Billings, MT

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.

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.

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.

Foreclosures Growing in Suburbs and Secondary, says RealtyTrac

By JON PRIOR
October 30, 2009 11:53 AM CST

Foreclosures are beginning to flare up in suburban and secondary metro markets for Q309, according to a report from RealtyTrac.

Dramatic increases in foreclosures from a year ago came in suburban areas previously believed to be more stable, such as Boise, Idaho, up nearly 22% from Q209. Another area, Provo, Utah, is located a distance of 45 miles outside Salt Lake City and rose nearly 11% in the same period. RealtyTrac provides an online marketplace for foreclosure properties with more than 1.5m default, auction and REO listings.

In several states, foreclosure activities drifted toward new focal points, such as smaller towns with previously self-sustaining industries. Chico, California in Sacramento Valley, and agricultural hub, had a 98% increase in foreclosures from Q308, according to the report.

The Las Vegas metro area had the highest percentage of foreclosures among its housing units with 5.13% in Q309. Merced, Calif. - west of San Jose - had a 3.72% foreclosure rate, and Cape Coral - Fort Meyers, Fla. came in third with 3.67% of homes sliding into foreclosures, according to the report.

"You're moving from Phoenix to Prescott, you're moving from Las Vegas to Reno," Rick Sharga, the vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac, told HousingWire. "You are seeing that migration into secondary markets. You're also seeing a migration into formerly stable areas and areas that have been wracked by unemployment."

Cities in California, Florida and Nevada accounted for the 10 highest foreclosure rates in Q309 among metro areas with more than 200,000 people. However, five of those cities reported decreasing foreclosure activity from Q308, offset by many other markets reporting spikes in foreclosures, according to the report.

Sharga sees the foreclosure crisis coming in three waves, and with this new data, the market is showing signs of the second one.

"That first wave of foreclosures cratered the economy, which created job losses, which created the second wave. Now, we're seeing prime rate loans affected by unemployment. And the third wave will be really a repeat of wave one, except this time we're going to see a switch of Option ARM and Alt-A loans out for the subprime loans. It will probably be as big but somewhat shorter lived," Sharga said.

Sharga said that he expects a peak in foreclosures in 2010, only a marginal improvement in 2011 and a return to normal monthly foreclosure activity sometime in 2012.

"Rising unemployment and a new variety of mortgage resets continued to gradually shift the nation's foreclosure epicenters in the third quarter away from the hot spots of the last two years and toward some metro areas that had avoided the brunt of the first foreclosure wave," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "While toxic subprime mortgages drove much of that first wave of foreclosures, high unemployment and exotic Alt-A Option ARMs are spreading the foreclosure flood to more metro areas in 2009."

NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES IN SEPTEMBER 2009

Sales of new one-family houses in September 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000, according to

estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This is 3.6 percent (±10.2%)* below the revised August rate of 417,000 and is 7.8 percent (±12.0%)* below the

September 2008 estimate of 436,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2009 was $204,800; the average sales price was $282,600. The

seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 251,000. This represents a supply of 7.5

months at the current sales rate.