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New California Tax Credit Bill Signed
Home Buyers Get $10000 For Purchasing in 2010
Governor Schwarzenegger just signed into law a bill, AB 183, that gives an incentive for home purchases between May 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. Buyers will receive a tax credit of up to $10000 distributed equaling over a three year period for purchasing a home in 2010. The total amount the bill allows is $200 million.
$100 mil is for first time home buyers of existing homes and $100 mil is for anyone purchasing a new construction, unoccupied home or what’s commonly referred to as “standing inventory” in new construction. These days, there isn’t a lot of standing inventory available but this may prompt home builders to put some people back to work.
The state tax credit is starts where the federal tax credit ends on either April 30th or June 30th. The tax credit will be granted on a first come, first served basis until all funds are exhausted or December 31st, whichever comes first.
The home buyer must not be a dependent nor can a home be purchased from a relative.
The last tax credit from the state was approved in February 2009 and ran out just four months later. While the total amount of the credit has been expanded, demand will still be high. 10,659 buyers were able to take advantage of the last tax credit.
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Sacramento Home Buyers – YOU HAVE 37 DAYS TO BE IN CONTRACT!
Chance of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Being Extended = NOT!
The tax credit available for home buyers expires on April 30th, 2010 if you’re not in a binding agreement and June 30th, 2010 if you are.
The likelihood of the tax credit being extended is very slim and you don’t want to miss out on this FREE MONEY if you don’t have to.
You’ve got to have an agreement in place by April 30th to have a shot at making the June 30th deadline to close and still get the tax credit.
There is a lot of competition for homes out there and multiple offers are still coming into just about every worthwhile home for sale in the region.
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Is It Available or Not!?
The Term “Active Short Sale Cont.”
There is some confusion in the market today with a relatively new term that relates to the market status of a home called “active short sale cont.”
Short sales are new for our market. They have only been around in abundance for the last year and a half in this cycle and most buyers, first timers especially, aren’t familiar with the term. It appears that the home is available because the word “active” is there but this is misleading.
In the process of a short sale, the seller/borrower must produce financial documents showing that there is a legitimate need to sell for less that what is owed on the home. The lender doesn’t want to take a loss and won’t approve the short sale without good reason to do so.
Currently, this process takes forever due to the volume of short sales happening nationwide. Our economy and value losses in our region have taken their toll and some can no longer afford to stay in their homes.
Waiting On Lender Approval
After the seller/borrower of the home to be sold short has gathered together all of the financial information they 
need to submit to the lender, the listing agent packages those documents along with the listing agreement and the highest and best offer and sends it to the lender for their approval.
This is when the property goes into the status “active short sale cont.”.
Listing agents tend to submit only one offer to the lender so that the financial package is streamlined and efficient in the hope of getting a speedy approval.
This rarely happens as the volume of files the lender is receiving requesting a short sale is just more than their loss mitigation departments can handle.
And More Waiting
After the package is submitted, the waiting game begins…and goes on and on and on.
While the short sales process has gotten quicker, in the Rocklin and Roseville real estate markets, the average days on the market for a short sale is 169 days. This is the average amount of time it takes for a short sale to go into “pending” status.
Then add 30 to 45 days in escrow and the average time for a home to be sold short in Rocklin and Roseville since August 1st of 2009 is roughly 209 days!
Sweet!
The days on market time stops when a home goes pending sale.
“Pending” status in a short sale is when the package has been approved by the lender and the offer has been accepted…if the buyer is still around to close!
Often, the original buyer disappears long before the short sale approval ever happens and then the seller/borrower starts over with a new buyer. The process just takes too long.
With the new buyer, time frames are shortened as the short sale has already been approved and it’s then a matter of submitting a new offer and getting lender approval.
“Buyer disappeared, need offers!” is a common comment in the confidential agent remarks in the MLS.
All in all, and I’ve said this before far too many times, there is nothing short about a short sale. If you’re in a hurry trying to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit..you won’t have enough time to get it closed before the expiration date.
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First Time Home Buyers: The Clock Is Ticking!
Buyers Looking For Homes Increasing!
After running just a couple of ads from this site, I got 4 serious buyer inquiries from people looking to purchase in the next 90 days.
One was an investor from Sonoma, another was a first time home buyer looking for foreclosure deals in Rocklin.
