About Las Vegas' Aliante

"Although the tax credit remains at $8,000 for homebuyers that have not owned a primary residence in the last three years, it has been expanded to include a $6,500 tax credit for homebuyers that have lived in their current primary residence for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight years. Under the old rules, move-up homebuyers did not qualify." Consider these three examples:

Example 1:
Jane purchased a home in 2002, lived there for 5 years as her primary home, moved out in 2007, and turned that home into a rental property. If Jane decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she lived in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 2:
Harry purchased a home in 2004, and lived there for the past 5 years as his primary home. If Harry decides to buy a new primary residence today, he would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that he lived in the same residence as his primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 3:
Nicole purchased a home in 2006, and lived there for the past 3 years as her primary home. If Nicole decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would not qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she did not live in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

The tax credit applies to homes purchased for less than $800,000 before May 1, 2010. "If you sign a binding contract to purchase a home before May 1st, you would need to close on the transaction before July 1, 2010," Nicholas said. "It works kind of like a gift certificate that can be redeemed for cash. You simply file a form with the IRS right after you buy your home, and the IRS will send you a check for the full amount of your credit."

The income limitation for single tax payers went up from $75,000 under the old rules to $125,000 under the new rules. For married tax payers, the income limitation went up from $150,000 to $225,000. "This means that more people will qualify for the credit - especially in parts of the country with higher costs of living," Nicholas said. "This should help stimulate parts of the housing market that may not have been impacted by the old version of the credit."

There are many creative ways of structuring your home purchase transaction in ways that maximize the benefits of the credit. Here are a few examples:

-The credit applies to 1-4 unit homes as long as you live in one of the units as your primary residence - you could live in one unit and rent out the others

-If two unmarried individuals buy a home, and only one of the individuals qualifies for the credit based on their income or past home ownership status, the individual who qualifies for the credit can claim the full credit. (Note: In the case of married couples, both spouses must qualify for the credit).

-The credit applies even if you have co-signers on your mortgage loan

Article from RIS Media:Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-11-08/expanded-version-of-tax-credit-will-allow-more-homebuyers-to-qualify/#ixzz0WVKbdJYa

Interesting article direct from RISMEDIA...Read the whole article Click Here

59% of Home Buyers Rely on Low Down-Payment Government Mortgages

RISMEDIA, October 21, 2009-The new home market is cooling down and government intervention has been a key driver to new home sales, according to a recent monthly survey of home builders, just released by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

In addition to the tax credit that expires Nov. 30, government mortgage programs have been critical in 2009. The survey reveals that 59% of this year's sales have been dependent on FHA, VA or USDA financing programs with 96.5% to 100% LTV.

What percentage of your home buyers this year used this type of financing?

Region Cash FHA Jumbo Other Conforming USDA VA Don't
Insured Loans Loans Loans Know
Midwest 3% 59% 1% 18% 3% 3% 13%
Northeast 7% 41% 8% 28% 2% 6% 8%
Northwest 5% 34% 13% 31% 6% 11% 1%
Northern CA
Region 4% 68% 0% 16% 0% 8% 3%
Northern
Florida 6% 47% 2% 15% 16% 9% 5%
Southeast 7% 48% 6% 18% 3% 11% 7%
Southern
California 6% 48% 15% 19% 0% 8% 3%
Southern
Florida 22% 59% 4% 13% 0% 3% 0%

The highest use of FHA financing was reported by Northern California builders, while Southern Florida builders reported the highest percentage of cash purchases. "The cash sales are most likely due to investor purchases of attached homes," said Jody Kahn, a vice president with the firm.

Read more: direct from RISMEDIA...Read the whole article Click Here

Here is a great article direct from RISMEDIA...by Jeff Mandel and Marlin Brandt...Read more: TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CREDIT

Here are some simple first steps to consider in liability management:

STEP 1: Understand How Credit Works-Now is not the time to be content with understanding 80% of what you need to know about your credit or saying, "I'll get to it tomorrow because I don't have time today." Ninety-four percent of consumers are challenged with understanding the basics of how personal credit works to assure they have the best credit and debt profile possible.

