If you are a South Carolina teacher, firefighter, law enforcement officer, or an emergency medical service personnel you are likely eligible for the Palmetto Heroes Program being offered by the South Carolina State Housing Authority. The Palmetto Heroes Program launched earlier this month and already, half of the $40 million designated for these special borrowers has been distributed. This program still allows buyers to claim the $8,000 tax credit!
Qualifying participants could receive $15,000 if they are under contract to purchase a home by April 30th of this year. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I would love to tell you all about it. With that level of assistance how can you not want to own a home of your very own? If you would like more details about this program please let me know before time runs out!
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If you have ever given thought to home ownership now is the time. Interest rates are at historic lows, $6,500-$8,000 tax credits are there for the taking, home prices have fallen dramatically from their peak of just a few years ago, and money is available to credit worthy individuals. If you want to own a home you will never have a better opportunity than right now.
 Reproduced with the permission of Mortgage-X.com |
The image above charts interest rates over the past 40 years. If you think now is not the “right” time you probably will never join the ranks of Americans who have staked their claim. When someone says rates are at historic lows, this is what they are talking about.
Rates have been artificially suppressed by the Fed in order to help stimulate the economy and to a degree it is working. What you may not realize is that a 1% hike in mortgage rates will drop the amount of what you can afford to buy by 10%. To put it simply, your payment on a $250,000 home at 5% is the same as your payment on a $225,000 at 6%. You can buy 10% more house today than you should be able to buy because the Fed has kept rates about 1% lower than they would otherwise be without the interference. So what happens when the Fed stops the program intended to keep rates artificially low on March 31st? The answer is simple. Rates will rise. It will not happen over night, but if conditions are less than ideal, don’t be surprised to see rates floating around 7% in the not so distant future. So that $250,000 house you could afford today is going to need to drop to $200,000 if you want to be able to afford it if rates hit 7%.
The scenario I just presented does not even take into account the tax credits you may be eligible for. Those are promised to expire on April 30th. You need to be under contract for a home by April 30th if you want to take advantage of the credits. Just in case you haven’t heard, the credit has expanded to current home owners as well and you don’t have to sell your existing home to qualify.
If that isn’t enough to convince you, take into consideration the recent reduction in home values. According to an article in The Economist December 30, 2009 issue, US housing prices are currently 3.1% undervalued when looking at the price-to-rents ratio which is similar to looking at a price/earnings ratio used by stockmarket analysts. Prices have fallen back down to earth and many believe we are finally approaching the bottom end of the decline.
If you think you will be able to get a better deal later you may never find the right time to buy. If you have any questions about the Spartanburg real estate market give me a call. Spartanburg is the #2 housing market in the country already so the time to act is now! No joke, we are the 2nd strongest market in the entire country according to Business Week and I would be happy to tell you why.
Tags:Real Estate·Spartanburg
Home buyers will often make decisions on whether they’ll view a home in person based on the photos that they see online. Yet many real estate professionals seem to think that blurry, cockeyed, and poorly exposed photographs are acceptable to post to the internet. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a poor photograph going to say about your home?
Capturing quality photographs of your home is one of the most important services that I will provide for you. As a trained photojournalist, I have the knowledge and equipment to take great property photos. I have spent hundreds of hours studying techniques for photographing homes and have a passion for delivering exceptional results.
Regardless of the size or price of your home, I will provide you with sound advice on how to prepare for your home’s photo shoot, and will arrive with the proper equipment to do the job right. After shooting, I also take the time to process the images in the “digital dark room” to ensure your home looks great online, encouraging more on site viewings from qualified buyers. You’ll feel proud to say, “Yes, that’s our home” instead of being embarrassed to admit it.
If you’re thinking of selling your home, here are a few of things to keep in mind.
* Ask prospective agents to show you samples of their photographic work and understand that what they show you probably represents their best effort.
* Insist on reviewing images before they are posted to the MLS® or the Internet.
* Demand retakes of images that don’t show your home professionally.
* Hire me! I will do a fine job of presenting your home to agents and home buyers.
I’m always happy to answer your real estate questions.
