REALTOR RUMINATIONS

The House of Representatives on Monday voted to extend the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit for an additional year past the November 30, 2009 ……..for military personnel, foreign service officers and intelligence officers who are currently serving overseas or who have been deployed outside the United States for at least 90 days during the current calendar year.  Estimates are that approximately 350,000 military personnel and an unknown number of foreign service and intelligence officers may be affected by the extension.  For more information HR Bill 3590 contains the actual language of the bill.

An article by Margaret Jackson in Sunday’s Denver Post suggests that many renters are tripling up. She cites a survey by MyNewPlace.com that shows searches for one bedroom apartments have fallen dramatically with three bedroom apartments have escalated.  While renting is one option owning your own home has many advantages over renting; tax deductions and equity growth being two of the major ones. Add the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit and owning becomes even more attractive.  Talk to a mortgage lender to see if you qualify and then give me a call.

For the first time this year the average sold price of a single family home in up year on year from a year ago.  For September the average sold price for a home in the Denver Metro area was $274,433 while the average price for September 2008 was $260, 118 an increase of 5.2% .  For this year the average price is up 16% from January’s average price of $230,878.

Median home prices have also shown an increase.  For September the median price of a home sold was $225,000 up from January’s figure of $181,500.  That is an increase of 19%.  The median price in September 2008 was $216,500 a year on year increase of 3.8%.

In the advertising blitz about the $8000 tax credit for first-time home buyers don’t overlook the tax savings available if you remodel your current home.  There is a national tax credit of 30% of the cost, up to $1500 if you install a variety of energy-saving products.  Those products include insulation, windows and doors, roofing, heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, tankless water heaters, and alternative-energy generators such as solar panels and wind turbines.  It would be a great idea to consult your tax advisor before starting work to make sure that you understand the full scope of the tax credit.

The latest S&P/Case Shiller home price indices have been released and its more good news for the Denver Market.  The index shows a 1.5% increase for July over June and  a sixth straight month of increase for our market.  The index measures the residential housing market in  20 metropolitan regions across the US.  For a detailed look at the Denver region and all other regions go to http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en