STEP 2: Continually Evaluate and Monitor the Health of Your Current Credit Profile-The second step is to evaluate your current credit and debt profile and establish a plan based on your short- and long-term credit needs. Continually monitoring your credit report and profile is no different or less important today than getting a physical exam by your doctor.

STEP 3: Optimize Your Credit-Each of your debts should be periodically reviewed and analyzed. Are there options you can take to improve your overall credit profile so that you're more desirable to creditors for their "preferred" interest rates? Should you consolidate some of your debt? Once you strengthen your credit and debt profile, do you have options on your home, auto and credit cards to negotiate lower interest rates and terms that would save you money monthly?

STEP 4: Rethink New Purchases-Excellent credit is like an insurance policy. When you need to use it you want to help ensure you qualify for the preferred interest rates and terms that will give you the best payment options based on your needs and capabilities.

Don't let anyone mislead you. It takes time, knowledge and planning to assure you build, optimize and manage your personal credit and debt profile so that you can help maintain the affordability of what you have and/or create a better opportunity to qualify for preferred interest rates and terms on purchases requiring additional credit. Jeff Mandel is president and Marlin Brandt is COO of ApprovalGUARD.

Read the full articla: http://rismedia.com/2009-09-03/take-charge-is-your-credit-and-debt-profile-optimized/#ixzz0Q9gT7Hcy

LasVegasDawn.com

Maybe it is if the focus is on the mortgage-backed securities market. More specifically on privately-issued mortgage bonds. Just a few months ago there was hardly any market for them at all, and if there were one, the prices of them were on life support.

But now this particular sector is stirring. At least a little bit. Mortgage bonds secured by 30-year fixed-rate prime paper issued in 2006-07 traded for 55 cents on the dollar in March, reports Amherst Securities Group, a dealer and market maker in mortgage-backed securities. That was then, now the same paper is going for almost 80 cents to the dollar. A nice improvement in about three months. It shows that private money is slowly returning to the home loan marketplace, that investors see some stability and viability in it. This should especially help out in the jumbo mortgage segment where private financiers have historically played a major role.

This seems to be just one of the first steps toward a healthier mortgage environment. As long as there is interest toward the market, that's a positive sign, instead of scaring investors to run away from it. The fundamentals, though, are still rather distorted and it'll take many months to right them. But a small encouraging advance here and there is what's needed to get the momentum changed and this appears to be one of those.

Let's go right to it. In the 10 Most Undervalued cities Las Vegas placed third, according to IHS Global Insight. The firm put the report together by analyzing household incomes, historical prices and housing densities and then arrived at statistically normal home prices which were subsequently weighed against actual values of a city. The difference either placed the area in the overvalued or undervalued category.

In this study, Las Vegas median home price was determined to be $140,000, meaning it is 40.9% undervalued. That is a high number.

It's hard to say if this is good news or the other kind of news. On the good news side would be the fact that homes here now are fast becoming, actually already are, nice and affordable again. Specifically the lower half of the market is beginning to align well with Southern Nevada's average annual income. That is generally considered a healthy environment, supported by recent upbeat existing home sale figures.

On the other hand, on the bad news side, values have dropped so far that many existing homeowners are increasingly upside down, effectively disqualifying them from any mortgage refinance or moving up or even allowing them to leave town. Those who've bought property in the last five years are really vulnerable here. Under their circumstances to do any of those would require they bring a wad of money to the closing table and that is today an unlikely scenario in most cases. Who has an extra $30,000, or $80,000, or whatever, to plunk down just to close a deal. Practically nobody. This development is rather unhealthy for the real estate market in Las Vegas. It is going to take many years before this massive imbalance will correct itself.