The first time home tax credit will soon be expiring. You must be under contract by May 1, 2010.

To play it safe, stay away from "short sales" which do not guarantee a closing. However, foreclosures and REO properties still would make an excellent choice for a bargain property. To learn more, feel free to contact me.

Q. What is the credit?
A. The first-time homebuyer credit is a tax credit for individuals and couples who purchase a new home after April 8, 2008, and before May 1, 2010. There are several versions of the credit depending upon when the home was purchased:

• For homes purchased in 2008, the credit, with some exceptions, must be repaid and takes the form of a $7,500 interest-free loan.
• For homes purchased in 2009 prior to November 7, the credit is for a maximum of $8,000 and, with some exceptions, does not have to be repaid, but it's only for new home owners who have not owned a home in the prior three years.
• Beginning November 7, 2009, an additional category of new homebuyers, long-time residents (who owned their own homes), was added. The credit for this group is a maximum of $6,500, which, with some exceptions, does not have to be repaid. (1/27/10)

Q. How much is the credit?
A. The credit is 10 percent of the purchase price of the home, with a maximum available credit of $7,500 ($8,000 if you purchased your home in 2009 or early 2010) for either a single taxpayer or a married couple filing a joint return,...

January 2010 Sales Up Greatly Compared to January 2009

by murray balkcom
dreambigproperties.com

Wow! It seems like the first month of 2010 blew past rapidly, but the warm weather of Spring cannot get here soon enough. Before you know it, May will be here and many of you will be able to board a SouthWest Airlines jet and fly directly to the beach. I’m not sure whether or not that will spark sales, but it should add a few extra trips to the beach each year for many South Walton beach lovers.

January falls in the heart of winter. Our nation’s capital was recently blanketed with signs of winter, and here at the beach, I had to find some socks to wear with my sandals — ah, winter isn’t too bad, if you live in paradise.

Winter keeps many people away from the beach and typically, that means slower sales for real estate in South Walton. So when I inform you that sales slipped from those unusually high levels in the month of December, you shouldn’t be too surprised. However, we are seeing a little twist — Though sales (both quantity and dollar volume) decreased compared to December, pending sales for Homes, Condos, & Town Homes (combined) increased 24% compared to December.


Also, to see longer term trend comparisons, these three charts compare the...
>>>CONTINUE READING<<<...

by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
murraybalkcom@yahoo.com
dreamBIGproperties.com

In our area, everything typically comes to a halt in the winter time. Long pants and shoes replace swimsuits and flip flops. After all, we are mostly a seasonal beach community. It should be no surpirse that real estate sales also decrease as winter approaches. Thanksgiving week tends to throw everyone off schedule and out of routine for a week. Then, Christmas season hits, with similar results. People simply have other things on their minds than buying real estate. While November sales are somewhat down as we expect, the real surprise we've had this year comes in the way of <!--more-->higher sales in August, September and October, when typically, real estate sales have been slow.



For the first time since July, sales for Homes, Condos, and Town Homes in South Walton, actually... (continue reading)

Whether you are looking to buy, or sell, real estate, you need a knowledgeable Realtor who knows the local market, but who also keeps a pulse on the market. What’s selling? What’s not selling? When you decide to work with a Realtor, I sincerely hope that you will select me to assist you with your real estate needs. I build my business, one customer at a time.
Stats:

61 Sales
29% Cash
Total Sales Volume: $36.1 million
Median Sales Price: $420,000
Average Sale Price as percentage of List Price: 78%


Why is inventory slowly decreasing? — there are more listings selling or expiring, than there are new listings coming on the market. (see attached pdf file for more information) One number to notice is that while the median sold price is $420,000, the withdrawn, expired, and new listing median prices are well above that $420,000 level which is selling. If you are selling, it would make sense to know what is selling, and get close with your asking price, otherwise, your listing is likely to expire, unsold.

Looking at the 3-month moving average of median sold prices (black line in the graph above), we see a slight upturn over the last two months, but it doesn’t justify the higher prices of those new listings.

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