The Atlanta Real Estate Blog

As a member of some professional real estate groups on Linked In, I recently answered the following agents post and thought it might be of interest to my readers. About 50 other agents and brokers responded as well and made the obvious point that agents protect themselves when they insist on a Buyer Brokerage Agreement. A few agents said they had no problem “working” with buyers without the agreement - that no buyer had stiffed them. What no one discussed was the legal implications for the agent when they dont excercise thier duty to fully disclose agency choices to buyers so they understand the implications of thier choices, the limitations and risks to the agent and buyer when the agent agrees to work without a Brokerage Agreement, and all the negative implications for the buyer when no Brokerage Agreement is used - that’s why I wanted to respond with an answer that more fully incompassed the ramifications of all aspects of the subject:

Buyer Broker Agreements. Do you use them?

Jarred - I typically only work with someone if they will sign a buyer broker. It just adds protection. Yet I have a new buyer who sought me out from an open house I had, whose wife is a former Realtor from another state and he’s just adamant about not signing one because they fear it ‘locks them into me.’ I may veer away from them because of this. If they’re already telling me they don’t want to be locked into ONE Realtor already this may be a red flag for me that I’ll end up getting left in the cold. Thoughts?

Robert Whitfield • I will only work with a buyer while under a written Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement - and here is why:

1. You do protect yourself - against a buyer using another agent after you have done all the work - or thinking they can somehow do better than you and contacting the seller directly.

Note: I have a very unique and advantageous Buyer Representation Program that no other agent here in Atlanta can match, so I run very little risk of a buyer leaving me for another agent. For me, the next point is really the driving reason to ONLY work with buyers under a written Brokerage Agreement.

2. You can fully serve and protect the buyer - ONLY when they become your client. This is the one that buyers who don’t want to be “locked in” to an agent don’t get (and many agents completely forget) - it’s all about agency relationships. In the absence of a Buyer Brokerage Agreement, you as the agent can not legally give the buyer the benefits of your expertise and knowledge, or protect them from mistakes, etc, because those services are reserved for “clients”. A buyer who is merely “working” with an agent without a Buyer Brokerage agreement is a customer - and the agent in that case is supposed to provide only ministerial acts - acts that require no judgment, expertise, or industry knowledge - to do otherwise can set the agent up for a lawsuit by the buyer and various other parties (the seller) if something goes wrong. It is in the buyer’s best interests to be represented as a client and never left to fend for themselves as a customer. Agents who work with buyers without representing them risk becoming an “undisclosed dual agent” without realizing it - in most states that can get them into serious trouble with the real estate commission.

While buyers may not know anything about agency, or how to protect themselves in a transaction, or what duties agents owe them when they are a client versus a customer - we as agents and brokers are responsible for fully informing them about agency and their choices of service levels (before we ever work with them) so they know the ramifications of their choice of being a client versus merely a customer.

In the rare cases where I run into buyers who are leery of Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreements (usually first-time buyers or buyers who had a horrible agent in the past), I make sure they fully understand the above - I have only had one buyer in ten years not sign a Buyer Brokerage Agreement when they fully understood that it was in their best interest to do so. (Some people need to be saved from themselves!)

I have offered a 1-2 day Brokerage Agreement to a few buyers which is a “try it before you buy it” approach that works well. It allows you to protect yourself, and provide top level representation to your client, and they see how you work and then are comfortable signing a longer term agreement.

I also explain to buyers who seem nervous about “committing” to an agent - “any agent who is willing to work with you without a Brokerage Agreement is not only agreeing to do less than a great job for you, but refusing to protect ‘their own commission and livelihood’, so what in the world makes you think such an agent will protect YOUR interests and money in a transaction if they won’t even protect their own interests?”

I refused to help the buyer who refused to sign my agreement, explaining that it would be a disservice to him. His wife was furious with him and apologized to me, but I will never make an exception to this practice. Its just good business - I am supposed to be the expert - I don’t let my prospects or clients dictate how I run my business.

What do you think?

