Stimulus

Bellingham Wins $350,000 EPA Grant as Climate Showcase Community

Bellingham has just been awarded an  EPA grant as a Climate Showcase Community (CSC). The goal of the grant is to assist communities establish and implement climate change initiatives that will help reduce carbon emissions. 25 awards where given to 450 applicants.  Bellingham will use the grant funds to provide outreach and education on the Community Energy Challenge project, a collaboration with Sustainable Connections, Opportunity Council, Puget Sound Energy and RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike said “The Community Energy Challenge will demonstrate a comprehensive approach to saving energy that combines community outreach, ‘one-stop shop’ weatherization assistance for homes and businesses, and customer and classroom education,” The Challenge will creat living wage ‘green collar’ jobs and result in a significant and measurable reduction in energy use and carbon emissions from businesses, institutional buildings and homes across the entire county.  It is estimated that more than 2,000 local homeowners and business owners will benefit from the Challenge.
“The City will use the grant funds to complete the education and outreach element of the Challenge by collaborating with 3 key partners:

• Sustainable Connections (SC) is a non-profit membership organization of nearly 650 Northwest Washington business and community leaders working to transform and model an economy built on sustainable practices. SC will be a sub-awardee and will lead development and implementation of the outreach plan.
• RE Sources for Sustainable Communities is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable communities through recycling, education, advocacy and conservation of natural resources.  RE Sources will be a sub-awardee and will take the lead on promoting the Challenge outreach efforts through school districts, implementing the proven successful Cool School Challenge program. The Cool School Challenge will engage students, teachers and administrators in school-wide initiatives to save energy and reduce carbon pollution.  Participants will also have the opportunity to bring information and practices home to their families.
• Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is a national leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and supports the Community Energy Challenge as part of the utility’s commitment to the region’s environmental and economic sustainability.  As a sponsor of the Challenge and as a technical resource for Sustainable Connections and the Building Performance Center, the utility offers expertise and knowledge in energy efficiency that is helping the Challenge in meeting its goals for Whatcom County.  PSE’s energy efficiency and education programs involved in this challenge are proven to help customers save energy and protect the environment.  “

Approximately 1,800 homes and 150 commercial buildings will improve their energy efficiency during the 3 years of the Challenge as well as additional conservation measures that will be taken in public schools and other key buildings.  The Challenge will result in a carbon emissions reduction equivalent to the removing 1,378 passenger cars from the road for one year.

Images of barometers will be displayed on large banners around town and widely published in print media to track collective progress towards the goal of “making Bellingham and Whatcom County a nationally recognized leader in energy efficiency.”

Whatcom County residents will have a variety of opportunities at home, at work and at school to take up the Challenge, save energy and money and help the community lead the nation towards practical solutions.

The New Improved Home Buyer Tax Credit is Here

The home buyer tax credit ,which is part of a larger bill that also extends unemployment benefits. has been approved by both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama.

First-time home buyers are still eligible for tax credits of up to $8,000. Buyers will now have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30.

The new program will also expand the tax credit to include existing home owners who have owned a home for at least five of the last 8 years will be able to apply for tax credits of up to $6,500 when they purchase their next home.

The maximum price on a home will be $800,000 and vacation homes are not eligible.

The National Association of Realtors says that so far, about 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the program and they estimated that 350,000 of these buyers would not have otherwise purchased.

The tax credit will also be extended for another year for military personnel serving outside of the United States until June 30, 2011.

Senator Johnny Isakson, who heavily pushed for the extension, along with his own version that would have increased the credit to $15,000 stated, “this bill will help us boost what is the real problem in the U.S housing market today and that is what is called the move-up market.”

Today we got something to help the move up buyers that should help jump start that segemet of the market as well as the first time buyer market.

Senate Approves $8,000 Tax Credit

The Senate has agreed to extend the popular $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years. The present tax credit is about to expire at the end of November.

Senators have agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a credit of up to $6,500 to buyers who have owned their current homes for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years.

The tax credits would be available to buyers who sign agreements by the end of April and would have until the end of June to close the transaction on their new homes.

The new law is aimed making the availability of the credit beyond first-time buyers and giving the real-estate market a boost while preventing real-estate investors from benefiting.

Now if the House agrees we can get some more people into new homes.

What is the $8000 Tax Credit?

My two cents:

The tax credit has it’s pros, cons, and far-reaching economic consequences that are unknown and hotly contested. However, there is little doubt that it is of great benefit to the individual buyers to whom it is offered.  My #1 job as a Realtor is representing prospective buyers and getting them into homes they will be happy with. I don’t get involved in their finances, except to the extent that I need to in order to help them through the transaction. However, it is tremendously important to me to make sure that buyers are as educated as possible before they begin the process.

• Update: Congress has voted to extend the tax credit to include transactions written by April 30th and closed by June 30th, 2010. They credit applies to individuals who make up to $150k/year and couples who make up to $250k.  The maximum purchase price is $800k. They’ve also added a $6500 tax credit for those buyers who’ve owned and lived in a home for at least 5 out of the past 7 years.

