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Government Tax credits for 1st time home buyers and move up buyers.
www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/
Buying a short sale!
Buying a short sale can be a great thing. For those who are willing to wait. If you are a First Time Home Buyer and want to close by December 1st 2009 that time has probably past for you to put in a short sale offer and close by that date to earn your IRS $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit.
A short sale can take longer due to the fact that Banks are the ones you are working with to figure out how much of a loss they are willing to take on a home “THEY OWN.” The homeowner is already not getting any money at the closing table so they don’t care how much the home sells for but the bank which stands to lose is the one that does care.
When buying a short just be ready to wait and then wait some more and things can really work out.
FHA Fico Score on the rise know your score!
If you were looking at buying a house and using FHA you better know your credit score. Banks have been on the war path raising middle fico score requirements on FHA from 580 to 620 and now most are going to 640 middle.
There are a ton of ways to find your score but as a first time home buyer that is where you have to start these days. Call a mortgage company or www.fico.com and get your score.
If you need help understanding your score check our website under credit score.
Matt
Seller paying closing costs!
It is very common these days to have the seller paying for all closing costs and in Lake County, IL they would include some of the following. This is an estimate of those fees some might be more and some might be less.
Attorney—400
Title fees—$1,600
Mortgage Company –$1,350
A good Realtor will figure these numbers into your contract prior to the seller seeing your offer.
The Perfect storm for First Time Home Buyers
My freind Dave from Denver called it right the other day when he said the housing market is a “Perfect Storm” right now for first time home buyers.
Being a fan of the book “The Perfect Storm” and now the show Swords is on TV every Tuesday which I can’t wait for it got me thinking. When I got out of college 13 short years ago and interest rates came down to like 7% if I remember correct people where going crazy because of how cheap you could finance for. Now I look at the market and people still don’t buy for various reasons but let me explain the “Perfect Housing Market Storm’ as I see it.
“Interest rates”
Lowest I have every seen them and they are staying low. Financing a 30 year fixed mortgage in the low 5″s is like paying $1 a gallon for gas for the rest of your life.
“Housing Prices”
Depending on who you talk to, who you watch and where you are looking at buying housing prices are probably down about 30%-40% from the 2006 highs and in some places around Lake County IL even more.
$8,000 first time home buyer credit
The cherry on top as I see it, if you buy a home as a first time home buyer and yes even if you sold another house 3 years ago you still qualify then you will receive a $8,000 tax credit on your 2009 tax return. You have to buy by December 1st 2009 and it has to be a owner occupied house, our website has more information on this.
3 things that make up this perfect storm for buying your 1st home right now and with FHA rates and FHA down payments still low I will bet that 1st time home buyers will never again see this opprotunity again in their lifetimes.
Matt