Scott Cowan -Tacoma & Pierce County Area

This just came in from the Business Examiner. I am copying it directly to speed up the spreading of the news!

The bold text has been bolded by me.

The state Senate Ways and Means Committee unanimously adopted an amendment to the state budget authorizing the state to invest $25 million in a short-term loan program in order to provide a cash advance on the federal, first-time home buyers' tax credit, allowing potential home buyers to utilize the tax credit as down payment when closing the sale of their first home instead of receiving a credit next year. The budget, with this proviso authorizing the advance loan program, must be adopted by the full Senate and House, and signed by the Governor before it becomes effective. The 2009 Economic Recovery and Revitalization Act included a "refundable" tax credit worth up to 10 percent of the home purchase price with a maximum of $8,000 for taxpayers who purchase a home between now and Nov. 30. To help buyers that need down payment and closing cost assistance when purchasing a home with the tax credit, a number of Housing Finance Agencies are offering special short-term loans to qualified buyers. These loans are typically available for little or no interest and may be repaid with the homebuyer tax credit refund. The Washington Realtors sent a letter to its membership following the adoption of the amendment. "There is a demand from first-time home buyers – responsible people with jobs, good credit, and the ability to make the monthly mortgage payment," the statement read. "However, many of these potential home buyers still need down payment assistance and they can't get the $8,000 until after the sale is closed. Lack of down payment is the only barrier to home ownership for up to 50 percent of qualified first time home buyers. The Washington State Treasurer's Office, Housing Finance Commission and Washington Realtors are proposing a Tax Credit Advance Loan program that would advance the $8,000 tax credit at closing of a home sale and be repaid when the credit is received by the IRS. "Now more than ever, housing choices are critical not only to our families and children but also to reviving the economy. Washington's economic health depends on a healthy, vibrant housing market, which accounts for 24 percent of the state's employment and a significant portion of state tax revenues in sales, property, business and occupation and real estate excise taxes. "This effort to amend the state budget to include the budget proviso was made possible through no small amount of effort with plenty of credit to go around. Certainly, the leadership of State Treasurer Jim McIntire and Sen. Steve Hobbs played a key role as champions in the Senate to adopt the amendment. And the solid efforts of our coalition partners, expert lobbying team and key individuals made the difference. "To be clear, while this is a critical victory, it is only one important step in the process of adopting the state budget. The budget, with this proviso authorizing the advance loan program, must be adopted by the full Senate and House, and signed by the Governor before it becomes effective."

Keep checking back for more news as it happens. If your looking to get into a home but lacking the downpayment this might be just the opportunity for you to act on. Please contact Scott Cowan today (253) 219-1194 to be kept up to date on this fantastic opportunity.

Are you looking to purchase a home in the country? How about looking to buy a home in Gig Harbor, Dupont, Graham, etc?

The USDA is funding loans right now that require you to put zero dollars down! That's right 100% financing for rural home purchases!

Here is an article I wrote for another site that goes into a bit more detail.

If you are looking to take advantage of low interest rates and take advantage of the large number of homes on the market you should look at what USDA financing has to offer. When you are considering looking for a home you need to make sure your real estate and lender are up to date with the financing vehicle you will be using for your purchase.

Pierce County has many areas that are considered rural by the USDA that you would be surprised about. Dupont right by Ft. Lewis and McChord Airforce base is rural. Parts of Gig Harbor and the pennisula are rural. etc. etc. You can use this link to see if an address is considered rural. Take a look you might be suprised!

If you want more information on USDA financing or what homes are available that qualify for USDA financing please feel free to contact me directly at (253) 219-1194

I live and work in Tacoma Washington. The little brother of Seattle Washington the self appointed coffee capital of the world. I love coffee. I drink it all of the time. I worked for seven years for a major Seattle coffee company and had access to more coffee than one could drink in a lifetime. Trust me I tried, oh I tried but the beans just kept coming.

When I moved back to Tacoma six years ago I left my job in Seattle and along with that I left my loyalty to the coffees from Seattle. Recently I was rewarded with the best coffee I have ever had. It was right here in Tacoma within TWO MINUTES of my home. Right under my nose is Satellite Coffee Co. Above Supernova Hair & Tattoo. This small shop serves the BEST coffee I have ever had.

The barista took her time. It looked like she rejected more than 50% of the shots she pulled which slows down the service but oh the results let me tell you.... amazing. Satellite Coffee serves Stumptown Coffee and from what I can gather Stumptown is one of the pickiest roasters and wholesalers of coffee going. This article provides some insight on the Stumptown experience.

If you like coffee you will LOVE Satellite Coffee. Drop by and try your favorite coffee drink. You can find them at 817 Division Ave in Tacoma's Stadium district. Hours are 6:30am to 9:00pm Mon-Fri and 7:00am to 9:00pm Sat & Sun. They have free WiFi too!

Truly they serve heaven in a cup!

Best,

Scott Cowan

Wintergrass 2009 started yesterday and runs through Sunday. 200 musicians, 30 bands, 6 six stages, 4 venues. Great Bluegrass music is featured all weekend in downtown Tacoma.

You can find out more by visiting the Wintergrass website here.

If you are looking to get out this weekend and see Tacoma then this is one of the best reasons you have to get out and visit Tacoma!

Greg Swann of Bloodhound Blog is hosting a forum on setting up a Scenius Scene.

Scenius are Ultra-minimal weblogs echoing within other weblogs.

Scenius are shared genius the sum of the group is larger than the sum of the individuals.

The website for Scenius is http://scenius.net

By creating a Scenius you can provide a steady stream of content for sites that subscribe to your Scenius. You can also subscribe to a Scenius you can have a steady stream of content for your site. Google loves Moves, Adds, and Changes. What a great way to get Google Juice.

Greg is explaining how Google spiders sites. Sites that are not changed are not Googled often. The best way to get to the top of the page that you are desiring to be the top of you need Google to spidering your site.

Scenius is created in HTML which is searchable unlike widgets that are created javascript which are not searchable.

Scenius uses the CSS of the site that it is used on. This is very cool as it will take the style of the template that I am using. The content will look like it belongs on my site and it will look like it belongs on your site. Simply by using our CCS.....

We can create Scenius for our communtiies. If someone subscribes to a Scenius that I create then I will get a link back to my site from the that subscribes to my Scenius. This allows a site to get new content that I create and thus gets Google Love. I get a link back that can generate traffic to my site. This seems like an excellent Web 2.0 application. I give content. I get link backs. Everyone that particpates wins.....

Creating a Scenius is simple goto http://scenius.net and create a profile and a Scenius. Greg is currently working on a good set of documentation for the application.

To me the power offered here is so powerful. I will be creating a Scenius for my local market Tacoma Washington.

Stay tuned for more content!

Best wishes,

Scott Cowan