Stephanie Roulier

Every time you watch the news, open your homepage on the computer or read a newspaper, we're told home sales are declining and that last month was even worse than the previous month which was the worse in thirty-odd years. There is still no end to falling prices and even amazing rates, like 5% mortgages are not getting people to sign on the dotted line. Then on Thursday, President Barack Obama announces in his proposed budget, that the most sacred of tax deductions, (the mortgage interest deduction) will be reduced for certain homeowners.

The timing of this proposal couldn't be worse. I believe we need every incentive available for people to make a home purchase. So, Joe Jones, down the block, is making $209,000 a year and wants to purchase a house, thereby supporting the economy, the real estate industry and the construction industry and you're going to penalize him by allowing him a smaller deduction on his taxes? We need as many people buying homes as possible. If it takes incentives, LOWER tax rates, or one-percent loans (with no adjustable rates to go up or balloon payments) or prices to finally bottom-out, so be it. Let's not penalize Joe Jones for being "rich" (and when did that become a dirty word?!?).

I realize that President Obama's proposal must pass Congress and even with an approval rating hovering about 12%, I hope cooler heads in Washington will prevail and the mortgage interest reduction remains as is.

And don't even get me started about lowering the deductions for charitable contributions!

I see that the Federal Government has finally decided to help out struggling homeowners with their high-rate adjustable mortgages. I believe this is what should have been done to start with, specifically with the TARP money, as well as the stimulus package recently passed. Stemming the tides of foreclosures is a BIG step in the right direction. People who qualify will be able to lower their payments and hopefully, keep their home.

We can get into a moral debate about whether these people bought too much of a house to start with and willingly signed paperwork stating that these rates and their payments could go up significantly. This mortgage relief program should help stabilize falling home prices, which would help speed the recovery of the real estate market.

What are your thoughts?

I read some really interesting statistics this morning. Statistics have been released from Realtytrac.com concerning foreclosures in December 2008. For those of you who are concerned about the number of foreclosures happening in Alabama, you should feel pretty good about this information. In Alabama, for December, there were 737 new foreclosures reported. I know, that seems like a pretty high number, but, if you look at our surrounding states, it's really not as bad as you think. Georgia reportedly had 10,031 foreclosures for the same month. Florida had 50,808 foreclosures reported for the month of December. Tennessee reported 3,884 foreclosures for that month and Mississippi had the fewest foreclosures at 132. The nationwide number of foreclosures reported for December was 303,410.

I, personally, feel much better knowing what our number is here in Alabama as compared to our neighboring states. It's hard to believe that Georgia and Florida have so many foreclosures and I feel fortunate that we haven't experienced the saturation of foreclosures in our market to the same degree. The difference in the numbers here is unbelievable.

So, if you're trying to sell your home right now, just know that it really is a great time to be selling, it just might take a little while longer. If you're wanting to purchase a new home, the time couldn't be better. There are so many properties to choose from and you know the home will be priced right.

I have a beautiful, blue sky, sunny day out my window and I hope all of you have a wonderful day and a great week ahead!!