Judge Rules State Charter Schools are Constitutional
By D. Aileen Dodd
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that charter schools created by the state Georgia Charter Schools Commission are constitutional.
Judge Wendy L. Shoob’s quick decision came after listening closely to arguments presented by seven school districts that had complained money was being taken away from their students and given to charter schools they didn’t approve.

Shoob said Georgia law allows the schools to be approved and funded by the state. “It is not an independent school system,” Shoob said. “The General Assembly has provided sufficient guidelines.

Commission charter schools are not required to be under the control or managed by an elected board of education. The funding is constitutional.”

The news brought Nina Gilbert, head of school for Ivy Prep Academy, to tears. She left the courtroom and waited in a hallway, sobbing with relief. She then shared the good news with nine Ivy Prep students who had been ejected from the courtroom earlier.

“I am so overwhelmed and excited,” Gilbert said as she stood before her students. “This confirms we are doing the right thing and we are doing it for the right reason.
“All of our schools are constitutional. Now we can receive equal funding and our girls deserve that. We are so thankful for Judge Shoob.”

Students also were excited about the news. They huddled together smiling. “I feel extremely happy we finally got accepted to keep going,” Ivy Prep student Atiya Shaikh said.

Kathy Harwood, the head of school for the Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts & Technology, or CCAT, said she and her students were heading home to Statesboro vindicated.

“It’s the best news I’ve heard in eight years of doing this,” she said. The day didn’t start the way some of the students had hoped, after Shoob ejected 14 of them before the proceedings began. Some of the children had traveled four hours to get a live lesson in social studies and law.

“The judge has a standing order in all cases that kids of school age should be at school, not at the courthouse,” said Bruce Brown, a lawyer representing the charter schools named in the lawsuit, CCAT, Ivy Prep in Norcross and Heron Bay Academy in Locust Grove.
The disappointed students, shoulders slumped, filed out of the courtroom respectfully. Some were angry. Some were frustrated.

The judge apparently didn’t understand the point of the courthouse field trip and the untraditional ways in which charter school students learn, said Zahra Juma, a sixth-grader at Ivy Prep.

“We want to know how court works,” Zahra said as she sat on a bench in the shadow of the courtroom. “We wanted to learn something. We have a right to be in court because we are the main reason why they are here.”

The Ivy Prep students did as they are empowered to do at school when they find fault with the way the government works: They spoke up. The girls sat quietly drafting letters of complaint to the court, checking their spelling and sentence structure. They were not intimidated by the views of the adults.

“Today nine Ivy Prep scholars were denied the opportunity to be present in a hearing concerning our school,” wrote Zoe Nuhfer, a seventh-grader who said she came to cover the trial for the Ivy Vine, the school’s newspaper.

“The judge and bailiff in the court said kids were not permitted in the courtroom. We asked for an exception and it was rejected. Our scholars are upset that we could not support our school. …”

Students from CCAT were also upset. They carpooled four hours on Thursday and slept overnight in Atlanta to get good seats for the hearing. They sat across from the Ivy Prep students waiting for word of what was going on behind the court’s closed doors.

“I love that school,” said Emily Reeves, who waited with her mother and brother. “I grew up there. They are like my family.”

This blog covers all metro Atlanta property owners, landlords, builders, realtors, investors, property managers,   contractors, electricians, plumbers and painters who engage in any level of renovation…even turn-key between tenants.

Any renovator, owner, landlord, contractor, painter or other workmen, who disturbs lead paint while working in a pre-1978 home, school or day care center, now must be Lead-Safe Certified. If you’re not, you can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Plus, you put the health of yourself, your workers and your children at risk, which could result in lawsuits.

Beginning April 22, 2010, there are new Federal rules regarding how you perform any work that disturbs lead-based paint in homes, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978. You or your workers or contractors, now must be EPA certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination in pre 1978 properties. And, the EPA defines “disturbing lead” very broadly.

Failure to follow the new rules can result in federal fines of up to $32,500 per day or up to 5 years in federal prison, or both.

