We are only waiting on the President’s signature and there is no sign that he won’t.

Below is a summary of the new modifications in the extension and expansion of the tax credit:

1) The $8,000 tax credit will be extended and available for first-time purchases before May 1, 2010.

2) A new $6,500 tax credit will be available for repeat buyers who purchase between December 1, 2009, and May 1, 2010. To qualify for this provision, buyers must have used the home sold or being sold as a principal residence consecutively for 5 of the previous 8 years.

3) Prospective purchasers with binding contracts in place as of April 30, 2010, will be allowed an additional 60 days to complete the transaction.

4) Income limits are expanded to $125,000 on a single return and $225,000 on a joint return.

The people that are buying right before this takes place are going to be annoyed.  Before everyone rejoices, take a look at this post about the costs and fraud that went with the current tax credit.  And it’s only projected to cost about $1 Billion a month that it is extended.

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Lifehacker is one of my favorite websites.  They feature tips, shortcuts, and downloads that help you get things done smarter and more efficiently.  Their site is a tech heavy but they have useful and fun tips for around the house every once in a while.  Here are some of of their recent tips.

Need to boost your HDTV antenna?

Want to virtually paint a room to save some time?

Silence Creaky Pipes.

Cheap money saving winterization tips.

Winter Home Emergency Kit.

Declutter your kitchen.

Turn your PC into a home surveillance system.

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Friday, October 30

Visit the Davis Graveyard, a Milwaukie home turned Halloween spectacle.

In Oregon City, head to Main Street for safe trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treat in Old Town Sherwood. Admission is one can of food.

Click here to see the Saturday events from AroundtheSunBlog.com

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I don’t have the answer but I hope this shakes some answers out of the intertubes.

I have gone to almost all of my closings. A couple of times my schedule conflicted with a rush or a change and I have only had loan officers at my closings maybe 3 times. Bad customer service. I was at a 6:30 AM signing and my clients were shocked when I walked in the door but the loan officer didn’t leave them with that impression if any.

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Ahh, the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit, the deadline is approaching and the government is trying to figure out what to do, again.  Last winter they couldn’t decide if it was going to be $7,500 or $15,000 and how it was going to be applied.

I quit paying attention after they gave a bunch of false starts through cable news.  Cable news is so hungry to report that they jumped too soon a couple of times. Afterwards many people AND agents were left with erroneous information.

One guy who tracked it and has been tracking it well, he must have a lot of patience, is Jay Thompson of the website PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com.  It looks like we are close to a deal to extend.  I gave my opinion on why I thought it would be extended and last winter I gave my reasons why I didn’t think it was a great idea.

The biggest question, if this makes it through Congress in it’s current form, will it actually increase sales?  I don’t think it will.  There will be a small bump possibly but it will just be a bonus to the rest of the buyers.  It is a one time benefit that you don’t realize until tax time.  Buyer’s are thinking about their cost now and the cost in the future.

Much like walking into a store to find the item you are buying anyway just happens to be on sale, buyers out there will get a extra benefit that isn’t worth the cost to the government.   The major benefit is that those buyers will get a bonus around tax time that they can put into the economy but I don’t think it will have a significant effect on sales.

I guess a “significant effect” can be debated in terms but in this post based on CalculatedRiskBlog.com’s numbers, the expect increase in sale was less than 10%.  4 million sales, 2 million new buyer’s and 350,000 induced by the tax credit.

Oh, and don’t forget about the rampant fraud that they are just starting to learn about.

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George told a House panel that more than 19,000 people filed 2008 tax returns claiming the credit for homes they had not yet purchased. George said his office had identified another $500 million in claims, by some 74,000 taxpayers, where there were indications of prior home ownership.

He told a House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee that they also found 580 taxpayers under the age of 18 who claimed $4 million in first-time home buyer credit. One was 4 years old

So follow Jay on his site, or Twitter, to get the best news on this as it develops.  Once the dust settles I will have information about it here.  And if you know anyone looking for a home in Phoenix, give him a call!

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Eddie Murphy has had his home on the market for five years! That’s even before everything went to down the drain. He started at $30 million and now has it listed for $15 million.  Taxes are $200,000 a year.  You can buy an average house every year with that.  Just fascinating.

It has all of the amenities you expect, pools, racquetball court, bowling alley, recording studio, ELEVATOR, home theater, etc.

