This March Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his campaign to extend and expand the hugely successful homebuyer tax credit to sign legislation that will do just that. AB 183 will provide a tax credit of up to $10,000 to Californians who are buying their first home or purchasing a brand new home. This legislation, part of the Governor’s larger California Jobs Initiative, will play a key role in getting our economy moving again by encouraging home ownership and stimulating job creation.

 “I have been up and down the state pushing this important housing bill that will get people off the fence and into homes while creating jobs and stimulating our economy – and today I am proud to take action and put it into law,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Creating jobs is my number one priority and I am glad that I have been able to sign two job-creating bills in two days. I applaud the legislature for their great work and encourage them to keep it up and pass the remaining job-creating elements of my California Jobs Initiative.”

 AB 183 was passed by the legislature on March 22 and gives the Franchise Tax Board authority to extend a total of $200 million in tax credits to California homebuyers; $100 million for buyers of new, unoccupied homes and another $100 million for first-time buyers of existing homes. The credit will be extended from May 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. The tax credit will be available to buyers on a first-come, first-served basis and is applied in equal amounts over a period of three taxable years. To qualify, the buyer must not be a dependant and must purchase a home that does not belong to a relative.

For an accurate informative pre approval by one of the top mortgage teams in the Bay Area click here – we look forward to guiding you through the process!

 We are on the verge of seeing rate increases in the coming weeks. For an accurate quick rate quote visit my website. As always my team and I are here to help you!

Interestingly enough, in a recent survey, Thomas Reuters and the University of Michigan indicates that it is sellers who are holding the market at low levels. In the survey results, approximately 75 percent of homeowners who participated in the survey viewed current home buying conditions as favorable because of attractive home prices and low interest rates. However, nine out of ten of those home owners viewed the conditions for the sale of their own home as unfavorable, not because of lack of buyers, but because of price declines.

Reuters goes on to suggest that these responses are predicting a long-term drag on the housing market for both economic and psychological reasons. There is, the report said, a significant barrier to purchasing a new home if the potential buyer’s current home is “under water”. Even homeowners with equity will be constrained in providing a down payment for a new property if their equity has fallen below 20 percent.

Homeowners do see some signs of improvement in the market, however. 46 percent of survey respondents felt that their home had lost value in the last year, but in the survey conducted during the fourth quarter of 2009, 53 percent of respondents reported a decline and one year ago the figure was 60 percent. 14 percent felt that their home’s value had increased during the past year. The number of homeowners who expected the home to gain value over both the short and long term also increased.

The number of homeowners who expected the home to gain value over both the short and long term also increased. 24 percent expected that the value would go up over the next year while 15 percent, the lowest response since early 2007, expected a further decline. This is a significant improvement over the attitude one year ago when 26 percent of respondents expected a loss in value at a mean average of -1.9 percent. Respondents to the most recent survey, however, aren’t looking for much of an increase in values; the average expected increase was 0.0 percent

It was very interesting for me to see this survey of homeowners but I ask you this….and I know Thomas Reuters is the world’s leading source on intelligent information BUT doesn’t this study really suggest that if sellers had equity they would sell???  There has also been much debate on what inventory will be coming on the market in the future. To reduce the cost of maintaining the condition of foreclosed properties, banks have delayed the liquidation process and allowed delinquent borrowers to remain in their homes. In addition to that, by delaying the liquidation of foreclosed properties, banks have avoided large asset value write-downs. I expect banks to continue to utilize this strategy, but it won’t last forever.  Once the housing market starts to pick up recovery momentum, banks will begin to slowly liquidate their inventory of foreclosed properties. Hopefully they will do so in a manner that does not greatly disrupt local supply/demand.

This is my Seller Buydown Video for Real Estate Agents in 2010. This is the first screen capture video I have made. More of a tutorial style video. I plan on making thousands more!

I realized after one of my recent blogs – THESE REAL ESTATE AGENTS ARE NUCKING FUTS, that not many agents or sellers or buyers know what a lender asks from an appraiser. Its easy to point the finger at the appraiser and call him an idiot but I have found that when we do have a low appraisal many of the comps I get from agents don’t qualify as they are too new, too far away, etc.

So I asked lenders for guidelines and reviewed with a couple appraisers and made this…ENJOY!