$8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

· A first time home buyer is defined as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.

· The tax credit does not have to repaid.

· The tax credit is equal to 10% of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8000

· Home must be purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009

· Single taxpayers with annual incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit

· An income tax refund will be issued for any amount above taxes owed for the 2009 tax year.

Here are today’s rates at a glance…

1% origination	0% origination
30 YR Conforming 5.000	30 YR Conforming 5.25
15 YR Conforming 4.375	15 YR Conforming 4.75
30 YR Fixed Jumbo 6.25	30 YR Fixed Jumbo 6.5
FHA 30 YR Fixed 4.875	FHA 30 YR Fixed 5.125

All rates are determined by multiple factors including loan amounts, property value,

occupancy, escrow waiver, and credit scores. Please call for program guidelines.

Please contact me for more information about the First Time Homebuyer tax credit, mortgage rates, and for all your real estate needs.

'Error' will delay property tax rates

See my blog post for my personal experience on fighting my property taxes at TCAD.

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More than 15 percent still protesting
rates

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Due to a "clerical error," more than 140 jurisdictions in Travis County will have some major headaches, and possibly some upset taxpayers, as they must now wait to set their true tax rates for next year for at least another month.

The City of Austin, Austin ISD, and other Travis County taxing authorities will have to wait when it comes to setting how much they will tax property owners.

"We incorrectly certified [the tax roll]," said Travis County Chief Appraiser Patrick Brown Thursday.

By law, an appraisal district must certify the values of the property listed on its tax roll with 90 percent of the property not under protest by July 20.

This year, a mistaken query falsely identified 90 percent of the property not under protest, Brown said.

In reality, about 15 percent of people are still protesting their property taxes, he said.

"Part of the problem due to the large number of protests this year," Brown said. "They're maybe figuring out that this is a way they can save some money."

More than 90,000 people protested their property taxes this year in Travis County, compared to 62,000 last year, said Brown.

Brown said the tax rolls should not change from the original estimates sent out in error.

The Austin City Council could vote on a maximum property tax rate as early as next week, but could not set a final tax rate until the roll is certified.

The 2010 budget is set on recommendations to raise property taxes by $69 per year for the median household, arriving as a way to shore up a nearly $30 million budget shortfall for 2009-2010.

In a memo to the mayor and city council members, Austin's Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder said the city is working with the Law Department to determine if the delay will affect "truth-in-taxation" requirements required by law leading up to the adoption of a tax rate, and whether it will affect the city's budget schedule.

The police, fire, EMS, Municipal Court, health and human Services, library and parks and recreation departments will present their budgets to the city council at a meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The next day the city will hold a public hearing.

The Austin Energy, Economic Growth and Redevelopment Office, Austin Water Utility, Solid Waste Services, Watershed Protection, Public Works, Austin Transportation Department, Aviation, Convention Center, and Planning and Development Review departments will present their budgets on Wednesday, Aug. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If needed, the city will again host a public hearing the next day and hold more budget presentations on Wednesday, Aug. 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The budget approval readings will take place from Sept. 14 to 16.

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Read the original article here or visit my website for information and advice about owning, buying, or selling a home in Austin, Texas

Federal Reserve says housing market is improving

While residential real estate remains weak overall, many local markets are showing signs of improvement, according to the Federal Reserve’s Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, also known as the Beige Book.

Sales volume is up, especially in the Fed’s Minneapolis and San Francisco districts, and with the exception of the St. Louis district, sales declines are letting up.

The Fed credited the federal government’s $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit for the improvement to the low-end of the residential housing market, especially in its New York, Kansas City and Dallas districts.

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Read the rest of the article here or visit my website for information about buying or selling your home.

Healthiest Housing Markets in the Country

With most economists and builders expecting a national market decline this year, this may not seem like the best time to be selecting the "healthiest" markets in the country. Virtually every market was down last year. But a close look at the numbers reveals that some markets have way outperformed others during the last four years and are likely to continue to do so this year.

When the housing market stages its official recovery, the markets listed on the following pages are likely to lead the parade. It may take a year or more for the weakest markets--where burgeoning foreclosure sales are still pounding new home values, making building and selling new homes an exercise in futility-- to finally stage a turnaround. We’ll present that list next week.

The healthiest markets have many things in common. Most of them are great places to live, either close to the ocean, mountains, or major universities. Most of them didn’t have a huge run-up in prices during the boom and aren’t experiencing rampant deflation during the bust.

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Texas claims the top Five with Austin edged out only by Houston. Read the full article here or learn more about Real Estate in Austin, Texas on my website.

Fed moves to curb housing abuses

The U.S. central bank recommends new rules to limit compensation for mortgage brokers and clarify risks for borrowers.

July 23, 2009: 11:36 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Federal Reserve Board Thursday recommended new disclosure rules for homeowners and compensation guidelines for mortgage brokers to correct some abuses of the recent runaway housing market.

Prospective borrowers would receive a one-page notice of key questions about their loan and see a graph comparing their interest rate to that of a low-risk borrower, the Fed said.

Mortgage brokers would not receive greater compensation if they put a borrower into a high-cost loan, under the rules.

"Consumers need the proper tools to determine whether a particular mortgage loans is appropriate for their circumstances," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said during an open meeting of the board.

View the original article here or visit my website for more news about the Texas real estate market.

Nation's Home Sales Seeing Increase

Existing-Home Sales Up Again

Washington, July 23, 2009

Existing-home sales rose for the third consecutive month with inventory easing and home prices declining less sharply in June, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of 4.89 million units in June from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May, but are 0.2 percent lower than the 4.90 million-unit level in June 2008.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is hopeful about the gain. “The increase in existing-home sales occurred in all major regions of the country,” he said. “We expect a gradual uptrend in sales to continue due to tax credit incentives and historically high affordability conditions. Despite the rise in closed transactions, many Realtors® are reporting lost sales as a result of new appraisal standards that went into effect May 1 of this year.”

A June survey of NAR members shows 37 percent experienced at least one lost sale as a result of the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct, with seven out of 10 reporting an increased use of out-of-area appraisers. Seventy percent of NAR appraiser members said consumers were paying higher fees, while 85 percent report a perceived reduction in appraisal quality.

“Clearly the process needs to be revised, but the most logical approach is to use appraisers with local expertise, industry designations and access to local data, who make a physical examination of the property and use apples-to-apples comparisons with nearby home sales,” Yun said. “In many cases, normal homes are being compared with distressed homes sold at a discount, which often are in subpar condition – this is causing real harm to both buyers and sellers.”

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.42 percent in June from 4.86 percent in May; the rate was 6.32 percent in June 2008. Mortgage interest rates have trended lower in recent weeks.

Total housing inventory at the end of June fell 0.7 percent to 3.82 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.4-month supply² at the current sales pace, down from a 9.8-month supply in May. Raw inventory totals are 14.9 percent below a year ago.

“This is another hopeful sign – if we can keep the volume of sales above the level of new inventory, prices could stabilize in many areas around the end of the year,” Yun said.

An NAR practitioner survey in June showed first-time buyers accounted for 29 percent of transactions, unchanged from May, and that the number of buyers looking at homes is up nearly 12 percentage points from June 2008.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said there are very good opportunities. “Despite some of the challenges, the housing market continues to demonstrate signs of recovery,” he said. “The temporary first-time buyer tax credit is clearly helping people make a decision and is contributing to the overall stimulus impact, but since it’s taking longer to close transactions, many would-be beneficiaries may not be able to take advantage of the credit before the December 1 expiration date. As a consequence, consumers need the expertise of Realtors® more than ever to navigate both the obstacles and opportunities in today’s market.”

The national median existing-home price³ for all housing types was $181,800 in June, which is 15.4 percent below June 2008. Distressed properties, which accounted for 31 percent of sales in June, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes.

Single-family home sales rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.32 million in June from a level of 4.22 million in May, and are 0.2 percent higher than the 4.31 million-unit pace a year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $181,600 in June, which is 15.0 percent below June 2008.

Existing condominium and co-op sales jumped 14.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 570,000 units in June from 500,000 in May, but are 3.1 percent below the 588,000-unit level in June 2008. The median existing condo price⁴ was $183,300 in June, down 18.9 percent from a year ago.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 2.5 percent to an annual pace of 820,000 in June, but are 4.7 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $249,400, down 5.9 percent from June 2008.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 0.9 percent in June to a level of 1.10 million but are 1.8 percent lower than June 2008. The median price in the Midwest was $157,000, which is 9.1 percent below a year ago.

In the South, existing-home sales rose 4.0 percent to an annual pace of 1.81 million in June but are 3.7 percent below a year ago. The median price in the South was $163,200, down 11.9 percent from June 2008.

Existing-home sales in the West improved by 6.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.16 million in June, and are 11.5 percent higher than June 2008. The median price in the West was $214,800, which is 24.9 percent below a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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View the original article here. For more information about buying or selling your home, or advice about the real estate market, visit my website.

Which cities will and won’t recover fastest -- Austin at the top, AGAIN!

WASHINGTON - The three most important things in real estate: location, location, location.

It's true for recovery from a real estate bubble too. Overall, many economists expect the national economy to return to growth later in 2009, perhaps as soon as this summer. But that won't be the case everywhere. While some cities are poised for a quick rebound, others face a slog to recovery that could take years.

Poised for swift recovery are many Texas cities, such as Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and McAllen. These areas did not see the massive real estate bubble that formed in states like California, Nevada and Florida. The economy is diverse, with heavy growth coming from education and health care in recent years.