This post simultaneously published by Rob LeRoy at theRealEstateNovelist.com

House Extends Tax Credit to Overseas Military for One More Year

The US House of Representatives unanimously voted to extend the $8,000 first time home buyers tax credit for an additional 12 months to anyone in the military, the Foreign Service, and employees of the intelligence community on official extended duty service  who has served overseas for three months in 2009. The  vote was 416 to zero, and the bill now has to go the US Senate and the President for final approval.

This new extension will give up to 350,000 military families currently serving overseas until November 2010 to the $8,000 tax credit.  The IRS “recapture” rules will be waived for any service member who is deployed and must sell or rent their home.

The “Service Members Home Owners Tax Act” (HR 3590) is now heading to the Senate Finance Committee to review the bill and hopefully move it to a vote in the full Senate. With a unanimous vote in the House it should be easy to pass the senate and find it’s way to the President’s desk.
Maybe this is a small step in the direction of extending the $8,000 tax credit to first time home buyers.

First Time Homebuyers – Take Advantage of $8000 Tax Credit

First Time Homebuyers – Take Advantage of $8000 Tax Credit that the government will give you to buy a home.

This opportunity is only available until December 1, 2009, although there are some in Congress trying to extend this deadline.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.

To learn more about it give me a call at 360-739-6981 or  send me an email.

HUD Approves $8,000 Tax Credit Loan for DownPayment

HUD has announced that first time home buyers tax credit of $8,000 has been approved  for all FHA loans.

But the catch this time is that you can’t use this tax credit for the required FHA down payment of 3.5%.

The new rules say you can receive the first time home buyers tax credit upfront, as a second loan from any Federal, State, or local agency, or any FHA approved non-profit organization.

What this all means is that you can borrow  the money from the $8,000 Tax Credit as your down payment, but after you put down the first 3.5% of that down payment. You still need to come up with 3.5% of your own funds. With FHA loans, that can still be a gift from someone in your family, or it can also come from a non-profit or government agency but not from the tax credit . You can now borrow money against your tax credit in advance, to use for addidional down payment or closing costs. But you can’t receive any money back at closing.

You can read the HUD letter here.

Washington State has some Funds set aside in its latest budget to use for these loans but it has been difficult to find any information about it.  I think they are still working out the details and have been waiting for this announcement from HUD to finalize them. I think we will be hearing more about this soon.

HUD has Changed their Policy on Tax Credit for Downpayment

Yesterday I posted that Shaun Donovan, Secretary of HUD announced that buyers could get the $8000.00 tax credit to use as a bridge loan for a down payment on a home.

I read the information at the National Association of Realtors website.

There was a letter put out by HUD which may no longer be available.

Well it seems that this information is WRONG!! At least today that is.

I called HUD to find out for myself and they told me the letter that  had stated this information had been rescinded.  That was all the information they would give me, no reason, nada.

Sorry if we got some peoples hopes up, I think Secretary Shaun Donovan ought to provide some kind of explanation.

Great News for First-Time Home Buyers

Great news for first-time home buyers. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary Shaun Donovan said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.
Mr. Donovan wa speaking at the Mid-year conference of NAR in Washington when he said “We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a downpayment,” he According to Donovan, the FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to use the tax credit through short-term bridge loans which will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table. This will basically gives first-time homebuyers $8000 towards a down payment and/or closing costs on the new home.
I think this is a great step to help the housing market make a comeback as a down payment can often be a stumbling block for first-time home buyers. The government is finally stepping in to help them.

A new way to rate your home: www.walkscore.com

When you find out about something after everyone else does,  the response you get is a lot like, say, a child, who just wanders into a conversation. This is how I felt when one of our agents from Seattle brought up Walkscore at our meeting, and from there, I’ve been mesmerized. 

Real estate has been many things over the past few decades, from Golden Blazers, to Glengarry Glenross speaches, flipping homes, and redoing them while someone was out (hopefully someone with either an open mind or a good sense of humor).  But it’s ALWAYS been about location, location, location*. (*see location)

Walkscore takes your address, say 1234 Sesame Street, Anytown, USA, and rates it, based on proximity to parks, stores, restaurants, maybe even the occasional grumpy Muppet. Then, you watch your home address slide on a scale from worst to best, in yet another avenue where the Internet judges your home, based on an algorithm. Interestngly enough, Zillow, a similar program, advertises on this site as well.

Included on your page is a map of your home, and a myriad of icons, mapping out where the amenities are, which is pretty incredible, and an amazing tool for folks who aren’t familiar with the neighborhoods.

So, if you were looking to quantify how you’re keeping up with the Jonesesesesese one more way, www.walkscore.com might be for you.  My parents’ home is a 15 out of 100, and they’ve been happily married for 36 years, where as the White House scored a 98 out of 100, a Walker’s Paradise, and we ALL know what’s gone on there for the past 36 years.

The official address for Disney World only scored a 48, whereas Downtown Fairhaven rocked the scale at 83.  And last but not least, Fenway Park, home of the World famous Red Sox:  95.

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