Ricky Beach Broker/Owner, Realtor

The Mortgage Relief and Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007 is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012. With short sale time frames ranging from 4-10 months we're coming up on decision making time for under water homeowners in Reno and Sparks, NV.

As of today, there aren't any talks from NAR about pushing for an extension but in an election year you never know what can happen. Your decision may come down to trusting the powers in D.C. to extend or taking what they have already given.

How does the act work? You short sell your home for $100,000 with $200,000 remaining on the loan. If the bank doesn't come back for a deficiency judgment you're on the hook for $100,000 in that tax year in the form of a 1099-c.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation allows you to cancel this tax by using Form 982, the Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness.

The Act doesn't apply to all debts so check Publication 4861to see if you're eligible.

For more information on Reno and Sparks short sales contact Ricky at (775) 750-1437 or Ricky@Resnv.com

*The preceding was for information purposes only. Renown Real Estate Services and Broker Ricky Beach do not provide financial or legal advice. All parties are advised to seek profession help from a qualified CPA and/or legal counsel.*

The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut, signed by President Obama, didn't come without compromise. The tax cut is being covered by an increase in "G-fees" or guarantee fees of 10 basis points imposed on all Freddie, Fannie, and FHA loans.

What does this mean for the consumer? Plan on an increased rate of .125% and an increase of the annual mortgage insurance premium by 1/10th of 1% for FHA loans.

Doesn't sound like much right? Let's look at what happens to your monthly payment...

For a loan of $200,000 the increase of .125% would equal $250 more per year in interest or $7,500 over 30 years. An FHA loan would be increased by $4,200 over 30 years.

The rate can be bought down by the home buyer but most people looking to get an FHA don't have the cash to do it.

The increase officially begins on April 1st, 20, most lenders have already changed their rate sheets to reflect the increase, and ends on October 1, 2021. Yes, it says 2021.

For more information on FHA loans or buying a home in Reno and Sparks feel free to contact me at (775) 750-1437 or Ricky@Resnv.com

For many FHA first time home buyers the chance to find a turn-key property is slim. With a market full of deserted properties and as-is bank owned buyers tight on money have few options. Insert the "flip".

A flipped property is where an investor or group of investors purchase a property, usually at the courthouse trustee sale, rehab it, and put it back on the market for profit. Prior to 2010, there was a waiting period that FHA buyers had to abide by in order to purchase one of these flips.

In February of 2010, the Obama Administration waived the 90 day rule through the end of 2011. This allowed FHA to lend on 42,000 mortgages nationwide that they most likely wouldn't have been able to because of poor property condition.

Well, that flip waiver has been extended through the end of 2012 with much praise and a sigh of relief from potential home buyers and Reno/Sparks flip giants NRES-NV1 LLC and Dickson Group I LLC.

The flip rule does come with a set of criteria and processes that must be followed in order to bypass the 90 day waiting perios. Most specifically for flips that net the seller over 20%. As a buyer, you may run into second appraisals or repairs/rehabs needing to be documented.

For more information on buying a home in Reno or Sparks, Nevada feel free to contact me at Ricky@Resnv.com

The Reno/Sparks Real Estate Market Report for December 2011 is out from the Reno Sparks Association of Realtors®… Here is a quick overview: Here are the stats through November of 2011:

• Median sale price increased $506 from October of 2011
• Median price continues to stay within 4% of the previous few months
• 50% of sales were under $150,000. The payment on a purchase at or below $150,000 is generally at or below market rent.
• 488 units sold in November outpacing November of 2010 by 22%
• 2011 ytd sales have outpaced 2010 sales by 10%

For more market and affordability stats please watch the video. To learn more about buying or selling a home in Reno and Sparks please contact me at (775) 750-1437 or Ricky@Resnv.com.

While third party sites like zillow.com and trulia.com continue to gain popularity they have one major problem.... They aren't directly connected to our Reno and Sparks MLS system. Because they don't have a direct feed their updates and information can be behind and incorrect.

My most recent run in with a zillow.com client led to learning that the home they have been tracking for months, still active on zillow, was actually pending and about to close within the week.

So what can we do to get around this misinformation? ....Listingbook.

The Listingbook program has the same robust toolsas sites like zillow.com or trulia.com but has a direct feed from our local MLS. So the updates are in real time. While many people still swear by zillow and trulia I've found my clients like using Listingbook for factual information and outside sites for all the fluff.

In the fourth video of our ListingBook series we go over creating a daily email update....

For more information on buying a home in Reno or to get a free Listingbook account feel free to email me at Ricky@Resnv.com or call (775) 750-1437.