There are many clocks in our house. From the digital ones on the DVR box, wall oven, under-cabinet radio, alarm clocks for for both Mr. Durango and me to the ones at the bottom of the three computers to the watch our oldest son left here after visiting this weekend – it started beeping at 6:30 this morning – to the grandfather clock in the front hall to the mantel top clock in the den to the cuckoo hanging in our kitchen (the cuckoo CLOCK is hanging, wiseguy) we are covered, clock-wise.

Even so, time can still manage to slip up on us. And it is slipping up on all the 1st time home buyers who haven’t stepped up to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. As it is currently designed, the last day to close on a house and receive the credit is November 30th.

December 1st will be a day late and $8,000 short.

Let’s be clear. There is still time to find a home and go through the process and close by the deadline. But if you are hoping to take advantage of the credit, you might want to get going before the new seasons of “Lost” gets started as I understand that show can be quite the time suck.

There is a chance the deadline will be extended. And there’s a chance my youngest will become obsessive about his room being tidy as well. We can continue to have faith, but let’s not bank on either of things happening in a timely manner.

What should be your first step if you haven’t already started towards buying in time for the credit? Pretty much the same as always. Time is just really of the essence in this case.

So, my personal recommendation is to get thee to a good lender immediately. The loan process is what can take the longest in a real estate sales transaction and it can be started before you find the house which can save time. A lender can actually get your loan approved, contingent on whatever house you find appraising at the contract price, before you step foot into the first property on your search list. And the benefit is that the lender will have the information needed to finalize the loan once the house is found and you’ll know your perimeters, money-wise.

Once you’ve established the loan, get with a good agent and start looking at houses. Don’t mess around with looking with several agents. That’s not efficient, not effective and wastes time. You have to get to know each one, answer the same qualifying questions over and over and ultimately that doesn’t serve your purposes.

Find an agent you like and go for it.

Once you find the house, the negotiations will take as long as they take. Perhaps you and the seller will come to a meeting of the minds in a day. Maybe a week. That’s up to the parties. Try not to get bogged down in whether the seller will leave the 15 year old swing set or if the living room is intolerably orange. And if the seller gets bogged down in their own issues, consider moving on to another property.

It’s unpredictable but as a rule, when a buyer wants to buy a house that a seller wants to sell, things get worked out.

So, the countdown has started to November 30th. Here’s your “to do” list if you want to get that $8,000 tax credit:

• Communicate with a good lender and start the approval process
• Establish a relationship with a Realtor with whom you’re comfortable and start looking at homes that meet your needs and price range
• Eliminate those homes from your mind that won’t work. Try to compare no more than two houses at a time and eliminate all the rest. Otherwise, they start to run together and you can’t remember which one had the half bath off the kitchen that skeeved you out and which one had the killer deck.
• Stay on top of whatever your lender has told you she needs to get things completed
• Be prepared to get a bit freaked out. Nearly all 1st time buyer do. You’ll be glad you went through it all once your in your own place.

This is a rare, as in never before, opportunity to not only become a home owner but to receive massive coinage for the privilege of doing so.

It all adds up to this being the time to make that leap and reap the rewards, happiness-wise.

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

More than concerning them, it sometimes prevents them from moving forward with dreams of buying their own place.

Particularly in the case of first time buyers, the idea of coming up with money for just the down payment seems daunting, forget about money for an attorney, lender fees, inspections and flowers for their agent.

No, wait. That last one is purely optional.

The truth is, closing costs can vary from region to region and will be impacted by the specific circumstances of the purchase. So trying to plan for them when starting the home-buying process can be hard.

A little information might help:

“Closing Costs” are precisely what the name says. They are the charges required to get the house ‘closed’, or finalized with the deed recorded at the courthouse. Both buyer and seller incur costs but the lion’s share are usually in the buyer’s column. If one is paying cash, the closing costs for the buyer will be minimal (attorney’s fee, appraisal if so ordered, deed recording, inspections if ordered, buyer’s share of property taxes for the year).

When the buyer gets a mortgage for the purchase, closing costs go up appreciably. This is because the lender will require certain things in exchange for loaning the money. These items will include charges for things such as loan origination fee, credit report, commitment fee, flood certification fee, mortgage insurance, title insurance, collection of tax and insurance money in advance in order to set up an escrow account, etc.,)

So, getting to the point, how much are closing costs? As a very broad rule of thumb, one can plan on closing costs equaling about 3% of the loaned amount. Here is a partial list of some customary charges in the Greensboro area.

If you’re quickly calculating the numbers and realizing that the minimum amount of down payment one can generally get now – 3.5% with an FHA loan – and adding to that the above mentioned 3%, you may be thinking there’s no way and consider clicking away from this site to go over to see what Perez Hilton has to say about Susan Boyle.

But don’t do it. And not just because gossip is not nice.

When making an offer on a house, a buyer can request the seller to pay for some or all of the buyer’s closing costs. In doing so, the buyer may need to adjust the purchase price amount to make up for the seller paying those costs. But an increase of $3,000 or $4,000 dollars in purchase price will raise one’s monthly mortgage payment a small amount compared to having to come up with those $3K-$4K up front. And if one buys before December 1st of this year, there is the ability to use the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit towards closing costs.

The moral of all this is “Don’t let fear of closing costs stop you from buying a house”.