The EPA’s new regulations on lead paint take effect on April 22, 2010. The regulations are contained at Title 40, Part 745 of the Code of Federal Regulations. There are some very important highlights:

Effective April 22, no owner, firm, or individual may perform repairs or renovations in “target housing” without certification (40 CFR 745.81). Target housing means any housing constructed prior to 1978, so agents & brokers, landlords, owners and investors working in homes, apartments or condominiums built prior to 1978 should take this seriously.

There are only very limited exceptions, such as where a certified inspector has determined the project is free of lead paint beyond permitted levels (40 CFR 745.82). Private homes with no children or pregnant woman that are owner occupied may also qualify for excluding coverage, but only if the owner signs off that the firm is not required to meet the regulatory practices (40 CFR 745.82).

* Anyone performing renovations has extensive obligations to give disclosure and notice to building occupants in writing prior to renovation, including providing mandating EPA publications (40 CFR 745.84)
* The regulations further include specific work practice standards, so watch out for potential employee personal injury claims and OSHA inspections and violations as well (40 CFR 745.85)
* Even relatively minor work is included in the requirements: generally work disrupting more than 6 square feet of painted area is regulated. (40 CFR 745.80, 745.83) This includes most “turn-key” painting and touch-up unless extremely minor!
* Persons and firms performing work in this arena must provide their customers the EPA’s brochure, Renovate Right (40 CFR 745.81)(note: the publication requirement is already in effect, so if you are not doing that now, you need to start immediately!).

If you or your contractor own or work on pre 1978 properties, make sure you or they have taken and passed an EPA recognized course of instruction to become an “EPA CERTIFIED RENOVATOR”. These are typically one day courses and upon completion you will receive an EPA-approved color photo ID attesting to your certification. These certifications will be good for 5 years according to EPA rules.

For more detailed info on this new law, go to:

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm

Closing deadline extended to June 30, repeat buyers offered up to $6,500

Lately, I am getting more and more calls and emails each week asking about the details and deadlines for the home buyer tax credits, so I thought it would be helpful to place a new post on both www.RobertWhitfield.com, and my blog, www.TheWhitfieldAdvantage.com to highlight the main points.  First time homebuyers aren’t the only ones who can claim a tax credit when they purchase a home -current homeowners can take advantage of the tax break as well.

Prospective buyers, both first time buyers, and current homeowners now have until June 30, 2010, to close on their purchase and will need to submit documentation such as their closing statement (HUD 1) along with their tax returns to claim the credit. Buyers can also file an amended return and get their cash even faster. Here are the details:

FIRST TIME BUYER CREDIT

Credit: Equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price, up to $8,000 (ie. buy a home costing at least $100Kand you get the whole $8000.)

Who Qualifies for First Time Buyer Credit:

·                     Those who haven’t owned property in the last three years

·                     Those with income up to $225,000 for couples and $125,000 for individuals (credit phases out for people who make more than these amounts)

·                     Must be at least 18 years of age to claim credit

·                     Purchase price must be $800,000 or less

Important Deadlines:

·                     Buyer have until April 30, 2010, to enter into an accepted (binding) contract for a home purchase

·                     Buyer have until June 30, 2010, to close on the purchase

CURRENT HOMEOWNER CREDIT

Credit: Equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price, up to $6,500

Who Qualifies for Current Homeowner Credit:

·                     Those who have owned and lived in their principal residence for at least five consecutive years during the past eight years

·                     Those with income up to $225,000 for couples and $125,000 for individuals (credit phases out for people who make more than these amounts)

·                     Must be at least 18 years of age to claim credit

·                     Purchase price must be $800,000 or less

Important Deadlines: (Same as for first time buyers)

·                     Buyers have until April 30, 2010, to enter into binding (accepted) contract for a home purchase

·                     Buyers have until June 30, 2010, to close on the purchase

In addition, buyers have another year to take advantage of the higher loan limit for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — set at 125 percent of local median home sales prices, up to a maximum of $729,750 in high-cost housing markets. The Atlanta MSA is NOT considered a high-cost market – we are a normal market. The limit in normal markets will remain $271,050 for FHA and $417,000 for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What this all means is that if you’re even remotely considering buying a home, now’s the time to do it.

