted, these benefits have spread to everyone connected to the housing sector - designers, manufacturers, realtors, etc. Now the bad news: Unless Congress acts, the credit will expire on November 30 of this year. In our view, this will stop the housing recovery and slow the economy's momentum just as it is beginning.  And so we will be asking you once again to help us convince Congress that the tax credit needs to be extended to September 30 of 2010 and expanded to include all buyers --not just first timers.  We'll be coming back to you with more information and requests for action in the coming weeks. We are updating the website, www.FixHousingFirst.com, and encourage you to visit the site to view current information on how the tax credit is working.  In the meantime, we have two requests: 1.     We want to hear your story. Congressmen and Senators have seen the reports on housing but they need to understand the personal stories of how the credit has helped individual American families. If you or anyone you know has used or benefited from the $8000 homebuyers tax credit, please let us know. Did you buy or sell a home? Did you hire more people as a result? Do you have a picture of yourself or your clients in front of their new home? Email us at itworks@FixHousingFirst.com; tell us your story - buyers, sellers, small businesses, movers, realtors, anyone connected with the housing sector. We will feature them on the website. Please include as many details as you'd like - as well as your zip code, so we can share these stories with your Member of Congress, to let them know it's working. 2.     Help get the word out. This coalition grew to almost 50,000 people who took action through the website last time. Please help spread the word about our new effort to friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, customers, suppliers, etc. You can also follow us on Twitter @FixHousingFirst. Again, thank you.  We look forward to working with you again to extend and expand the home buyers' tax credit, and to continue to jumpstart the economy.

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$8000 tax credit expires November 30, 2009--Move Up!

The $8000 tax credit for first time buyers will expire at the end of November. First time buyers are defined as people who haven't owned a home in the last 3 years. That means that there is only about three weeks to get your home under contract if you're going to close in time, and probably less as there will be a lot of pressure on all the loan underwriters toward the end of next month, though maybe they'll be given extra time like the 'cash for clunker' dealers were to complete the paperwork.
If you don't get done in this time, there is talk of extending the program. There is also talk of expanding the program to everyone, and possibly increasing the credit to $15,000. Should you wait?
Homes in the Victor Valley can still be bought for less than they cost to build. Interest rates are still low, but that isn't like to stay if the Fed keeps printing money. If we end up with 'Stagflation' of the 70's a $15,000 credit will make little difference once factored against a 12% mortgage. A $120,000 house payment would go from $720/mo to $1240/mo, so you'd be losing over $6000/year in payments.
As I've mentioned before, I still see prices trending downward. The $8000 tax credit may be erased by decreases in property prices, and a lower house payment save you the interest on the difference in price over 15-30 year loans.
I would still say it's a good time to buy, if you can get a better house than your rental for about the same monthly payment (or less). One of my clients is looking at moving up from a 875 sf duplex to a nearly 1700 sf house on .75 acre with 2 sheds, and mature landscaping with a sprinkler system for $100/month more than the rental.
It's a really good time to buy, especially if you are getting financing. If you've got cash, make a low offer and wait. If your credit and down payment need work you've got some time to get them in order before rising interest rates offset or exceed the drop in home value.

Get a Home Inspector

Here's a link to an article encouraging buyer's to get a home inspector lined up before the end of the year to capitalize on the $8000 tax credit. Unless you're a construction professional, with experience in the field, I can't emphasize enough, how important it is to get an inspection. I was a building inspector, and I found a bunch of things wrong with a property that my client and I have a conditional acceptance on, but the inspector pointed out that the dryer was being improperly vented to the attic.

More Good News for the High Desert

An article in the local newspaper:

International economist says High Desert can bounce back

Cash for Clunkers Analysis

I haven't checked the numbers but interesting.....also they (Gov't)
said it stimulated car sales which it did but much misleading info!!!!!

A vehicle that gets 15 mpg and does 12,000 miles per year, uses 800
gallons of gasoline
(Government definition of a Clunker)

  A vehicle that gets 25 mpg at 12,000 miles per year, uses 480 gallons
a year.

So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption
by 320 gallons per year.

  About 700,000 vehicles were part of the Government's program, saving
224 million gallons per year.

That equates to just over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day of US consumption.

5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75/bbl.

So we all contributed, through our taxes, over $3 billion... to save
$350 million.

They'll probably do a great job with Health Care though!
 This was forwarded to me in the email.
The rebates are taxable income, too.