Montana

As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed new legislation that:

• Extends the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010.
• Expands the credit to grant a $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between the date the bill is signed by President Obama and April 30, 2010.

Here is more information about how the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.

Latest news:
Tax Credit Extension a Positive Step Toward Real Estate Recovery (Nov.5)
President's Podcast: Tax Credit Extended (Nov. 5)

Who Qualifies for the Extended Credit?

• First-time home buyers who purchase homes between the date the bill is signed by President Obama and April 30, 2010.
  
• Current home owners purchasing a home between the date the bill is signed by President Obama and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight.

To qualify as a "first-time home buyer" the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.

If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and the date the bill is signed by President Obama, please see: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Which Properties Are Eligible?

The Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit may be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

How Much Is Available?

The maximum allowable credit for first-time home buyers is $8,000.

The maximum credit allowed for current homeowners is $6,500.

How is a Buyer's Credit Amount Determined?

Each home buyer's tax credit is determined by tow additional factors:

1. The price of the home.
2. The buyer's income.

Price

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, credit may only be awarded on homes purchased for $800,000 or less.

Buyer Income

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit which is effective on the date the bill is signed by President Obama single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000-may receive the maximum tax credit.

These income limits have changed from the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit limits. If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and the date the bill is signed by President Obama, please see 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

If the Buyer(s)' Income Exceeds These Limits, Can He/She Still Get a Credit?

Yes, some buyers may still be eligible for the credit.

The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000 for single buyers and between $225,000 and $245,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Home buyers earning more than the maximum qualifying income-over $145,000 for singles and over $245,000 for couples are not eligible for the credit.

Can a Buyer Still Qualify If He/She Closes After April 30, 2010?

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, as long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, 2010, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

Will the Tax Credit Need to Be Repaid?

No. The buyer does not need to repay the tax credit, if he/she occupies the home for three years or more. However, if the property is sold during this three-year period, the full amount credit will be recouped on the sale.

Election results are in: changing of the guard in both Kalispell and Whitefish. Kalispell has a new mayor, 33 yr old Tammi Fisher, a local attorney. Some change in the personnel on Kalispell City Councel as well. Whitefish put in new council members. It will be interesting once everyone is in office if these are changes for the better or not.

School elections in Kalispell had differing results for restoring the building funds. Elementary passed and high school failed. The way the schools are in the valley is a bit different. Elementary in the city of Kalispell would have those voters voting. For the high schools, enrollment covers quite a wide area with voting coming from voters not necessarily in town and in the town elementary districts. Is this a push back on high schools from the new construction of Glacier High and major remodel on Flathead High? District is considering going back for another vote on this later on. My take was that the taxes would not increase, just stay the same to build up the reserve.

Weather had been mild but now is getting colder. Need to start getting the snow pack built up on Big Mountain in time for an early December opening day.

Senate Approves Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension

By JACOB GAFFNEY
November 4, 2009 10:44 PM CST

The Senate voted today to pass an extension of the first-time homebuyer tax credit until April 2010.

In all, 98 Senators voted in favor of H.R. 3548, with zero votes against (two Senators did not vote). H.R. 3548 is a bill is primarily purposed with extending unemployment benefits.

The bill is currently amended to include the extension of an $8,000 tax credit for those buying their first homes as well as an $6,500 tax credit for some borrowers buying a home for a second time.

The move comes as no surprise, as HousingWire reported last week. The bill now requires President Obama's signature into law.

Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of leading U.S. companies, with nearly $6trn in annual revenues and more than 12m employees, commended the vote in a statement.

"This critical program has already enabled hundreds of thousands of Americans to become first-time homebuyers," they report.

"Encouraging additional home purchases will create a cascade effect, not only boosting the housing sector, but also creating jobs and hastening broad recovery of the U.S. economy - more than 20 percent of which is tied to residential real estate and housing-related industries."

Passed as an amendment, the tax credit can still be removed from the final wording of the bill, if placed under further review. However given recent lobbying efforts in the industry and a feeling of presidential support, this remains unlikely.

It's always a little fun to listen to a traveler through our state of Montana who can't understand why we don't have a sales tax! Somehow it just makes them happy!

On the other hand, when I travel and have to pay a sales tax, I forget and look stuptified at the sales clerks when they announce the tax on my items.

I don't want you to think we're a tax free state, in fact, some people in our state think we are horribly over taxed (isn't that true everywhere?)

We have state income taxes, property taxes (school tax, state education tax, county tax, economic development tax, county road tax, weed tax, county refuse tax, fire service, soil conservation, medical levy).

We also have vehicle registration taxes, gas taxes, phone taxes, utility tax, coal tax and I'm sure I've missed a few things here that are hidden, but really, we're not doing too bad.

Our State of Montana seems to be fiscally responsible at this point as well. We need to have a pretty big savings plan to cover a bad fire year. We have cut back our state funding of the Public School system over the last 15 years, making up for it on the local level. Some of our school funding this year was funded by Stimulus money, which won't be there year after year.

Personally I think a sales tax will not pass in our State of Montana in the near future, people just like the idea of the status quo.

Shop In Montana!

Below are the numbers for Yellowstone County for the first ten months of the year. If anyone had any doubt giving people an $8,000 tax break would affect people's behavior the numbers below should put that thought to rest. Things of note as we have progressed through the year we have steadily gained on our short fall of closed transaction compared to last year. The 79% above last year for pending sales of you can thank the $8,000 tax credit for that huge increase. When you look at sales price decline with size factored in my comment is about a 3% decline in pricing to put that into perspective the market has been flat since 2007. Not bad if you compare a 50% statewide drop in home values in California in the same time period, heck Las Vegas dropped 33% just from 2008 September to 2009 September. Another item to note is by definition first time buyers are rents and you can see the impact of them buying homes in the rental softness in pricing and increase availability.

Since it seems that Washington dc will pass an extension and expansion of the tax $8,000 for first time buyers $6,500 for person moving from a home they have owned for five years get ready for the after burns to kick in till reach altitude than flame out and head back for a crash landing.