I love visual representations of data. Making vast amounts of data easy to grasp is quite an art and this map, produced by TIP Strategies Inc, really made the current job picture hit home in historical terms. While I like to keep upbeat throughout this blog, I’m of the belief that the job losses aren’t going to get much better anytime soon. Take a look and let me know your thoughts…

The Geography of Jobs

The Geography of Jobs from TIP Strategies, Inc

In conversations regarding the recent downturn in both the housing market and economy as a whole, its inevitable that I get the question on how this all started.  I usually think I do a pretty good job of explaining CDOs and the freezing of the credit market, but this guy blows me out of the water!  If you’ve ever wondered what the heck everyone is talking about over the past 6 months with regards to the economy, or just want a refresher course on how we got to where we are today….I invite you to check out this excellent video put together by Jonathan Jarvis for a thesis project he was working on at the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena, CA.

I was browsing through some posts on The Consumerist this morning and came across this post with a link to the Homeowner’s Property Tax Reduction Kit (PDF) from the American Homeowner’s Association.  I get asked questions all the time regarding people’s property taxes and assessments.  I have yet to find something this thorough.  If you have the time, give it a read (86 pages)…and hopefully it will save you some money in the long run.

Image from www.larealestateblog.net

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law last week.  Of note to potential home buyers and current home owners was Section 1006, which granted an “Extension of and Increase in First-Time Homebuyer Credit” as well as a Waiver of the requirement to Repay.  Here are the details:

• The previous tax credit was given to those that purchased their first home up until July 1st, 2009.  The new extension of the tax credit replaces that date with December 1st, 2009
• The previous tax credit was $7,500.00.  The new tax credit is $8,000.00
• The previous tax credit was essentially a $7,500 loan from the government to be repaid over time.  The new tax credit is does not require that you repay (with some exceptions…generally if you sell your home within a 3 year period from purchase).
• The effective date of this tax credit is December 31st, 2008.

To get more information on the original bill that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 revised, we’ve linked to a previous post of ours that explains the details of the old $7,500 tax credit

If you have any questions on the $8,000 tax credit and how it impacts you as a home buyer, don’t hesitate to ask.

Related Posts:

Your $7500 Tax Rebate | H.R. 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″ | Why You Should Care Series - Post 2