Contact Robert Whitfield at 678-585-9691 for more information about these great Buyer Bonuses, as well as other bonuses offered by various metro Atlanta counties for those who qualify, and various Atlanta homebuilder bonuses as well. To learn about our unmatched client level assistance for Buyers - Direct Broker Representation and the Wise Buyer Program, visit: www.TheHomeBuyersRep.com and click Compare Services – this program provides buyers far more benefits, diligent services, and protections than the “industry standard services’ offered by any other agent/realtor in metro Atlanta.

Experts see a mixed bag for 2010, which we will detail in this post, however, one thing is unmistakably clear…if you have a reasonably secure job, and ever wanted to buy your first home, or you are a current homeowner who wants to change homes or buy a  move up home, you better get off the fence and go for it soon!  Now is the time to buy!

Some of the strongest incentives ever to purchase a home exist right now: down payment assistance programs like the Georgia Dream Homeownership Program (I can refer a lender trained and experienced with this program - if you use the wrong lender, trust me, it won’t happen), our current historically low interest rates,  a good selection of bargain properties in almost all areas and price ranges, an $8000 tax credit for first time buyers, plus a $6500 tax credit to existing homeowners who are move-up buyers are all awesome. Its still a strong buyers market and these incentives have heated up the market over the last few months, but… the tax credits are set to expire, and the lending rates are expected to move upward after March 2010.

Significant Trends to Expect in 2010:

More Buyers Entering the Market - Home Buyer Tax Credits End April 30, 2010

In 2009, the federal government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers was a huge topic in the real estate world. The National Association of Realtors, estimates 350,000 homes nationwide were sold to first-time buyers who probably wouldn’t have bought a home if not for the credit. The group also reports that about 47 percent of all home sales in 2009 will be to first-time homebuyers, up from 41 percent in 2008.

Hoping to spur the housing market’s recovery, the federal government extended the tax credit — which was set to expire on Nov. 30 — and gave buyers until April 30, 2010, to secure a purchase contract. The credit was also expanded to include existing homeowners, plus buyers with higher incomes. If the original tax credit brought more first-time buyers into the market, the expanded credit should motivate current homeowners to trade up.

Lending Standards Still Tight

According to the Federal Reserve, fewer banks tightened their lending standards in the third quarter of 2009. However, that doesn’t mean lending standards have gotten looser, either. In 2010, banks will continue to keep the subprime mortgage debacle in mind and require extensive documentation and stellar credit from borrowers looking for the best rates. If you plan on applying for a loan in 2010, take steps to get your finances in order as soon as possible and boost your credit score. FHA is still a very good option if your score is at least 580 - you can still get a loan with only 3.5% down payment.

Rising Mortgage Rates

In 2009, the Federal Reserve bought up a massive amount of mortgage-backed securities, keeping mortgage rates at historic lows for much of the year. However, the Fed is scheduled to end those efforts in March 2010, meaning mortgage rates could jump as much as a full percentage point next year. If you’re considering buying a home, now is the time to take advantage of historically low interest rates. If you’re a current homeowner thinking about refinancing, act now.

Stabilizing Home Values — Prices Expected to Rise in Some Places

According to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released in November 2009, U.S. home prices have improved for two quarters in a row. The national index rose 3.1 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2009. Likewise, the National Association of Realtors recently reported that median home prices have risen for two consecutive quarters. NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, also predicted that home prices will grow 4 percent in 2010. Some local US markets have farther to go than others to acheive stability, but Atlanta has by various respected indexes shown favorable results compared to many metro areas around the country and local market trackers have shown price increase in some areas - its safe to expect Atlanta Home Prices will follow the overall national trend and rise some more in 2010.

Feel free to contact Robert Whitfield at 678-585-9691 for more information on Metro Atlanta and North Georgia Real Estate and Housing Markets.