Still another buyer, not a first timer, is looking in Carmichael and a guy looking in Morgan Creek, Roseville.
All seemed ready, willing and able to purchase.
On my Facebook page, one of my lending resources, Tim Clark, mentioned that he’d been to several open houses on Saturday and there were buyers at every one of them.
Fewer Homes For Sale
Right now, although I’m hearing the total amount of homes for sale will be increasing, there just aren’t that many homes on the market and it also seems from what I’m hearing that the number of buyers looking for homes is increasing.
My site traffic numbers, the phone calls and emails I’ve been getting over the last weekend and what other local industry professionals are saying all point to buyers coming out of their winter hibernation.
This could mean that 95 days isn’t enough time to get it done!
According to many economists, the market may not be as favorable later in the year as it is now especially in lending.
Although the recent FHA changes won’t take affect until after the first time home buyer tax credit expires, those changes could mean you don’t qualify.
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New FHA Guidelines Make It Harder To Qualify
Changes Could Affect Values
The new FHA guidelines, along with the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit, could adversely effect home values in the Sacramento real estate market.
And let’s not forget the regions 15% unemployment. This is not a good combination for our region.
Just when we thought it was safe to go back into escrow.
With guidelines changing and loans for first time home buyers, or anyone for that matter, getting tougher to qualify for, a sales decline and resulting inventory increase could depress home values in the region again.
The word on the street is that more homes will be coming on the market soon. A quick inventory check doesn’t show that there have been any significant increases yet.
Is that hissing sound the air being let out of the nice little recovery we had going? Or just the ringing in my ears that’s been there since 2007?
Changes In FHA Policy
First Time Home Buyers! You Have 112 Days!
The Tax Credit Is Expiring!
If all goes according to plan, if you’re not in contract to purchase a home by April 30th, 2010, you will miss out on the incentive (incentive = FREE MONEY!) the government will give you as a reward for helping out the economy.
With prices AND interest rates AND the tax credit, if you’re in a position to purchase a home in the Sacramento area, now is a great time to do it.
Sounds Easy? Think Again…
I’ve been working in the Sacramento area real estate market for 8 years. Getting a buyer into a home has never been…HARDER than it is right now.
I have a buyer who I met in June. We’re closing on his first home this month. We wrote 35 agreements to get the one home. He is highly qualified and it’s taken forever.
I represent many cash buyers who are looking for investment properties in the Sacramento area. While these deals are infinitely easier to get done, they are still hard due to inventory levels which are lower than they have been in YEARS!
Start NOW!
If you intend to take advantage of the tax credit and purchase a home this year, please don’t wait until March to try and get it done. The time to get started was last month when everyone else was opening presents! If you put it off with inventory levels as low as they are, it won’t get done..that’s just a raw fact of our market.
Need Help?
I’m in the business of getting it done for my buyers. My testimonials speak for themselves. If you’re in the market for a home and need someone you can trust to get it done for you, just fill out the form below and I’ll call you immediately upon receipt. If you’ve got someone to help and you just have a question for a second opinion…ditto!
One thing is certain, move now, don’t wait as if you do it could be too late to succeed. The competition for homes is ramping up, BIG TIME!
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How To Get Your Offer Accepted!
Results of Sold Homes Survey in North Natomas
I’ve got a buyer who I just love working with. As much as I like he and his girlfriend, they are 
depending on me to get them into a home for the holidays.
This used to be a pretty easy task. You find a home, write an offer that’s attractive to the seller and off you go to escrow.
Now, not so much!
Dramatically Low Inventory Levels
As the foreclosure crisis churns on and banks are releasing fewer of the foreclosures to the open market for whatever the reason, the number of available homes for sale has decreased dramatically in the last year.
This has created a fiercely competitive market for buyers and sellers are, again, enjoying getting their listing prices as high as appraisers will allow them to go due to multiple offers on almost every home.
Days on market, depending on the area and price range, has declined as well.
The declining amount of homes for sale is why you’re currently having trouble getting your offer accepted.
Agents are communicating with each other only to the extent of “give us your highest and best”.
Beyond that, mum’s the word. As a result, it then becomes a mystery has to how to structure an offer that gets accepted.
Until now!
Read the rest of this entry »
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