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I received an excellent case specific question regarding the extension of the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit today and thought it was relevant enough to feature as a post:
Shane,
I’m an existing home owner and interested in taking advantage of the Governments $6,500 Tax Credit in the near future. The problem is as I read it you need to have lived and owned your home for the past 5 years.
[Read more →]
Tags:Finance·Real Estate·Tax Credit
When talented people write badly it’s generally for one of two reasons:
Either they’re blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove or they’re driven by an emotion they must express.
When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason:
They’re moved by a desire to touch the audience.
~Robert McKee
Sometimes you can just sit down and start to write without a plan and something relevant might accidentally come out. It usually turns out a little better if you sit down and think about what you want to say first. Understanding your motive for writing can have a large impact on how you say what you want to convey. That is assuming you actually succeed in getting your message across to the reader. When you go about writing haphazardly, the results often show it.
This is an example of writing without a plan. Tomorrow’s post should be more thoroughly considered.
Tags:Writing
Looks like a used car lot eh? |
If you haven’t been able to qualify for a loan under this tight credit market I urge you to consider seeking owner financed properties. Many people are in desperate need to sell their current home for whatever the reason. Some can even afford to finance the purchase for you. I speak from experience as a seller who was forced to do this myself. I deemed the risk of selling and holding my original loan to be more beneficial than losing that home to foreclosure. I assure you I was not the only buyer in that situation. You can read the details about that deal here: Your Home Depreciated, Now What?.
So the question is: If I buy an owner financed home can I still qualify for the tax credits?
Yes! In situations where the buyer purchases the property, even though the seller retains legal title, the taxpayer may file for the credit. Some examples of this would include a land contract or a contract for deed. According to the IRS, factors that would demonstrate the ownership of the property would include:
- Right of possession
- Right to obtain legal title upon full payment of the purchase price,
- Right to construct improvements,
- Obligation to pay property taxes,
- Risk of loss,
- Responsibility to insure the property, and
- Duty to maintain the property.
This is great news for people who need to seek an alternative path to home ownership. You know I would love to help you on yours so what are you waiting for?
Tags:Finance·Real Estate·Tax Credit
Congress has extended the $8,000 first time buyer credit and expanded it to include a $6,500 credit for those who have owned their current home for the past 5 years. This is great news for those who have been waiting for an excuse to make a move. During this downturn families have continued to grow and many have been facing the decision to relocate. This will help those families justify taking the plunge. I have already explained why now is the best time to make a move and a $6,500 bonus just makes it silly to stay put if you have a good reason for change.
Unfortunately I don’t qualify for either credit. We purchased our current home 2 years ago or I might really take a long look at moving up myself. If you do qualify and have outgrown your home, or have a better chance to find work in another location you just have to do it.
If you have questions about the new changes to the credit you can find a nice chart here: Homebuyer Tax Credit Changes
And as always you can feel free to contact me. I would love to tell you all about it.
Tags:Finance·Real Estate·Tax Credit
I am preparing to teach a class here at the office that will show other Realtors® how take effective property pictures. I figure if I am going to teach this class I should brush up some on my own skills as I haven’t really picked up the camera just for the fun of it in a long time. The problem with having a camera “kit” is that sometimes you just don’t want to be the event photographer, but when you have a bag full of gear people just sort of expect you to spend the day snapping away. I don’t know if you have ever spent most of a family event behind a lens or not. All I can tell you is that my experiences have led to a whole lot of instructions from people who really don’t understand the first thing about photography. You get a lot of “why aren’t you taking pictures of that”, or “where did your camera go”. How do you tell them that you can only take so many pictures of the kids playing before your eyes will start to bleed?
I try to take interesting pictures, not create a minute by minute reproduction of that day. It isn’t going to do anybody any good to have 300 nearly identical shots, and when I listen to others, that is what I end up with. I basically stopped bringing my camera around. Which led to me leaving it at home more and more often. The next thing I know I’m really having to think about what I need to do when I finally do pick the thing up. Now the rust has settled in and things just take a little longer to accomplish. It just sort of dawned on me that when a hobby becomes a chore you can really start to suck at it.
So I bought myself a new flash, and I have my eye out for a new lens. I figure this might let me try something new with the old camera and light that spark again. If nothing else it will let me take better pictures of homes.
Tags:Camera Equipment·Cameras·Photography
