Archive for the 'Finances' Category

Explaining the Credit Crisis

March 18th, 2009 categories: Finances

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.

Spoken by Don Edam | Discussion: No Comments »

Your $8000 Tax Credit | What Home Buyers Need to Know about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

February 24th, 2009 categories: Finances, Home Buying

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

Spoken by Don Edam | Discussion: 4 Comments »

Understanding the current ‘Financial Crisis’ from a Historical Perspective

October 10th, 2008 categories: Finances

I’ve been getting a bunch of calls and emails recently with questions regarding the current ‘credit or financial crisis’ that we seem to be facing. I do my best to answer honestly, with factual information. One of the things I have been attempting to explain to clients and friends is that historically, this isn’t unheard of….but I’ve yet to articulate in a way that I think has really gotten through to people…until now! I just got the below PDF sent to me from a financial planner who is a good friend of mine. It does a fabulous job of taking a historical look at how the media has perceived the market and what happened shortly thereafter.  Now, I’m not overly optimistic about the market we are currently in…but at the same time, I think all of the doomsday talk out there is overdone.  I’d love to hear any of your questions or comments.  (You can scroll through pages on the right-hand side.  If you need a larger version of the below PDF, just click on the title below the article). **UPDATE** There seems to be an issue when trying to view it using Internet Explorer…you can go directly to the article by clicking here: Historical View of the Financial Market We Are In

Spoken by Don Edam | Discussion: 1 Comment »

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

August 6th, 2008 categories: Finances, Home Buying

UPDATE (2/24/09): Revisions have been made to this bill with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  After reading about this bill, read about the changes made here.

In this second post of our H.R. 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″ Series, we talk about a provision included that allows most first time home-buyers to receive at $7500.00 tax rebate.  Make sure you read all the way through as there are some caveats and a TWIST.  Here are the details you need to know:

• The $7500 Tax Credit is available to firs-time home buyers that purchase a principal residence sometime after April 9th of 2008 and sometime before July 1st of 2009.
• The Credit is a “refundable” credit.  So, if you have a tax liability of $2000 next Read the rest of this entry »

Spoken by Don Edam | Discussion: 6 Comments »

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