First Time Buyers to Receive Tax Credits up to $7,500

Photo Courtesy of Creativecommons.org

The President signed into law the Landmark housing legislation yesterday. The law is designed to help the housing industry and the credit industry recover from the mortgage melt-down of the past year, and provide stability in the financial markets. Those portions of the bill are important, but some sections of the law impact first time home buyers in a manner they will immediately feel.

One part of the bill does impact "the average buyer" immediately in an important manner. This portion provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 for first time home buyers, whose individual incomes are less then $75,000 or married couples who earn less than $150,000 jointly. The tax credit can be used for homes purchased between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009, and should stimulate home buying, reduce excess supply in housing markets and shore up home prices.

The Tax Credit is based the purchase price of the property, being 10% of the purchase price, up to $7,500 (meaning that for most first time home buyers , the credit will be $7,500).

A comprehensive lists of questions and answers about the tax credit program can be found at the National Association of Home Builder's web site www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com.

Protect Your Children And Your Home From Propane Gas Leaks

According to the National Fire Protection Agency, the number of liquid propane-related accidents and deaths are statistically small.

However, a family can't be too careful when it comes to household safety and flammable gases.

Manufactured by Davom Products, the PROLOCK Propane Safety Cap is a lock-and-key device that prevents children (and anyone else) from opening the propane gas tank value and starting the flow of propane.

The device installs quickly, includes simple-to-understand directions, and was an Inventor's Spotlight winner at the 2008 National Hardware Show.

The PROLOCK Propane Safety Cap sells for $19.95 online.

Forbes Says Philadelphia is a Great Place to Buy Real Estate

Philadelphia scores once again as a great place to buy property! In a recent article listing the top 10 cities to buy a home published by Forbes magazine, Philadelphia ranked as the fourth best place to buy a house in the U.S.

In this Forbes article, the ranking was determined by the cost of buying versus renting, tax incentives where present, and whether a buyer would have an opportunity to build equity. Forbes surveyed the 40 largest metropolitan area housing metrics looking for cities where [rices have appreciated over the last two years. It also measured vacancy rates, providing extra points where rents are significantly higher than a buyer's mortgage payment for the same home. Houston and Austin took the top 2 spots, due to their healthy job market and growing tax revenues.

Philadelphia's place was earned due to price stability, increasing rents and affordable housing stock.

Its a story you may have read here before, but its certainly nice to have an outside validation of my ongoing opinion that our marketplace is one of the really good buys around the country.

Why Buyers are Back to the Market in Pennsylvania & New Jersey

Statistics won't always tell the whole story, but they often provide good perspective.

The graph at right shows Existing Home Sales data going back three years. An "existing home" is one that can't be called new construction; a "used home", so to speak.

Note the steep decline from 2005 through late-2007.

Since November, however, Existing Home Sales have remained within a very tight range and appear to have reached a flattening point.

The Existing Home Sales data supports the word-on-the-street from real estate agents nationwide that buyers are returning to the housing market in search of good values.

But let's not forget -- demand is only half of the story. There is the supply factor, too, and the supply side of the housing market is showing the same leveling signs as the demand part.

Looking at the national inventory at left, the number of existing homes for sale has hovered near 4.5 million for the last several months. No change suggests strength.

Now again, statistics won't tell the whole story but there are plenty of positive signals from the real estate market right now, just like there are negative ones, too.

This is one reason why real estate data causes so much debate -- people want to take an either/or proposition about the state of the real estate and it doesn't work like that. Real estate can be simultaneously strong and weak and when it is, buyers look for value.

On a local level,rates have been good, and our local inventory is smaller then the national inventory. Combined with Philadelphia being walkable (and therefore energy friendly) and affordable, people have started acting on their real estate needs and making purchases.

Perhaps this is why the national housing data is beginning to level off after a 3-year slide. There's good values to be had, and today's home buyers know it.

(Images courtesy: Wall Street Journal Online)

Calculating the Effects of Inflation

The phrase "Consumer Price Index" can be intimidating and unclear to Americans. It's an economic term, after all, and not a part of everyday American language.

It even has its own abbreviation to add to the confusion -- CPI.

So, when a layperson hears that "CPI is rising", it's not always clear what it means. The tendency, therefore, is to ignore the news.

This is one reason CPI is commonly substituted with the more down-home expression of "Cost of Living".

In contrast to the term "CPI", the phrase "Cost of Living" is a lot more clear. When people hear that the Cost of Living is rising, instinctively, they get it. And now they can see how it works in numbers, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Inflation Calculator at the government Web site helps a person compare household income to the changing Cost of Living between any two years since 1913. For example, a U.S. household earning $48,201 in 2007 would have to increase that income to $50,868 just to keep up with "life".

CPI touched a 17-year high in June, jumping 5.000 percent year-over-year. Without a 5.000 percent increase an income, a household falls behind.