“Bumping along the bottom” is the latest catch-phrase I’ve heard to describe our current market conditions, but I’m feeling a bit more (cautiously) optimistic for summer ‘09. In the last month I’ve had a number of buyers enter the market and write offers after being on the fence for a couple of years. [...]

A special “Thank You!” to Julie Sandlin of First American Title for sending this along this morning.
 
Frequently Asked Questions:
First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of $8,000
 
1. Who is eligible to claim the tax credit?
First-time home buyers purchasing any kind of home-new or resale-are eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a [...]

This article was authored by Michelle Berry, real estate broker, and Sara Blanchard, loan officer. All information contained herein should be considered accurate as of the date of this writing, but should be not be considered a guarantee of financing. Any opinions expressed in the below article are the opinions of the writers and not their [...]

Fannie Tries Short Sales Over Foreclosures
Fannie Mae has launched pilot projects in Phoenix and Orlando intended to reduce foreclosures by pre-approving short sales, agreeing on a price and the loss it will take prior to a deal even being made. It is hoped the program will improve the popularity of short sales among real estate [...]

And maybe it still is.
NAR released numbers today that state exsisting home sales in September were the highest increase, month over month, since 2003.  Woohoo!, right?  Maybe not.  Nationally, home prices are still falling.  Even the eternally optimistic NAR econ-front man, Lawrence Yun, is cautious.  MSNBC reported Mr. Yun as offering the following: “housing may [...]

Thank you to Wendi Eiland for sending in this great information.  Wendi is an insurance agent in Beaverton, you can find out more about Wendi at www.wendieiland.com .

COVER YOURSELF!
Your homeowner’s insurance may be inadequate.
 
We all pay those premiums month after month and rarely actually need our insurance.  And when we do have a claim, many [...]

moar funny pictures
I’ve long been a customer of PDX Homequest, and it’s been a great enhancement to my business and an awesome tool for my buyers.  I was pleased and excited to see today on their News page that they will soon be releasing an IDX application.  What this means is that visitors to my [...]

Thank you to Laurie SantaMaria, Stewart Title, for sending this tidbit in an email this morning.

Homesale exclusion rules tightened

Most homeowners are aware of the homesale exclusion, a provision of the
tax laws which provides that homeowners who sell their principal residence
typically don’t need to pay taxes on as much as $500,000 of their gain if
they meet certain conditions. [...]