About Ingham County, MI

Well the new website is up and I am very pleased with it. Please feel free to roam around on it and if you have any comments or questions I would love to hear them. We have some great new features on there including a free home search specified to your criteria. As new homes come on the market that match your criteria, they will automatically be emailed to you. This is a FREE service! Check out our new website at www.robertdowding.com and let us know what you think! Happy Friday all!

WASHINGTON - Thousands of first-time home buyers will be able to get short-term loans so they can quickly make use of a new $8,000 tax credit to pay for some of the costs of buying a home.

The Federal Housing Administration on Friday released details of a plan in which borrowers who use FHA loans can get advances from lenders that let them effectively receive the credit in advance, so they don't have to wait to get the money from the Internal Revenue Service.

Most borrowers will still have to come up with the FHA's required 3.5 percent down payment, unless they work through a state or local housing agency or an approved nonprofit.

Ten states have such programs in place, according to the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

But there are many other potential uses, such as for closing costs and fees, or to beef up the down payment beyond the minimum level.

The FHA, which insures about a quarter of new home loans, is projected to guarantee about 2.2 million loans in the next budget year.

Any buyer who has not owned a home in the past three years is considered a first-time buyer and eligible for the program. Borrowers can claim the credit by filing an amended 2008 tax return or can wait for their 2009 return.

The change "will present an enormous benefit for communities struggling to deal with an oversupply of housing," Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement.

The tax credit was included in the economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama in February. It is not available to individuals with incomes above $95,000 or couples with incomes above $170,000 and it expires Nov. 30.

Real estate agents and home builders generally welcomed the change.

Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, called it a "great step in the right direction." On Wall Street, shares of such builders as Toll Brothers and D.R. Horton rose on the news.

Still, some real estate agents were concerned that many buyers won't benefit at all if they can't use it for a down payment - a big hurdle for many first-time buyers.

April 2009 Market Update for Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties in Michigan. The Robert Dowding team at Keller Williams Realty is dedicated to providing you with the most up to date statistice and trends available.

We are now officially in the full swing of the spring real estate market in the Tri-County area of Mid Michigan. With the addition of buyer incentives and continued affordability of housing we are seeing another month of promising numbers.

Average sales prices were fairly stable as compared to March 2009 numbers with exception of Eaton County that experienced a difficult March but rebounded well in April. We are still down from 2008 which is to be expected. The promising numbers are the number of units sold. All three counties reported increases in units sold with Ingham and Eaton counties over 40%! May has been very busy as well and I would expect to see this trend continue.

As always keep us in mind for all of your real estate needs and contact us with any questions you may have. We look forward to helping you and yours.

Professionally, Robert Dowding