They don’t give the history of the price adjustments but I have to imagine that he has chased the market down.  The best way for sellers to understand the market is when they go looking themselves and see the homes in person and not just on the CMA we give them.

The more realistic you can be in the beginning the more you will make in this sliding market.

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The rain is coming and it is time to check your roof, attic, and crawlspace. Big problems start as small problems. As many inspections that I have been to where the seller had no idea what was going on above and below them, you would be surprised what can be going on.

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*If you are viewing the individual post it is on the right, otherwise click on this link for the video.

This is a great video  put together showing some of the great things about Portland. Show this to anyone thinking about visiting or moving here, and maybe anyone who is thinking about moving away.

Coffee, beer, beaches, skiing, Powell’s, Mt. Hood, biking, bridges, the Columbia River Gorge, BLAZERS (YEAH!!!), more books, more coffee, famers markets, art, Willamette Valley Vineyards and all things Portland are there. And it reminds me that I need to get out there and enjoy it!

Good job guys.

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I say the 20th in the video but the book signing for Crush It! is Monday the 19th.

Gary runs winelibrarytv.com and has created an empire through social media. He has influenced Realtor Ian Watt of IanWatt.ca who in turn influenced me to start doing video blogging. I find it fun but still a bit challenging to see myself on video but I have gotten some compliments on the blogs.

Gary is a passionate guy who loves what he does. Whether you are in to wine or social media I think you will find him and his book inspiring.

Here is a Facebook link to see who else plans to go.

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This is a repost from 2007.

About 4 years ago I was setting up showings for a client.   It was about 4 days before Halloween and nasty weather. There was one house that was owner occupied but it said to call the Listing Agent. That almost always means there is some problem with something.

I got him on the line and asked what was up with the property.  He said that two sisters lived there and one would be out of the house but the other would stay during the showing.  She had agoraphobia and was afraid of everyone.   He said it was fine to show it but that the sister would be hiding somewhere in the house.

Somewhere hiding? What the…??

“She would be hiding somewhere in the house but most likely behind the hot water heater,” he said while I shivered a bit.  “Just don’t approach her if you see her.” Alrighty then.  I told him that I would leave it up to my clients but to go ahead and set an appointment for 6:30.

My clients decided it was fine and we met at the house. Deciding to do this at 3 in the afternoon was different than standing outside in the dark and rain. We hesitated a bit but curiousity won out I guess and we walked up to the door.

I knocked on the door and jiggled the handle to give the sister time to hide. I really wasn’t looking forward to this.  I love scary movies but always jumped more when I knew something was coming. I had neglected to ask the agent where the hot water heater was located.  In the back of my mind I imagined eyes peering at me from the darkness.

I knew that would make me jump so I kept my gaze low.  As we walked inside I announced, “Realtor!” I paused but heard nothing.  As we turned to the left I raised my voice a bit and said, “This is a den here on the left.”  ”Let’s go into the Living room now.”  I wanted it to be clear where we were going.

As we walked into the Living room we heard her scamper somewhere through the house quickly. We froze looking at each other to see if we all heard the same thing. We did.  Lucky me, I lead the way. I wasn’t really worried about seeing her but I knew I would jump if I did.

We slowly went through the house and I am not sure if they were interested but we kept going. Each door was like a horror movie. I would only look at the floor when I opened a door or closet so as not to see something freaky like in the movie “The Ring”

We heard her scamper again but couldn’t locate from where. Now it was time to go to the basement. I opened that door slow and looked down the steps. Unfathomably, or teasingly, at the bottom was a hanging drape and I couldn’t see anything of the basement.

We walked down there and I slid the drape to the side but wouldn’t look at anything taller than 2 feet. At this point I knew I was going to see her eyes floating behind the hot water heater if I looked up anywhere.

We stood in the middle of the basement and then glanced at each other. My client looked startled and I said, “Ready to go?” They turned q uickly and we left.

Outside I asked if they saw her. They hadn’t but thought I saw her and scared ourselves. We laughed and went on to the next house which was quite lovely in comparison.

I tracked the house for another month and then forgot about it. I have always meant to go back and see if it sold and for how much but lost the address under all of the homes I have seen since then.

We thought later about how hard it must have been to get her out and wondered if she was an owner who had to sign and agree to the sale.  We felt bad her phobia but it made for an interesting Halloween.

Happy Halloween,

Mike

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