Hud has announced a “temporary waiver” of what is known as thier 90 Day No Flipping Rule. This waiver will allow quick resale of foreclosure and other properties owned less than 90 days by the seller, help excess inventory move off the market, and, keep buyers with FHA insured loans from being **shut out of certain great homebuying opportunities - for example those in which an owner has acquired a home from a deceased family member (estate sale) or an investor who bought an investment property and did a nice rehab and where both simply want to resell the property. In such cases, without the New Hud Waiver, a buyer could not buy either home with an FHA loan if the seller had not owned the property for at least 90 days. FHA buyers lost out because these deals were only available to cash buyers or buyers with conventional loans.

**This actually happened to a first time home buyer client of mine not long ago - we put an offer on a great well rehabbed home that I had evaluated and found to be in great structural and mechanical condition. We got our offer accepted on what we thought was a standard resale property only to find out later that the owner was an investor who had acquired the property as a foreclosure only a few weeks prior. This meant my client would have to resubmit her offer some 75+ days later (offers from FHA borrowers cant be accepted by a seller until they have owned the property for at least 90 days) and store furniture for around 1oo - 120 days and move into a temporary apartment while taking the risk of something not closing over that long period of time. This also meant she would risk loosing out on the other great opportunities we had found if this deal did not go through - she (wisely) decided to let that home go and I crafted a legal termination notice to the sellers agent. Not long after, I found her a better property in a completly different and better area - in her case it was meant to be. In many other cases, however, FHA buyers have simply lost out on great deals because of what I have always considered to be a poorly conceived federal ”NO FLIPPING” rule that only hurts honest sellers, investors, and buyers.**

Details of the HUD 90 Day Rule and the New Waiver set to take place starting February 1, 2010 and expected to last about 1 year:

Prior to this waiver going into effect, and with certain exceptions, FHA has for some time prohibited insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for less than 90 days. HUD has approved a waiver to this policy in order to give FHA borrowers access to a broader array of recently foreclosed properties.

“This change in policy is temporary and will have very strict conditions and guidelines to assure that predatory practices are not allowed,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

The policy change will permit buyers to use FHA-insured financing to purchase HUD-owned properties, bank-owned properties, or properties resold through private sales. This will allow homes to resell as quickly as possible, helping to stabilize real estate prices and to revitalize neighborhoods and communities.

This waiver is limited to those sales meeting the following general conditions:

• All transactions must be arms-length, with no identity of interest between the buyer and seller or other parties participating in the sales transaction.
• In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20 percent or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, the waiver will only apply if the lender meets specific conditions.
• The waiver is limited to forward mortgages, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program.

Feel free to contact Robert Whitfield at 678-585-9691 for more information on HUD and FHA regulations impacting buyers as well as information about buying REO, Foreclosure, and other properties.

On January 20, FHA announced some policiy changes to strengthen its capitol reserves and better position FHA to manage its risks while continuing to support the housing market recovery. Overall, it looks like the new changes are a good balance between the need to make necessary financial reforms and the need to keep FHA Loans available to a large segment of homebuying consumers. The evidence is that FHA has retained the 3.5% minimum downpayment - althought now you must have a certain minimum credit score.

These are the changes FHA has announced:

• The upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) will increase to 2.25 percent up from 1.75 percent. Contrary to reports, FHA will continue to allow the financing of the UFMIP into the loan.
• Borrowers with a credit score below 580 will be required to have at least a 10 percent down payment. The minimum down payment will remain at 3.5 percent for all other borrowers.
• FHA will seek legislative authority to increase the annual premium (currently capped at .55 percent). Over time, increasing the annual premium may allow FHA to reduce the upfront premium.
• Seller concessions (such as seller paid closing costs) will be reduced to 3 percent from 6 percent.

FHA will make the following lender enforcement changes:

• FHA will implement credit watch terminations at lender underwriting.
• Public reporting of lender performance through scorecard system will be implemented.
• FHA will implement, through notice and comment, indemnification against lenders.  Indemnification will be expanded beyond fraud and misrepresentation.
• FHA will seek legislative authority to enforce indemnifications against direct endorsed (DE) lenders.
• FHA will seek legislative authority to sanction lenders nationwide based on performance of a local branch.

