http://www.rgj.com/article/20091106/NEWS/911060383/1321 

In a major victory for NAHB that will boost the fledgling housing recovery and help struggling business owners nationwide, Congress today approved legislation that will extend the first-time home buyer tax credit beyond its Nov. 30 deadline and expand it to a wider group of home buyers. The bill also provides relief to cash-strapped home builders by providing broader tax benefits for businesses with net operating losses (NOLs)

The legislation, which will be signed into law shortly by President Obama, will extend the $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers for sales contracts entered into by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30. Further, it has been expanded to include a new $6,500 credit for owners of existing homes who are purchasing a new primary residence. An existing home owner can claim the $6,500 tax credit if they have been residing in their primary residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight.

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Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — Legislation to extend unemployment benefits and a tax credit for first-time homebuyers cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate as Democrats pushed to complete work on the measure this week.

Lawmakers voted 85-2 to move closer to a final vote on the bill, which would extend until April 30 the $8,000 homebuyer credit that otherwise would expire at the end of this month.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said last week he hoped both houses of Congress would pass the legislation by tomorrow.

That’s unlikely to happen if Senate Republicans, unhappy that Democrats are blocking their amendments to the plan, force the chamber through a series of procedural steps before the final vote.

In addition to extending the tax break for first-time homebuyers, the measure would let more people qualify for the credit, including some who already own homes and those with higher incomes.

Homebuyers who have lived in their prior residence for at least five years could receive a credit of $6,500. Couples earning as much as $225,000 a year and individuals earning up to $125,000 would qualify. That’s up from the current $75,000 limit for individuals and $150,000 for couples.

The tax credit was enacted as part of an economic stimulus plan in February. More than 1.2 million borrowers have claimed $8.5 billion of the $13.6 billion set aside for the homebuyer tax credits this year, according to the Treasury Department.

The Obama administration has endorsed the extension. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the revised homebuyer tax credit would cost $10.8 billion over 10 years.

The legislation also calls for spending $2.4 billion to extend unemployment benefits by 14 weeks in all states, and by six additional weeks in states with the highest jobless rates.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 2, 2009 17:40 EST

Good news to report: President Obama is expected to sign a resolution passed late yesterday by Congress extending the current limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA loans through 2010. The limits were set to expire at the end of this year. This is especially critical for California, where more than 80 percent of all loans are financed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHA, and will help maintain the positive signs we are now seeing in California

This past week I had an appraisal issue with a buyer sale. This involved a home that had 3 offers on it, one was cash, and the other two were with financing. The sellers decided to take our offer with financing and gave us seven days to remove all of our contingencies and we gladly accepted after speaking to the mortgage lender. He assured us that he can make this happen as the buyers loan had already been in process. The appraisal was done using a automated value model and was completed on Tuesday, we had our value on Wednesday! One problem, the appraisal came in under value by approx. 5% of the sales price. Fortunately, the buyer had a very large down payment and the appraisal would not affect his terms of his loan which already had been locked in at a rate of 5%. The lender ordered a full walk through appraisal of the home and fortunately the home came in at full value of the accepted offer price.

We were able to remove all of our contingencies within the seven days as we had cooperation with the HOA that provided HOA docs within 5 days and with Homeguard Inspection Company as they jumped through hoops for us by completing inspections (home, termite and roof) within 5 days and provided us with all of the written reports the following day after the inspections. The HOA was very responsive in our request for exterior repairs, they are even allowing Homeguard to do all of the work! This goes to show you that with teamwork between agents, lenders, inspectors and HOA companies that great things are possible, it is not often that you can remove all of your contingencies within seven days with financing and an HOA involved!

This home is scheduled to close on time, November 12, 2009! I learned a few things on this transaction. The first is that cash offers are not always preferred, the main reason is most likely that cash buyers are not always willing to pay the asking price or above. I also learned that not all HOA companies are slow to respond. Did you know that HOA companies, by law, have ten business days to provide the buyer HOA documents? Most of the time the HOA companies take the full amount of time allowed by law and many times it is the last thing that buyer’s are waiting for before they remove all of their contingencies.

Coming soon! Gorgeous Silver Oak Townhome – Hardwood flooring, shutters, two-tone paint, updated kitchen with newer maple cabinets, stainless steel tops and much more! This home will be hitting the market in about 2 weeks! Look for more photos and a weekend open house coming soon!

Rates for 30 year home loans have inched up, hitting 5 percent for the first time in nearly a month.  The average rate in up to 5 percent, up from 4.92 percent.  The record low of the of 4.78 percent hit in the spring.  Rates are still very attractive for many people looking to buy a home.  Last month, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues agreed to slow down the pace of the program of the Feds buying mortgage backed securities, which has been keep interest rates artificially low.  The Fed has now agreed to wrap up the purchases by the end of next March.  It will be interesting to see what that does to the interest rates but I am pressed to say that rates will be heading back up.