The Don Edam Group | Real Estate Professionals Serving Minneapolis, Edina, St. Paul and Surrounding Suburbs

Legislation was signed over the weekend to extend the closing deadline for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit. The extension moves the closing date requirement from June 30th, 2010 to September 30th, 2010. Please note that this does not open up the tax credit to those that do not already have an executed purchase agreement…it just allows those who had a purchase agreement in place by April 30th, 2010 to be able to close at a later date and still receive the tax credit.

Many soon to be homeowners were running into issues with short sales taking longer than expected to get approved or were having issues getting financing in time for the previous closing deadline.

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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

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 (more…)

Okay, “10,000+ Reasons to Buy a Home” might seem a bit excessive, but in a new housing initiative called Minneapolis Advantage, the city of Minneapolis is offering just that….up to a $10,000 zero-interest, zero-payment loan that’s forgivin over a 5 year period (a.k.a. totally FREE after the 5 years are up) to qualified buyers that purchase a home in one of the city’s 18 eligible neighborhoods.

Developed in response to the city’s rising level of foreclosures, the Minneapolis Advantage loan program is a downpayment and closing cost assistance program to help rebuild the housing market in key neighborhoods (located mostly within the central South and North communities) that have experienced higher than normal levels of mortgage foreclosures.

In addition, the Harrison, McKinley, Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhoods are offering buyers $4,000 in mortgage assistance, and Harrison is adding another $15,000 for renovations. That makes $29,000 in forgivable loan money to fix up an abandoned home in that neighborhood.

So, if you’re looking to buy a home in Minneapolis and you have good credit, now you have 10,000+ more reasons to get out there on the house hunting trail and buy today

Make sure to check out these two listings, which both qualify: 2810 Aldrich Ave / 1820 Skyline Curve

For more information on Minneapolis Advantage program details and detail on how to apply click here.

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Google has been synonymous with everything from great search, to amazing free email, to maps, etc…but one of their relatively new features (for Minnesota at least) is Google Street View. Google Street View is built right into their Google Maps feature. The implications of this tool for your home search are enormous. Google Street View allows you to type in an address, location, or point of interest and then take a virtual walk through the neighborhood.

For example, if you were interested in our listing on 1511 W 33rd Street in Minneapolis and wanted to see how far your actual walk to Lake Calhoun would be, you could go (more…)

There are currently at least 29 short sales that are available for sale in the Edina and Southwest Minneapolis markets (found by searching in agent comments for “bank approval” and “short sale”). In the Camden area of Minneapolis, there are at least 70. If I look at Minneapolis proper, the number is over 315…St. Paul proper gives us over 300 as well. So, needless to say, there are a good amount of short sales out there. The question is, what does that mean to you, the buyer? How can you keep your dream home from vanishing before your eyes (like the one above)? Short sales open a whole new can of worms throughout the buying process…but first, a short (no pun intended) explanation of them. (more…)

Listings of foreclosures on newforeclosureonline.com reveal all-time highs for country foreclosures. According to the site, numbers show that filings have nearly doubled since last year, but have leveled off in the last two months.More homeowners were reported to have lost their homes in October of this year as compared to a year ago. Nevada, California, Florida and Ohio recorded the highest foreclosure rates, experts said from New Foreclosure. New Foreclosure Online is a specialized foreclosure listing company that also provides solutions to anyone that is threatened to lose their home.

As of the end of October, 224,451 foreclosure filings were reported, up 94% from 115,568 in the same month a year ago, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. The national average is said to be set at one foreclosure for every 555 households in October, also according to RealtyTrac, Inc. In all, 45 states saw an increase in foreclosure filings since last year.

Among the top of the list of states with increased foreclosures were Nevada, California and Florida. Nevada reported one foreclosure filing for every 154 households, earning the state the highest rate in the nation for the 10th month in a row. The state had 6,618 filings in October, nearly triple from October 2006. California’s rate beat out Nevada with one filing for every 258 households. The state reported the most foreclosure filings of any single state with 50,401, down 2 percent from September but more than triple the number from October of last year.

Florida had one foreclosure filing for every 273 households and had reported 30,190 foreclosure filings in October, down more than 9% from September, but up nearly 165% from October 2006’s total. Rounding out the states with the top 10 foreclosure filing rates in October were Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, Indiana and Illinois. New Foreclosure Online has responded in many ways to help homeowners find better solutions.