Bottom line, FHA will remain one of the best sources for home loans if your cash for downpayments is low, (or you prefer to keep more of your cash) and if your credit scores are not all that stellar but at least 580.

Feel free to contact Robert Whitfield at 678-585-9691 for more information or a referral to trusted lenders.

Advantage Realtors joined Georgia MLS on Friday January 22, 2010 and are now members of both of the big main Multiple Listing Services in Georgia - GA MLS & FMLS. This means Advantage Realtors clients and the general public can go to the Advantage Realtors Homescanner Search Engine on any of the company or agent websites and see virtually every home listed by every real estate agent and firm in Georgia. This also means Advantage Realtors listings will now have a much wider exposure to more agents in Georgia working with buyers. To compensate for not being a GAMLS member, Advantage Realtors targeted advertising to various GAMLS agent offices to advertise thier northside listings to those southside offices - sometimes at considerable expense - now its all done automatically and at significantly less cost.

While Advantage agents always had manual access to GAMLS listings for thier clients, visitors to the Advantage Realtors websites did not have this same access - visitors were seeing primarily FMLS listings which cover 20+ counties around Atlanta.  FMLS and GAMLS have always overlapped, however among industry users such as realtors, FMLS has always been associated with listings in In-Town and Downtown Atlanta and the Greater North Atlanta area. GAMLS has always been associated with southside and outerlying counties including most other counties all over GA. While that still largly holds true, both MLS’s have expanded thier listings into each others “historical” coverage area and all over Georgia as well.

Broker/Owner, Robert Whitfield said the move to join GAMLS was a good one and will help every area of the companies business, as more buyers and sellers from outside of the metro Atlanta area seek to do business with the company.

Conditions in the current housing market, with great interest rates and cheaper prices are optimal for buyers with secure jobs - add in the current tax credits of $8000 for first time buyers, or $6500 for buyers with existing homes (both set to expire April 30, 2010) and it doesnt get any better! And plenty of buyers are taking action as the stats below show. 

I just helped a young first time buyer get out of her apartment and into her first home and at the same time qualifiy for the $8000 tax credit - it was really exciting. Like most buyers, rather than waiting until 2009 taxes are filed, she will file an amendment to her 2008 return and the IRS will mail her an $8000 refund check in a few weeks. What an awesome way to cap off the wonderful experience of becoming a new homeowner!

Take a look at some interesting sales statistics from data compiled in a late December 09 report by NAR (National Association of Realtors®):

Existing-home sales rose again in November 09 as first-time buyers rushed to close sales before the original November 30 deadline for the recently extended and expanded $8000 tax credit.

Total housing inventory at the end of November declined 1.3 percent to 3.52 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.5-month supply, down from an 7.0-month supply in October.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average loan commitment rate for a 30-year conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.88 percent in November from 4.95 percent in October; the rate was 6.09 percent in November 2008. November 09’s mortgage interest rate of 4.88 was the second lowest on record after bottoming at 4.81 percent in April 2009.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 7.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.54 million units in November from 6.09 million in October, and are 44.1 percent higher than the 4.54 million-unit pace in November 2008. Sales remain at the highest level since February 2007 when they hit 6.55 million.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the rise was expected. “This clearly is a rush of first-time buyers not wanting to miss out on the tax credit, but there are many more potential buyers who can enter the market in the months ahead,” he said. “We expect a temporary sales drop while buying activity ramps up for another surge in the spring when buyers take advantage of the expanded tax credit, which hopefully will take us into a self-sustaining market in the second half of 2010. In all, 4.4 million households are expected to claim the tax credit before it expires and balance should be restored to the housing sector with inventories continuing to decline.”

An NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 51 percent of homes in November, compared with an upwardly revised 50 percent of transactions in October.
For the second month in a row, sales have risen in all price classes from a year earlier. Prior to October, the only consistent gains were in the lower price ranges.

NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz., said conditions are optimal for buyers in the current market. “Inventories have steadily declined and are closer to balanced levels, which indicate home prices in many areas are either stabilizing or could soon stabilize and return to normal appreciation patterns,” she said. “This means buyers still have good choices but are purchasing near the bottom of the price cycle with historically low mortgage interest rates. Throw a tax credit on top and it really doesn’t get any better for buyers with secure jobs and long-term ownership plans.”

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $172,600 in November, which is 4.3 percent below November 2008. Distressed properties, which accounted for 33 percent of sales in November, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes in the same area.

Sales are Up, Prices are down!

Single-family home sales jumped 8.5 percent to 5.77 million units in November from 5.32 million units in October - 42.1 percent above the pace in November 2008. The median existing single-family home price was $171,900 in November, down 4.4 percent from a year ago.

Existing condominium and co-op sales in November were 60.1 percent above sales a year ago. The median existing condo price was $178,000 in November - 3.1 percent below November 2008.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 6.6 percent to an annual level of 1.13 million in November, and are 52.7 percent higher than November 2008. The median price in the Northeast was $223,400 - down 13.1 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest increased 8.4 percent in November to a pace of 1.55 million and are 53.5 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $140,800 - a decline of 0.4 percent from November 2008.

In the South, existing-home sales rose 4.8 percent to an annual level of 2.39 million in November and are 44.8 percent higher than a year ago. The median price in the South was $151,400 - down 1.4 percent from November 2008.

Existing-home sales in the West increased 10.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.46 million in November and are 28.1 percent above November 2008. The median price in the West was $231,100 - 4.1 percent below a year ago.

If you or anyone you know would like to discuss any aspect of Atlanta Real Estate,  such as the Atlanta Housing Market or the Extended Homebuyer Tax Credit, I can be reached at 678-585-9691. For a few examples of some of the unique services I provide to inform and protect homebuyers I represent - services that exceed what other agents can offer, go to http://www.thehomebuyersrep.com/actual_success_stories.htm .
Robert Whitfield, Broker/Owner

Advantage Realtors

    Both the House and Senate have passed the extension to the Homebuyer Tax Credit and it is on the way to the Presidents desk to be signed, possibly as early as today. The bill will extend the Tax Credit to buyers who have a home under contract as of April 30, 2010, and can close by July 1, 2010. There are significant improvements and additions to the bill, including increased income limits for buyers, and now a Tax Credit of $6500 is available for CURRENT HOMEOWERS as well , who want to purchase a new home - as long a they have lived in thier current Primary Home for at least 5 out of the last 8 years!

Who Qualifies for the Extended Homebuyer Tax Credit?

·     First-time home buyers who purchase homes between the date the bill is signed by President Obama and April 30, 2010.

·     Current home owners purchasing a home between the date the bill is signed by President Obama and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight.

To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.

Which Properties Are Eligible?

The Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit may be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

How Much Is Available?

The maximum allowable credit for first-time home buyers is $8,000.

The maximum credit allowed for current homeowners is $6,500.

How is a Buyer’s Credit Amount Determined?

Each home buyer’s tax credit is determined by two additional factors:

1.            The price of the home.

2.            The buyer’s income.

Price

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, credit may only be awarded on homes purchased for $800,000 or less.

Buyer Income

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit which is effective on the date the bill is signed by President Obama single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000—may receive the maximum tax credit.

These income limits have changed from the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit limits, and will now allow home buyers with higher incomes to qualify for the credit.

If the Buyer(s)’ Income Exceeds These Limits, Can He/She Still Get a Credit?

Yes, some buyers may still be eligible for the credit.

The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000 for single buyers and between $225,000 and $245,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Home buyers earning more than the maximum qualifying income—over $145,000 for singles and over $245,000 for couples are not eligible for the credit.

Can a Buyer Still Qualify If He/She Closes After April 30, 2010?

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, as long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, 2010, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

Will the Tax Credit Need to Be Repaid?

No. The buyer does not need to repay the tax credit, if he/she occupies the home for three years or more. However, if the property is sold during this three-year period, the full amount credit will be recouped on the sale.