Many of the cities with the longest road to recovery are California cities, where home prices rocketed out of control, and entire economies were supported largely by a real estate bubble. Fresno, Modesto, Salinas, Bakersfield, Stockton and Los Angeles all saw home prices soar to unsustainable levels and then begin their inevitable plunge. The collapse of the housing markets pushed unemployment rates in these cities above 10 percent.

Even as a flood of foreclosures makes home prices look affordable again, a sign that some of the worst real estate markets may be finding their bottom, it will still take years for unemployment rates as high as 16.8 percent in Modesto or 15.5 percent in Fresno to return to healthy levels.

To find the 10 cities that look best poised for recovery (and the 10 cities likely looking at the longest climb back), we examined estimates from data provider Moody's Economy.com of the projected gross domestic product of metropolitan areas across the U.S., as well as unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and home prices, incomes and affordability data from the National Association of Home Builders. Because, in general, healthy cities were not victims of as severe a housing collapse, home prices were not used in ranking the cities poised for recovery.

The analysis also shows the importance of a city's economic make-up. Manufacturing has been battered by the recession, leaving cities like Detroit and Flint, Mich., or Youngstown, Ohio, with bad unemployment and a changing economy that's unlikely to replace the lost jobs. Moody's projects the economy in Flint, for example, will decrease by 16 percent from the start of recession to the end of 2010. (One commonly cited rule of thumb for depression is a decline of 10 percent.) Flint might never return to its original size.

New York City, too, once the capital of finance, is now saddled with Wall Street-induced unemployment and homes that are completely unaffordable for most of the region's residents. The NAHB's Housing Opportunity Index reports that only 14 percent of homes in the New York-White Plains-Wayne area are affordable on the area's median income — by far the least affordable region measured by NAHB.

Cities with robust technology sectors are poised for stronger recoveries than manufacturing or finance centers. Cities with high-tech capabilities like Seattle, Huntsville, Ala., or Boulder, Colo., could see quick recovery in coming months.

© 2009 Forbes.com
For more information visit my website.

Pending Home Sales Record Fourth Straight Monthly Gain

Washington, July 01, 2009

Pending home sales show a sustained uptrend, rising for four consecutive months with very favorable housing affordability and a first-time buyer tax credit boosting activity, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in May, increased 0.1 percent to 90.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 90.6 in April, and is 6.7 percent higher than May 2008 when it was 85.0. The last time there were four consecutive monthly gains was in October 2004.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautions that there could be delays in the number of contracts that go to closing. “Closed existing-home sales have improved but are coming in lower than expected because some contracts are delayed or falling through from the application of new appraisal rules for many transactions,” he said. “Rises in contract activity show buyers are becoming more active even as they face much more stringent loan underwriting standards. Speedy clarification of the appraisal rules could smooth a housing market recovery and support the overall economy.”

The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast rose 3.1 percent to 80.9 in May and is 6.8 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index slipped 1.3 percent to 89.2 but is 11.4 percent above May 2008. The index in the South declined 1.7 percent to 92.6 in May but is 7.9 percent higher than a year ago. In the West the index rose 2.2 percent to 96.9 and is 0.7 percent above May 2008.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said the appraisal issue is complicated. “We see that distressed homes often are selling for 20 percent less than normal homes in the same area, but some appraisals don’t distinguish between traditional homes and distressed property,” he said. “In many cases appraisers from outside the area are being used, but as everyone knows real estate is local and appraisals should be done by an expert with local expertise.”

McMillan said sellers shouldn’t hesitate to speak with an appraiser about their home. “Sellers should feel free to tell an appraiser about improvements and renovations to their home, and how it compares with other homes in the neighborhood,” he said.

“Also, if recent sales in the neighborhood were discounted, but not similar to your home in terms of quality or condition, that should be pointed out. It wouldn’t hurt to put all this in writing, especially if an appraiser is not familiar with your area. A Realtor® could offer guidance and information to help you with this process.”

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index² remains at historic highs. The affordability index fell to 171.6 in May from an upwardly revised 178.8 in April, which was the highest on record dating back to 1970. “Under these conditions the typical family would devote only 14.6 percent of gross income to mortgage principal and interest, which is one of the lowest percentages on record,” Yun said.

The HAI is a broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time, which examines the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income.

A median-income family, earning $60,800, could afford a home costing $296,700 in May with a 20 percent down payment, assuming 25 percent of gross income is devoted to mortgage principal and interest. Affordability conditions for first-time buyers with the same income and small down payments are roughly 80 percent of what a median-income family can afford. The affordable price was significantly higher than the median existing single-family home price in May, which was $172,900.

The first-time buyer tax credit also is benefiting the market. “Strong activity by entry level buyers is helping to absorb inventory and allow some existing owners to make a trade,” Yun said.

Existing-home sales should trend up through the end of the year, with normal local market differences. “The big question is how much the appraisal issue will impact the ability of contracts to go to closing,” Yun said. “We are currently conducting a study to assess the degree to which new appraisal rules are impacting home sales.”

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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View the original post here.

For more information about real estate trends, visit my website.