Stacy Magid, Prince William County Real Estate

Originally Posted on NBC4.com

By MARK WELLBORN

Updated 1:16 PM EST, Thu, Nov 5, 2009

The Senate voted late Wednesday to extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.

In short, the credit would be extended to home purchases under contract by April 30, 2010, and closed on by June 30th. It would be available to individuals earning up to $125,000, or $225,000 for couples, up from $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples under the current law. The proposal would also let existing homeowners qualify for a $6,500 credit if they have lived in their current residence for five years.

This extension of the credit is included in a bill that will also extend unemployment benefits. The measure now goes to the House where it is expected to be supported, and could be voted on as early as Thursday morning. This means that it could be on President Obama's desk for signature as early as next week.

From CNN:

The extension will cost $10.8 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Through mid-September, 1.4 million tax returns had qualified for the credit, according to the IRS. Some portion of those returns, which the IRS couldn't specify, represents buyers who took advantage of an earlier version of the tax credit, which was only worth $7,500 and has to be repaid over time.

By the end of November, the credit will have been used by 1.8 million homebuyers, at least 355,000 of whom would not have bought a house without the tax break, according to estimates by the National Association of Realtors.

Copyright 2007-2009, UrbanTurf.

First Published: Nov 5, 2009 11:00 AM EST

The Coles VFD is having their first Annual Haunted Trail this weekend. Its a great event to get the community together and best of all its FREE.

Fun for the whole family! Festivities include a haunted trail, children's activities, games, food, drinks, candy and more.

Come and join the Coles Volunteer Fire Department.

Friday October 30th
7-11 PM
Saturday October 31st
6-11 PM

13712 Dumfries Road
Manassas, VA 20112
703-791-3400

IBM Announces Agreement to Acquire Wilshire Credit Corporation Assets

ARMONK, NY - 5 October 2009 - IBM (IBM: NYSE) today announced that its mortgage servicing subsidiary has signed an agreement with Bank of America Corporation (BAC:NYSE) to acquire the core operating assets of Wilshire Credit Corporation, including the Wilshire mortgage servicing platform, and hire Wilshire's approximately 900 employees. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition continues IBM's strategic focus on the mortgage services industry and strengthens its commitment to deliver mortgage business process outsourcing solutions that improve our clients' agility, flexibility and competitiveness as they work to manage their businesses more effectively through dynamic market cycles.

"The acquisition of Wilshire's assets further demonstrates IBM's commitment to delivering robust and innovative mortgage solutions during a difficult time for the mortgage industry," said Eric Ray, general manager, Financial Services Sector, IBM Global Technology Services. "It also reinforces IBM's commitment to leveraging the full capabilities and resources of IBM to partner with our financial services clients in solving their most difficult challenges."

Wilshire's operating assets will become part of IBM's Lender Business Process Services, Inc. business unit, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the IBM Corporation. Wilshire will work with its clients, IBM and Bank of America to transition its mortgage servicing rights and related assets to Bank of America. The agreement remains subject to customary closing conditions. There are no immediate changes taking place for customers as a result of this announcement.

Press Contact:

Bruce McConnel

IBM Media Relations

804-327-4644

wmcconn@us.ibm.com

Please join us for a twenty minute presentation, followed by a question and answer session.

We will cover topics like ....

•- How does a short sale, foreclosure, or bankruptcy affect my credit?

•- What happens to my credit score if I'm late just once on my rent?

•- Do I qualify for better interest rates if my credit score is higher?

•- Should I close my credit card once it is paid off?

•- How does the size of the balance on my credit cards, affect my score?

Credit standards have tightened and the mortgage landscape is changing fast. Learn proven strategies to improve your score, boost your buying power, and the fastest way to recover from a negative entry.

Keynote speaker is Laurie Puccio a Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist with First County Mortgage, LLC.

Saturday, September 19^th at 11:00am or 1:00pm

Location: 12581 Milstead Way, Suite 400, Woodbridge, VA 22192 - at the corner of Hoadly Road and the Prince William Parkway.

Please RSVP to reserve a seat at the session of your choice at:

stacy@stacymaid.com or 703-599-5337

Presented by First County Mortgage, LLC and Century 21 New Millennium.

Each Office is independently Owned and Operated.

Houses continue to sell very quickly in the Woodbridge area. Many with multiple offers and at or above list price. Here are the latest market statistics for the month of August.

While house prices have dropped a bit overall since 2008 the days on market is considerably less.

Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. - MLS Resale Data
Copyright 2009 - Information deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed.