About Gulf Shores' Call Tinsley Myrick Of Remax For The Beach Club 251-978-5989

WASHINGTON - Nov. 5, 2009 - The $8,000, first-time homebuyer tax credit has not yet been extended beyond its Nov. 30 end date, but it's very close to gaining a longer life.

The extension was added as an amendment to an existing bill, HR 3548, that extends unemployment benefits. The U.S. Senate passed that bill on Wednesday and, after debate, the U.S. House passed HR 3548 this afternoon. It now needs only President Obama's signature to become law, and the White House has indicated it will sign it, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

Until the president signs the bill, however, it is not law.

In addition to extending the tax credit for first-time homebuyers under the current rules, the bill adds a smaller tax credit for move-up homebuyers who have lived in the house for five of the past seven years. The bill also increases the income limits of homebuyers from $75,000 (single) to $125,000; and from $150,000 (married) to $225,000.

Florida downpayment assistance

After the president signs the bill and extends the tax credit, the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program - a downpayment and closing costs assistance program relating to the federal tax credit -automatically gets extended too. The state still has about $28 million available for homebuyers. The money is essentially a loan to first-time buyers; they receive it upfront, use it for a downpayment or other costs, and pay it back once they get their federal refund.

For more information on the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program, visit the Homebuyer Center on floridarealtors.org: http://www.floridarealtors.org/AboutFar/homebuyercenter/index.cfm

Also check floridarealtors.org for updates as they're released; and, after the tax credit extension becomes law, details on the new program.

© 2009 Florida Realtors®

by Tinsley Myrick, September 9, 2009

The following information was shared at the RE/MAX of Orange Beach sales meeting yesterday by Patrick Daily, Broker/Owner.

Patrick recently attended the RE/MAX Owner meeting and brought us back this interesting info given by David Linegar, founder of RE/MAX in 1973, and Carter Murdock, Bank of America's Economist:

•Savings is at its highest level. People are saving and not spending.

•The economy is already beginning to improve. It's going to recovery slowly.

•Unemployment is REALLY at 11-12% right now.

•Have to get more people working before people will start spending again.

•Small businesses will lead us out of the recession. However, there are no incentives for small businesses right now so the recovery will be slower than it has to be. All the help is going to large corporations rather than small businesses.

•Linegar's staff is been asked to bring solutions to the White House regarding the housing market (ie: where to go with it). The current administration knows they need real results and that they have made mistakes.

•Another real estate boom is coming in 2011 & 2012!

•Where a severe recessions starts (the US), it will be the first recovery.

•Loan markets are going "back to the left."

•Markets with the largest growth percentage will recover the quickest. This is great news for Baldwin County where projected growth is 40% over the next 10 years!

•It will be good for the economy when oil is $40-$80 a barrel.

•Mortgage rates have to go up for market to recover. We are seeing the best rates we are going to see. Therefore, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY! THESE RATES WON'T LAST!

GENERATIONAL MARKETING INFO I FIND FASCINATING:

Matures (Ages 65+): Have one more real estate transaction in them!

Baby Boomers (Ages 45-64): Have 3 transaction left. Most are downsizing. Typically haven't been savers but pretty good investors. There are 80 million Boomers.

Gen X (Ages 29-44): They have low birth rates. Not having as many kids as the Boomers. There are 48 million Gen Xrs. They are buying and selling real estate. Very tech oriented.

Millennials (Ages 15-29) (aka Gen Y): These guys will probably have similar habits as the Boomer, however, they will be wiser. They will have more kids than the Gen Xrs. There are 74 million of the Millennials. Very tech oriented.

David Linegar told everyone that agents that are unable to relate to clients with tattoos, piercings, torn jeans, etc, will get left behind when the Millennials start buying and selling! Also, we must be able to communicate to the Gen Xrs and Millennials in the ways THEY want to communicate (text, email, Facebook, etc).

Fortunately, Scott and I are in good shape with this. We are 1st and 5th year Gen Xrs. We have Baby Boomer work ethics but we do the work like Gen Xrs!

All for now.

Tinsley