Mark Zandi is a brave person. He is a head economist at Moodys. In an address at a real estate forum sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce he said,
There is no other sector in the economy that has received more support than your industry, and it’s time to give back.
He was referring to the mortgage-interest deduction that costs the U.S. Treasury more than $100 billion a year. He sees elimination of mortgage interest and property tax deductions as a way to help reduce the deficit.
The housing market is suffering enough and this is not the time to consider such draconian measures.
Congress last night passed an extension to the closing date for 1st time home buyers with valid purchase agreements in escrow. The program‘s closing date was due to pass in a few hours when Congress voted to extend the date to September 30, 2010. This resulted in a large sigh of relief by the 180,000 to 200,000 buyers waiting to close on their purchase contracts and counting on the tax credit.
Extension of the tax credit deadline may be at risk.
To qualify for the tax credit buyers had to close on the transaction by June 30. Some of the issues facing 1st time buyers include; lenders are taking a long time to decide on short sales, appraisals are low and property inspections are revealing issues
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To qualify for home buyer tax credits, the current law requires that escrow be opened by April 30 and the transaction closed by June 30. Many buyers are frustrated with getting financing approved and transactions closed. Not only is financing difficult to obtain but many escrow and title officers are swamped. Three senators (Harry Reid, D-Nev., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.) introduced a bill to extend the closing deadline to September 30. If passed, this will help many buyers including one of our own buying a HUD home in Douglas.
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A survey of 1500 real estate agents shows the $6500 move up tax credit is having virtually no effect upon the housing market. One issue facing people wanting to take advantage of the tax credit is the potential sales price of their current home.
Don Grafues
Resource: REALTOR.org
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Move up buyers trying to capitalize on the extended 1
st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit are having a difficult time. The difficulties include not being able to sell their current home and obtaining financing for a purchase. The move up buyer has played a major role in the real estate market with 53% of sales in 2009 coming from buyers moving up. You can read more
here.
Don Grafues
Resource: REALTOR.org
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