Another Tax Credit Extension

By now I’m sure a lot of you have heard that on Wednesday the Senate voted to approve the extension of the First Time Home Buyers tax credit.

What does this do? It allows for buyers who had a purchase contract executed on or before April 30th of 2010 until September 30th to complete the purchase of the home.

Is this a good thing? Well, it’s a fair decision, but maybe not a good one.

Why? Because, as a Realtor, I can tell you that on average, in this market, it takes longer than 2 months to close most real estate transactions involving a distressed property, and even some that do not involve a distressed property. So, it does allow some home buyers the advantage of of the $8k tax credit, which is fair.

On the other hand, from my perspective as a Realtor, it’s just another method of propping up the economy and the housing market, instead of allowing it to regain stability and strength, organically.

By allowing this credit, it could possibly create a similar environment to develop which helped create the housing market collapse. It allows for a large number of home buyers to purchase a home with little, or in some cases, no vested interest.

Isn’t that a BIG part of what started this mess in the first place?

Warmest,

James Helms

More Testing for The Acreage Cancer Cluster

I just read in the Palm Beach Post that top officials from Tallahassee are vowing more testing out in The Acreage to try to determine why there is an abnormal amount of childhood cancer out in that area. The Florida Surgeon General and the Florida Department of Health have requested help from the federal Center for Disease Control as well. Hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on out there. Gotta protect the kids.

Short Sale versus Foreclosure

Are any of you out there struggling with this decision? Is your back against the wall? As a Real Estate professional and a Certified Distressed Property Expert, I can assure you there is a big difference between the two. Allow me to give you my analogy on the two; as far as your credit goes, a short sale would be like falling of your bike and scraping your knee. A foreclosure; that would be like getting hit by a train.

Think about your decision carefully.

James