Thomas Janos

Good Morning Everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment and give you all an update on what is currently happening in the market today. The last two months have been a bit frustrating in the real estate market for Realtors and Buyers.

As many of you buyers can see in your property searches, there has been many Sold and Pending homes which is good for Sellers, but, the number of new listings has dropped dramatically in the last few months, which is bad for Buyers. The last two weeks especially. I am not sure why that is unless it is because of the Holiday. Normally Holidays are slow the week before and the week after. Hopefully it will pick up this week and we will get more new listings.

The bad thing is most homes priced below $150,000 are selling in multiple offers. I do not mean 2 or 3 offers per property... They are going with 15 or more offers per property.

Last week we lost an offer that I wrote $25k over asking price and we were still not the highest offer. There were 22 offers plus ours on this property. This can be frustrating for me and for our home buyers.

Just to give you an idea... We have written 19 offers last month many over asking price, and all were bank owned properties, and we only won 2 of those offers. The frustrating thing is that many of the good bank owned properties are sold prior to coming on the MLS and many still in multiple offers from investors coming in with Cash offers.

What does this mean for you as a home buyer? It means if you find a house you like we need to act on it right away and get our offer submitted and we need to write our best offer the first time because we are not getting a chance to do so later.

We work for you so if you want to still try and get a good deal on a home and submit a low offer that is fine with us as our job is to keep you happy (and get invited to your house warming party), but I want you know that low offers are having a hard time getting accepted in multiple offers.

Also go back in your search results and look at some of the properties that have been on the market a while. Some of these are still going in multiple offers but the ones that are not can still be taken with lower offers and the banks are dropping the prices on them.

The good thing is that rumor has it, that there is supposed to be two more waves of Foreclosure properties hitting the market over the summer so we will get more homes to look at.

I wish I had better news for you all but please keep looking and try not to get to frustrated if you can't find a house or if you have submitted offers and lost. You WILL eventually find the right house for you, it just may take longer then planned.

Hello again everyone.

I forgot to mention in my last blog entry about a few changes that are in the works in Washington DC that MAY effect this program. Our representatives for the Government Affairs Committee at the St Paul Association of Realtors brought these possible updates back from the National Realtors Capital Hill visit in Washington DC last month.

Remember these items are not Voted on yet but have been presented only. They may or may not pass.

• Congress it thinking of extending the date from December 31st, 2009 but no definite date has been recommended as of yet.
• They are considering making this program available to ALL home buyers not only first time buyers.
• There is even talk of raising the dollar amount.
• One of the proposals is to also include 2nd homes for Snow Birds and Cabin Owners.

These would be great add amendments to add to the current program and hopefully Congress will pass them.

If you are one of the first time home buyers sitting on a fence right now, this program may bump you off the fence and into your new home. Could you use $7,500? Well, guess what? If you qualify, it's yours! And it's not tough to qualify!

The government is offering this $8000 to any first time home buyer that purchases a new home until Devember 31,2009. To qualify you must be a US citizen (or qualified "nonresident alien") and make less than $75,000 a year. ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). You also have to be a legitimate 1st time home buyer OR you can't have owned a home in the last 3 years… This means if you owned a home before and then became a renter again for 3 years or more you qualify again as a first time buyer. That's it! Your tax person can go into more detail for you.

How does it work?

If you owe less than the $8.000.00 for taxes, the IRS cuts you a check for the difference. If you were owed a refund, add the $8.000.00 to your refund amount and that's what you'll receive. So, for example, let's say you owe $1,500 at tax time and your 1st time home buyer credit is $8.000.00 . (8000-1500=6500) You will get a refund check in the amount of $6,500.

If, for another example, you are owed a refund of $1,500 and your 1st time home buyer credit is $8.000.00 (8000+1500=9,500), you will get a check in the mail for $9,500. How cool is that?

There are no restrictions on the type of home: single family home, townhome, condo, new construction, or resale AND if you are a married couple filing separately, your credit will be split - $4,000 to each spouse.

Home Buyer Tax Credit: The 2008 tax credit provision has been amended as follows:

a. Tax credit is increased to $8,000

b. The income limits remain the same: ($75,000 for an individual; $150,000 for a couple).

c. First-time homebuyers and principal residences only. First time home buyer is defined as the purchaser (and the purchasers spouse) may not have owned a home in the three years prior to the purchase date of the home.

d. Tax credit is available until December 1st (previously it expired on July 1st).

e. Waiver of recapture (i.e. no repayment requirement) for properties purchased in 2009 prior to December 1^st

Ø The provision is retroactive to purchases made on or after January 1, 2009.

Ø Recapture section does apply to properties sold in first three years.

f. Waiver of prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds is included.

For more info visit:

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/

Woodbury First-time Home Ownership Program

Woodbury now has a First-time Home Ownership Program that is designed to encourage home ownership in the City of Woodbury by providing financing to low and moderate income first-time purchasers.

This program is a low-interest, deferred loan of up to $25,000 to qualified families who earn no more then 80% of the area mediam income. The current amount of $64,000 for a family of four.

Any person or household that has never owned a home or has not owned a home in the last three years, qualify as a first time home buyer.

The purchase price of the property may not exceed $236,500.

All single-family detached houses, townhomes and condo units are eligible for this program.

Many cities now are creating new programs for 1st time home buyers.

For more information please contact our office.

The Janos Group

651-407-7803

Woodbury Foreclosure Purchase Program

Are you looking to buy a home in Woodbury? Are you looking at foreclosures?

Well I have good news for you... Woodbury has a new program that many Realtors and Loan Officers are not aware of. If you buy a foreclosure property in Woodbury you can get a low interest loan for your 2nd mortgage.

How does the program work?

The Woodbury Foreclosure Purchase Program is designed to get homebuyers to purchase foreclosed properties in the City of Woodbury. To do that they are providing financing to low and moderate income homebuyers.

This is a low interest, deferred loan of up to $25,000. It is focused on qualified families who earn no more than 115 percent of area median income, capped at $90,000 per household.

The maximum purchase price of the property can not exceed $236,500.

Single-family detached houses, townhomes or condo units are eligible for this program.

For more information on this program please contact us.

The Janos Group
651-407-7803