Data comparisons* are made for the current 12 week period vs the previous 12 weeks.

Homes Under Contract, 12 vs 12. We have seen a bit of a slowdown in homes going under contract. This is typical of the seasonal nature of real estate. This is the first down month after 7 consecutive months on the uptick. Homes Sold went from 12 to 10 or a decrease of 16.7%. Again, this is not unusual give the time of year.

Continuing the trend started last month, Homes For Sale decreased 3.6% from 552 to 532. With fewer homes on the market, we should begin to see some stabilization in pricing.

Median Price for Homes Sold in October 09 is down 1.2% from $197,519to $195,071– an insignificant change. The median for Homes Under Contract however, dropped from $204,705 to $181,352– a decrease of 11.4%. Median List Price remained flat: $189,975 vs $189,288.

Condos and Townhomes in Naperville, IL

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.altosresearch.com/altos/widgets/AltosChart.swf" height="400" width="600" fversion="9" useexpressinstall="true" fvars="st = IL ; c = NAPERVILLE ; z = a ; ts = z ; pai = 52577180 ; q = a ; mini = median_inventory ; datahost = data.altosresearch.com ; datahostssl = false ; rt = mf ; s = median_market_heat:l,median_price:r ; ra = c ; ihr = false ; fc = false ; rf = xml ; u = tonylazz ; p = aes_enc::BojMsH5VOSeZzqFUwfX2ow==" /]

*(Source -Terradatum/MRED, LLC). Numbers shown are based condo/townhome data. Contact me for further individual breakdowns. Other data  and charts from Altos Research. Information is also available by zipcode. It can be requested in the chart to the right or by clicking here. It will be emailed to you shortly.

First of all, the credit has not been extended yet despite all the rumors floating around. Here is the latest information from Washington as well as a projected timeline for further action from www.FixHousingFirst.com.

The Status – From www.TheHill.com “…Under the agreement struck by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the credit will last until the end of April and can be applied to homes worth up to $800,000. Dodd and Isakson said that as many as 70 percent of Americans will be eligible for it.

The home credit’s backers, which include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have said that it can help the economy recover and has already led to the jump in home sales seen around the country in recent months.

Isakson called the provision a “once-in-a-lifetime” credit that can “bring the housing market back to some sense of vitality and values.”

Though the previous provision could only be used by individuals making up to $75,000 and couples making up to $150,000, the extended credit can be used by individuals with incomes of up to $125,000 and couples of up to $225,000.

The deal also provides a new $6,500 credit to homebuyers looking to move out of their current homes into more expensive ones….”

The Timeline: From an email from www. FixHousingFirst.com comes this projected schedule:

As you may know, last night the Senate reached a deal on extending and expanding the home buyer tax credit, and they plan on attaching it to the unemployment insurance bill. You can see a copy of the bill here. The tax credit provisions begin on p. 14.

Near as we can tell at this moment, the process from here will go like this:

1. There will be a cloture vote at 5 pm on Monday in the Senate on the new Baucus substitute. If it succeeds, it takes 30 hours to “ripen,” i.e., before the bill can be brought to the floor.
2. Thirty hours later it’s Tuesday night. There will likely then be a cloture vote on the full unemployment insurance bill, as amended.
3. Thirty hours after that, it’s Thursday morning, when the Senate will vote on final passage of the bill.
4. The House could take up the bill as early as Thursday afternoon or Friday.  They likely will just accept the Senate bill and vote on that.  If their bill differs from the Senate bill, then the whole thing has to back through Conference. That’s unlikely at this point – and undesirable.
5. The plan/hope is to have the bill on the President’s desk as soon as next weekend.

Obviously, this is all subject to change without notice. This is the Congress, after all.

You can see from the above that it is important to keep weighing in throughout the week – and sending this link to your network of friends, colleagues, family, neighbors, customers, employees, suppliers and urging them to do the same.  The amount of emails being sent through the Fix Housing First site has been fantastic – keep it up!”

Summary: So hang in there, be patient, something is coming in the near future. What the final product will be after both Houses get done with it, no one can predict. Keep checking back or subscribe to the RSS feed for updated information as it occurs. peace.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The GOP Hits The Brakes (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• Senators Look to Expand Home Buyer Tax Credit (abcnews.go.com)

Rep Judy Biggert’s Press Release (copy below)

______________________________________________________________________________________

Window closing on Federal Income Tax credit

According to current regulations, eligible homeowners who want to take advantage of the up to $8,000 federal tax credit must close their transactions by November 30, 2009. That is about 70 days from now. Or is it……..?

Let’s recognize a few realities in looking at this. First, it is going to take 45 to 60 days in today’s environment to get from contract through loan approval to closing. Second, November 30 is a Monday, after the Thanksgiving weekend – (Think there will be a glut of closings scheduled for that day?) so we can back up the target date to, at the latest, November 25, dropping the holiday and extended weekend. But really, how productive is Thanksgiving week really? So where does that take us?

I am advising my clients that they should be targeting a close date no later than Friday November 20, 2009 if they have a realistic expectation of closing in time to take advantage of the credit. With a 60 day process window from contract to close – decisions need to be made by the end of Labor Day week 2009! If you are active in the buying cycle now, make sure you plan properly. If you need assistance, contact your agent or contact me.

(thanks to Tim McDonald and Dan Green for their discussions on this topic at RE BarCamp)

There are conditions and details that need to be more clearly understood and the question of whether or not mortgage lenders will go along with the program remains to be seen. As of now, here are some of the condtions that apply:

• The tax credit advance, when combined with the FHA-insured first mortgage may not result in cash back to the borrower.
• The second lien may not exceed the total amount needed for the down payment, closing costs, and prepaid expenses.
• Secondary financing may be “soft” (silent) or require a monthly repayment.
• If payments are required, they must be included within the qualifying ratios and, when combined with the first mortgage, cannot exceed the borrower’s reasonable ability to pay.
• Payments must be deferred for at least 36 months to not be included in the qualifying ratios.
• If the tax credit advance loan has a short term for repayment, it must also provide that if the borrower fails to repay by the designated deadline, principal and interest payments begin automatically or the loan converts to a “soft” second.
• The secondary financing may not require a balloon payment before ten years.

This is huge for qualified first time homebuyers. And it has the potential to be a great stimulus for the housing industry and economy. If you would like to discuss or explore this in greater detail, talk to you local real estate or mortgage professional or give me a call.

The text of the withdrawn letter can be viewed here. As more info becomes available I will keep this updated. 

(Thanks to my friends at Virginia Association of Realtors for being a great source of information.)

As reported in Daily Real Estate News 5/12/09

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.
Previously, most buyers wouldn’t receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment,” Donovan says. His remarks came in an address to several thousand REALTORS® gathered Tuesday morning at “The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy,” at the 2009 REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C..

He says FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.

Want more details? Give me a call or email me and we can discuss how you can take advantage of this now!

1. It is a true tax credit. First time buyers who purchase and close on a home between Jan 1, 2009 and Dec 1, 2009 will receive a credit against their 2009 Federal Income Tax of $8,000. (10% of purchase price up to a max of $8000). This is a dollar for dollar reduction in the tax you owe. If your tax bill is less than the credit, you will receive a check for the balance.
2. If the home is sold within the first 3 years after purchase, the entire amount is recaptured on sale.
3. First time buyers are defined as those who have not owned a principal residence in the last 3 years.

Consider this scenario – A first time buyer using FHA financing puts down the required 3.5% on a $200,000 property. The tax credit more than covers the $7,000 down. In addtion, property tax and mortgage interest deductions in the next year would  provide income tax deductions in excess of $10,000! Monthly payments may be even less than rental payments today.

I believe this is an incredible opportunity. If you know of family members or friends who may qualify, contact me and we can explore together.