Philadelphia, PA

RE/MAX Chief Executive Officer, Margaret Kelly, talks about the government's extension/expansion of the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Certain existing homeowners can now qualify for the credit and homebuyers have until April 30, 2010 to put a contract on a house.

If you need further assistance in understanding how this homebuyer tax credit applies to you or need assistance in locating a new home please contact the Somers Team today - we look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

 

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If interested in buying or selling properties in Philadelphia, contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com or 215-400-2612.  For investment properties, check out our new investor site at Philly Investor Hub!  If interested in checking out our new office in Northern Liberties, let us know !

The Somers  Team - Philadelphia Real Estate  

Search the MLS Properties Here in Philadelphia

Areas of specialty include: Northern Liberties, Old City, Center City, Fishtown, Graduate Hospital, Art Museum, Queen Village, Pennsport, Old Kensington, Port Richmond, Bridesburg, Society Hill, Loft District, Spring Garden and more !

News Release

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÒ

The Voice For Real Estate®

500 New Jersey Avenue, NW

Washington DC 20001

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

For further information contact:

Lucien Salvant, 202/383-1176

lsalvant@realtors.org

Tax Credit Extension a Positive Step Toward Sustained Real Estate Recovery, Say

Realtors®

WASHINGTON (November 5, 2009) - The National Association of Realtors® today commended the

U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for passing a bill that includes an extension and expansion of the

current home buyer tax credit as an important step in ensuring a real estate and economic recovery.

"RealtorsÒ appreciate the swift action by Congress to extend the home buyer tax credit and expand it to

some current homeowners," said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential

Real Estate in Dallas-Fort Worth. "As the leading advocate of housing and real estate issues, we urge President

Obama to sign this legislation into law quickly to keep the momentum going in the fragile recovery of the

nation's housing market."

McMillan praised the efforts of several senators to put the recovery above politics. They are Sen.

Johnny Isakson, (R-Ga.); Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); Finance Committee Chairman Max

Baucus (D-Mont.); Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

Committee; and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Committee.

NAR economists estimate that the current tax credit has contributed approximately $22 billion to the

general economy, and approximately 2 million people will take advantage of the tax credit this year.

"The substantial rise in home sales we've seen over the past few months proves that the tax credit is

working and is being used by buyers who were waiting for the right opportunity to get into the market,"

McMillan said. "This important incentive is helping to stabilize the housing market, stimulate the economy and

create new jobs in communities all across our great nation. Extending and expanding the home buyer tax credit

will enable even more families to take advantage of current low interest rates and affordable prices to invest in

their future through homeownership."

-more- #129

REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are

members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSÒ and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. Not all real

estate agents are REALTORSÒ. All REALTORSÒ are members of NAR.

Tax Credit Extension a Positive Step - add 1

The bill would extend the present $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers through April 30, 2010.

Current homeowners are eligible for a $6,500 tax credit through April 30, provided they have lived in the home

they are selling, or have sold, as principal residence for five consecutive years in the past eight years. If potential

home buyers have a binding contract on or before that date, they will have until July 1 to close the transaction.

Income limits for eligible home buyers are expanded to $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for

couples. The purchase price of the home cannot exceed $800,000. To help guard against fraud, buyers are

required to attach documentation of purchase to their tax return.

Detailed information about provisions in the tax credit legislation is available on Realtor.org.

The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade

association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real

estate industries.

# # #

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the

News Media section.

Each week I will start to post some random thoughts related to both the national real estate market and our local Philadelphia real estate market in addition to related thoughts about the economy, investing and so forth.

October flurry- I met with Jim Makara today on a home inspection in Old Kensington. Jim mentioned that October was his best month EVER for home inspections. He did 57 of them !! Wow ! This was more for Jim than any given month even in the heyday in 2004 and 2005. On a side note, Jim is one of the best home inspectors in the Philadelphia area. His company is Countywide Home Inspections .

Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension- I do not expect the extension to have a huge lift on the market November through January. In fact, expect these months to be slow, maybe even VERY slow. For the most part, I think that every first time homebuyer that wanted to purchase a property DID. It will take a few months to gear this back up again which could make for a very busy spring. Hear that sellers ?? Have your property on the market in January and February. For more info on the credit, see this wonderful blog by Loreeno Yeo:

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended and Expanded to Include Repeat Buyers

Investors left out ? - I still wonder why there are no incentives for investors for non-owner occupant properties. These are the ones that we need real stimulus as the financing is the hardest to procure !

Realtor.com - It appears that Realtor.com is fading fast. If you did not see the action in MOVE this week, I would check it out. (MOVE is the publicly traded company that owns and operates Realtor.com) MOVE got clobbered on a weak quarter as well as a sluggish forecast. The value of enhanced listings on Realtor.com is not nearly as valuable as it used to be. I am glad we decided to focus on other areas of the Internet for our Internet Marketing.

Investment Idea- There are many regional banks that are not carrying the bad loans... they have strong balance sheets and super management. These banks will benefit dramatically from all the other banks that are going out of business courtesy of the FDIC. Spot them out in you area and consider making an investment in them. These stocks could easily double or triple in the next couple of years. Jim Cramer wrote about this as well in "Getting Back to Even".

Customer Service- If you are a bank doing a REFI for a local Realtor, by all means give that Realtor customer service in terms of returning calls or emails. Otherwise, you just lost a great referral source. This happened to me recently. It was frustrating, but I just took my business to a different bank. Not just my REFI business, but all of the accounts of our main office / business as well. And guess where those future referrals will be going ?

Short Sales- I get at least one call a week from companies wanting to negotiate the whole short sale deal (saying I do not have to do anything) and of course they would be the buyer. Every time I say I am not interested. How can I tell my seller "Oh by the way, I know you hired me, but now I am going to have some third-party company negotiate your short sale for you. Basically what they are trying to do is defraud your lender into giving them a great deal and bribe me to do both sides of the commission as well as the resale of the property". Just watch, we will be hearing more about this subject in the future.

Please comment or elaborate on any or all of these thoughts !

I guess Governor Rendell threatneing to take $7 million of state assistance woke up people in charge of the SEPTA Union.

So SEPTA is back in business this morning and transit workers are back on the job. Governor Rendell announced the end of the strike that shut down Philadelphia's buses, subways and trolleys for almost a week. Rendell said that the system will be up and running in time for this morning's commute. The governor said SEPTA and the union have settled their differences over a pension fund audit and health care and dental benefits. The union's president says he thinks members will approve the contract.

Here is some good news from Robert T.Casey Senator for Pennsylvania. I have many friends and neighbors that will be glad to read this article. These are people who have been working for over 20 years at their jobs and suddenly were laid off from their jobs. I have been speaking to them periodically they have not been having any luck finding work.

Help is on the way say's Senator Robert Casey: