Anna-Lise Troup's Tucson Area Real Estate Update: November 2009

The highly successful first-time homebuyer tax that was set to expired at the end of this month has been extended for a second time. Plus, it is now available to people that currently own homes. There are a lot of myths about who can get this tax credit, so here's some valuable information:

A very important date is May 1, 2010. This is the date that purchase contracts must be signed to be eligible. The transaction must close by July 1, 2010. But purchase contracts dated June 1st, for example, are not eligible even though they will close prior to July 1st because the contract was executed after the May1, 2010 deadline.

First-time Homebuyer: Tax Credit Amount = up to $8,000. How is this calculated? It is 10% of the home’s value or $8,000 whichever is less. So, any home over $80,000 will get a maximum tax credit of $8,000. What is a First-time homebuyer? It is anyone that has not previously owned a home or has not owned a primary residence within the last 36 months. Individuals that currently own second homes or vacation homes but have not lived in them for the past 36 months may still qualify.

Existing Homebuyer: Tax Credit Amount = up to $6,500. This is for current homeowners that have lived in their current home for at least 5 years. So, if you purchased your home 2 years ago you would not qualify.

Military Bonus: If you served in our military for more than 90 days outside of our boarders, you get a one-year extension and have until 2011.

Income Limits: The tax credit begins to phase out for a single person that makes more than $125,000. For married couples it phases out at $225,000.

Happy Veterans Day!

Visit any tucson-area KB Home community on Veteran's Day (November 11) and receive a free $10 gas card.

The Federal Tax Credit was just extended. First time homebuyers or those who have not owned a home in the last three years get up to $8000 and current homeowners get up to $6500.

Check out the statistics for residential real estate sales in Tucson for the month of October. Click on the title of this posting for details!
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As we begin the 4th quarter of 2009, we continue to see the absorption of inventory hover around 20%. The YTD change in total home sales volume is only down 13.95%, which is not bad considering the average sales price is down 13.56%.

There are 2048 new listings which is up 10.29% over September. This could be a result of sellers trying to make a last minute effort to take advantage of the November 30th cut off for the tax credit.

Total Days on Market are at 71 but 41.2% are between 0 – 30 days. The top three methods of financing are FHA at 358, Conventional at 299 and Cash at 226.

The Senate and House voted in favor of extending the first-time homebuyer tax credit. The legislation extends, through April 30, 2010, an $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and creates a new $6,500 credit for homebuyers who have been in their current residence for the last five years or more.

The Senate unanimously voted Wednesday night (98-0). The House just passed the bill this afternoon (403-12). President Obama is expected to sign the legislation tomorrow, Friday, November 6.

Click on the title of this posting to access details!