t's that time.... if you bought a new home and closed by December 31 and moved in by January 1, you can claim the homestead exemption.
There are two benefits in filing homestead. One is to prevent a forced sale of the homeowner's primary residence in the case of foreclosure or bankruptcy. Your primary residence can be valued at any dollar amount and must be less than 10 acres in an urban area and 100 acres in rural.
The second perk is saving you thousands and thousands on your tax appraised value and will decrease the taxes you will owe. The deadline for filing is April 30. Where can you get the forms to send to the appropriate taxing authorities?
Collin County homestead form:
http://www.collincad.org/collinhomesteadblank.pdf
Dallas County homestead forms:
http://www.dallascad.org/Forms/
http://tax.dentoncounty.com/main.asp?Parent=556&Link=215
Not all homes qualify for the homestead exemption. Only a homeowner's principal residence qualifies. To qualify, a home must meet the definition of a residence homestead: The home's owner must be an individual (for example: not a cor
poration or other business entity) and use the home as his or her principal residence on January 1 of the tax year. If you are age 65 or older, the January 1 ownership and residency are not required for the age 65 homestead exemption.
If you temporarily move away from the home, you still can qualify for an exemption if you don’t establish another principal residence and intend to return in a period of less than two years. Homeowners in military service outside the U.S. or in a facility providing services related to health, infirmity or aging may exceed the two-year period.
Beware: there are companies that will try to bill you for filing homestead and it comes in an official looking envelope. You do not need to pay for this service. It is completely free and forms are available at the above links. If you ever receive such a solicitation letter and want to verify its authenticity, you may call the Consumer Protection Division at the Texas Attorney General's Office at (800) 621-0508.
The new J.D. Power and Associates study has identified the top home builders in Texas when it comes to overall customer satisfaction, home quality and new home design. The J.D. Power 2008 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study (SM) finds that the customers of many builders expressed significantly higher satisfaction marks than they did a year ago and the industry, as a whole, has earned improved customer satisfaction due to heightened competition in today's marketplace.
In the "2008 New Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study," Darling Homes Homes swept the number one spots in each category in Dallas–Fort Worth! Congrats Darling Homes! Highland Homes also received very high marks on the survey as well.
Are you interested in living in La Villita in Irving, TX? This is a prestigious community that's part of the Las Colinas Homeowner's Association near some of the best high-tech companies in Dallas.
K. Hov has 3 inventory homes currently available and October is their fiscal year end. They are ready to rid themselves of excess inventory to make their numbers look as good as possible for 2008 sales.
Darling Homes also has 3 inventory homes currently available. They are all 3/2.5.
The last lot facing the lake is available now! Instead of building with K Hov or Darling Homes, you can build with a custom builder and have your home reflect your personal taste. The finish out also has more standards than either of the builders out there. We have one client already building with them and immensely enjoying it.
La Villita single family home prices begin in the high $300's to build with the production builders. The inventory homes that are currently available are in the $400-$600's range.
La Villita also offers townhomes from Portrait-Pasquinelli Homes and City Homes. The townhomes begin in the $200k range.
The new La Villita Elementary School just opened this year and people are flocking to the area to be able to get a new home and great school in this great location! Irving is running out of land and this will be one of the last places to be able to buy a new home in the La Villita area.
Who else is excited about this optimistic news report that was in the Dallas Morning News this week?PMI Group just released a new study and the results are out - the Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Irving area is the least likely in the nation to lose home values - along with the Fort Worth area. One of the economists for the PMI Group states that Texas is looking better than anyone else.
Just in case you missed the article, you can check out the URL below to read it.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/100208dnbuspmi.cd7bb689.html
Look forward to your comments!
We get asked a lot – why work with a Realtor when you‘re buying a new home from a builder? Here is a story that may help you with this question.
We had some clients hire us in July to buy a new home. We took them to look at several builders and they really liked the floor plan of Builder X, so we found a community for them where they could build this home and negotiated the contract and saved them $18k in pricing and other terms.
We were offered a lot at the front of the neighborhood and were told we could build the home there with the upstairs they wanted, the extended master bedroom, the extended outdoor living area and a 3-car garage. Then, they came back to us and said they couldn’t do this after all on this lot that we’d need to move lots. So, we got them moved to an upgraded lot at no charge.
Now the builder said they couldn’t do both the extended master and outdoor living and the 3 car garage. However, they could do the 3-car driveway. So, they opted for the extended master and outdoor living as that’s what “made the home” to them. The projected finish date they gave us was mid-November, so we proceeded ahead. Our clients have sold most of their furniture now and have gotten their job transfer to November.
Now, it’s late September and the builder comes back to our client saying they would have to shave some space here and there off the home, but offered them some options totaling $1500 and asked if they could just sign that change order and send it back to them, they’d get started. As this was the first time we were hearing of this, we investigated further as it seemed “off” to us.
In reality, the shaven space would now equate to 400 sq. ft.! They want to take off the extended master and extended living area because someone had made a mistake about the land variance. At this point, we’re back to square one. They would not be getting what they contracted for now. Additionally, since the home was not even started yet, they would have to wait until late December – hopefully - to move and their home has already been sold with the buyers to move in in December.
So, we started negotiating with the builder on behalf of our out-of-state buyers. They offered to build us this same home w/out the extended master and outdoor living on a different lot in the same community which would put us where we are now. The other offer made to our clients was to build them the home in a closer to their work, more upscale community. However, they wanted to add on $18k to the price.
What our clients wanted was for them to build the home that they want in the new community for the price we’ve contracted for. Additionally, since they are not going to be able to finish the home in November as originally promised, they needed some builder assistance with lodging for the month of December.
The wisdom and know how of builders work gained from years of working for one of the Top 20 Builders in the Nation and being Sales Counselor of the Year is invaluable. Our experience coupled with the bargaining power of the #1 RE sales office in Dallas allowed us to achieve phenomonal results!
In the end, we were able to get the home for them that they wanted in the more upscale community (with higher re-sale) for the same price as they had contracted for originally, including the $1500 in options, adding a 3rd car garage – now saving them $45+k – and the builder has put it on red alert and is going to finish the home by November as originally promised. Our clients said we could have never done this without you. This is the power of having an advocate on your side!
Ask about our sell your home in 39 days or we sell it for free and how we can save you a minimum of $5,000 on your new home purchase guarantees. Dallas and Collin County. MLS updated daily on website.
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