Al Lorenz

It looks like we haven't heard the whole story on the Home Buyer's Tax credit yet. The IRS is examining more than 100,000 suspicious returns that claimed the credit. So, buyers who claim the credit need to beware for the possibility of an IRS audit!

It appears that others are questioning the cost of this poorly targeted benefit as well.

Ted Gayer, an economist at the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank based in Washington, estimated that the current credit costs the government about $43,000 for each additional home sale it generates, because most of the two million or so home buyers expected to claim the credit would have bought a house anyway. Expanding the credit to all home buyers would raise the government's cost per additional home sale to more than $250,000, he said. - WSJ

It hardly makes news anymore that another government plan is rife with fraud:

Bonnie Speedy, national director of AARP Tax-Aide, a volunteer service for low-income people, suggested that abuse of the home-purchase credit appeared to be widespread, in part because of relatively loose standards for claiming the credit.

The credit "has some fraud issues because it's not being done at the time of the sale," said Ms. Speedy. "People are filing for the home credit who don't have a right to file for it." Taxpayers don't have to file their claims as part of a real-estate transaction and instead can file or amend their income-tax returns to claim the credit. -ToughMoneyLove.com

Now we have even more reasons NOT to extend the credit like the National Association of Realtors is lobbying furiously to do. Aren't you just excited to have these folks in charge of your health care options?

Here's the new Pacific Appraisal Wenatchee Snapshot Report. Things are holding fairly steady in Wenatchee, below last year but not bad compared to most of the world.

Check it out!

There are currently only 13 pending sales in the entire Lake Chelan MLS. I can't remember a number that low before. Even early this year, the number stayed in the twenties and thirties. In the more robust markets of a couple years ago, pending sales were in the forty and fifty range.

So, thirteen pending sales is a pretty low number! That number is particularly low when you consider that any sales spurred by the pricy First Time Buyers Tax Credit have to close by the end of November. The market couldn't have possible already reacted to the IRS auditing those filing for the tax credit yet...

Consider these words:

Help Americans understand that the first and best defense of their liberty is not free speech, a free press or free access to weapons, but, rather, the freedom to buy, sell, own, use, enjoy and profit from the land we live on. - Greg Swan

It is not that those other freedoms aren't important, but they pale in comparison to the power that individuals have when they have unfettered property rights.

I attend a slew of local meetings on comprehensive plans, zoning and property issues. I continue to be amazed at how citizens and officials in an area that claims to be freedom loving and predominately conservative are willing to toss out our individual property rights at every opportunity without even considering what they are losing.

We live in a challenging area with a state that has some of the most oppressive growth management laws in the country. Some local governments work to preserve flexibility for property owners while trying to appease the rotarian socialists who will peel away the rights of others and feed at their expense at every opportunity. Other plans do not. Compare Chelan to the proposed Manson plan.

Chelan works to do a reasonable and flexible adoption of state regulations that allows things to happen while the Manson Sub-Area Plan can't see a right or flexibility it doesn't want to take away. Yet, there are many claimed conservatives pushing the Manson plan. Are they really conservatives, or socialists?

I'm not a fan of having vacation rentals next to my home or the Twisted Pearl anchored in front of my house. But do we need to ban them in some sweeping rules that make illegal the vacation rental you would never notice or the commercial watercraft that are operated responsiblity? Neighborhoods can have or create covenants regarding vacation rentals. If there is not some existing regulations on safety, liability and sanitation that the Twisted Pearl is violating, I would rather they have the right to be there than allow any further erosion of my, or their, liberty.

I would be happy to argue that we don't need more laws, any more laws or regulations! If someone is upset about garbage being left out in their neighborhood it can be addressed in their neighborhood. Look at our elected officials and see which ones want to propose a new regulation for every issue while claiming to be conservative. Rotarian Socialism is not a conservative approach to governing.

On Saturday, there is a tea party planned in Chelan. While you're there claiming to value liberty, think about whether you value liberty even when it is inconvenient. Would you value an end to ag or other subsidies or tax breaks that benefit you but rob others of their liberty? How about if a more restrictive zoning might shield you from the possibility of something changing in the future, would you instead ask for you and your neighbors to have more freedom and less restriction? Would you encourage the government to have less social welfare responsiblity and instead have the liberty, and money, to fund the charities or your choice? Do you value others' right to free speech even when you don't agree with what they say? If you wouldn't take the side of liberty in those examples, you may not be as liberty loving as you think.

Most of our laws exist because of the few bad apples. We pass rules to the lowest common denominator, to regulate away the worst behavior. But the cost of regulating away that building that might not use a siding you like is that you also regulate away the clever designer who can use that siding in a creative, attractive way. We ban the best in order to limit the worst. The whole experience of life is lessened. With regards to zoning, look at the strict rules and design standards typical in Seattle and coming soon to our towns as compared to Houston. Houston is about to become the third largest city in the country and has no zoning!

Does Houston have some poor development, absolutely. It also has great development and a vibrancy that you won't find in Los Angeles, Seattle or San Francisco. The nanny state has a real cost.

As citizens, we have to demand our rights and liberty or we will lose even more. Houston is about to become the third largest city in the U.S.

As we pass the middle of August and we start to worry about getting kids ready for school, those who were hoping to sell their homes and properties in the Lake Chelan area know it won't be long before buying activity wanes to winter lows.

So, what do they do? It becomes "End of Summer Sale" time in Chelan! There are fewer and fewer new listings and more and more price reductions. There have been 148 price reductions in the last 30 days on the Chelan MLS and only 48 closed sales. Even the properties that don't reduce their list price often become much more open to offers or carrying a contract.

I have one client who would love a low ball offer on his acreage, but doesn't want to reduce the list price too much in case he needs to refinance later. He's even open to trades on almost anything that has value. Motivated sellers become even more so as the summer draws to a close at Lake Chelan! If you like I'll do my part. I'll even throw in a set of steak knives if you make an offer with me that gets accepted on a Lake Chelan home! See, I'm in the "End of Summer Sale" spirit too!