Talk to a reputable lender and ask about all this. A good lender will provide you with a “Good Faith Estimate” of costs and a really good lender will be able to nail those numbers within $10.

There’s no harm, or cost, in asking the questions about buying a home. Deal with knowledgeable people. Don’t assume only OTHER people can buy a house. Give yourself a chance.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

Don’t do it.

Just don’t list a property for sale right now unless you really need to. It will only hurt your feelings. And you risk leaving money on the table if you do get an offer. That’s what happens in a buyer’s market. And there hasn’t been a buyer’s market like this since James Stewart played George Bailey going toe to toe with Mr. Potter. And while life may still be wonderful, being a seller in this market is not.

On the other hand, if you are a buyer – and don’t have a house to sell before you can buy – you should be doing a happy dance right about now. Seriously. Low interest rates, tons of inventory and, if you’re a 1st time buyer, the government will throw $8,000 at you to get you off the fence.

So get off the danged fence already!

The total number of houses on the market in Greensboro are down from last week. But that’s due to the fact that pending properties tend to close at the end of a month. So, while lower inventory is good, in relation to the inventory after end of month closings in January, we’re up.

Ugh. We’re just going to have to get through the houses on the market. Only then will there be what can really be considered a turn around.

Inventory is still quite a bit lower than in was in the 4th quarter of 2008. But we need to see month over month numbers improving.

Here are the numbers for properties on the market in Greensboro.

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS). “Single-family” does not include Duplexes or manufactured homes.

I’ve resisted writing about this very important tax credit because it has changed several times since introduced a few weeks ago as part of the economic stimulus package. Now that President Obama has signed the package into law, let’s take a look. For those who want a quick read, here’s a PDF of the new tax credit compared to the one from last year.

Nuts & Bolts:

• 1st time home buyers – or those who have not owned a home in the past 3 years – are eligible
• it’s good on single-family, townhouses and condos
• it does NOT need to be paid back (this differs from the previous credit)
• there are income limits
• purchases made between 1/1/09 and 12/01/09 are eligible***[SEE COMMENTS]

Now, some VERY basic explanations. For complex answers, ask a deeper thinker or, better yet, a tax expert.

A tax credit is different than a tax deduction. A tax credit is a dollar for dollar reduction in the amount of tax burden (what you owe in taxes). A tax deduction reduces your amount of taxable income on which your tax burden is calculated.

So this tax credit means that if at the end of the year your tax burden is, say, $8,000, and you receive the $8,000 tax credit  because you wisely purchased your 1st home, you will owe ZERO dollars in federal tax.

If your tax burden is $5,000 and you get the $8,000 tax credit, you would receive the difference. $8,000 credit – $5,000 owed = $3,000 in your pocket.”

Some are bellyaching that this is not a a true stimulus for home buyers.

I guess those folks don’t look at $8,000 as real money. Mazel Tov to them.

There are plenty of 1st time buyers who will be more than thrilled to get $8,000 credited to them come tax filing season next year. And that’s in addition to the benefits of the mortgage interest payment tax deduction on those same returns.

Consider this as well – When those tax refund checks start going out in the spring, there will be a whole new generation of homeowners, with houses to furnish, decorate and all that comes with owning your own place.

Sounds stimulating to me.

When you look at this tax credit, the low interest rates, the motivated sellers and high inventory it’s hard to imagine a better time to buy.

As I’ve repeated many, many times, most people are having to pay to live somewhere. And those renting are indeed paying for a mortgage. Just not theirs. And they’re not getting the benefits of it.

Time they started reaping those rewards themselves.

[BTW, the president is announcing a separate plan of those who currently own homes, The Help for Homeowners Plan. I'll write about then when there's complete information available. The White House has a link to it here.]

The writer points out the upside of the downturn, namely:

• prices are low
• prices won’t always remain low
• 1st time buyers don’t have a house to sell in order to buy
• there are programs to benefit 1st time buyers

All good stuff. And true. And I’ll add again that we all have to pay to live somewhere (unless you’re claiming squatter’s rights in your parents’ basement) and you might as well be paying your mortgage rather than the mortgage held by your landlord.

But then there are the comments made by readers of the article.

Wow. It seems to me that many of them missed the point. And some thought the article was irresponsible.

True that no one knows what the immediate future brings. We never have. We do know that just as there are always cyclical peaks for any economic metric, there are valleys. We also know that what is true for some parts of the country are not true for all. The reality for California and Florida is not the reality for North Carolina.

As for the notion that it would be foolish to buy a home unless you are certain the value will increase immediately – even if that increase is modest – is short sighted.

Year after year, generation after generation has willingly and happily purchased cars that are guaranteed to IMMEDIATELY begin to lose value. Before the first payment has been made, the thing is worth less than when you were handed the keys.

Yet 1st time home buyers should not take advantage of low interest rates, plentiful inventory and lowered prices until those prices begin to go UP? This makes sense?

It does not.

I don’t advocate for everyone owning a home. Not all people are cut out to be married. Some should never be parents. Many shouldn’t have a pet. And some folks are simply not cut out for the responsibility of owning and maintaining a home.

But many are and want to. If you are one of these people and you have the means and the inclination, don’t let others scare you out of it. (There are those who thought Xeroxing would never catch on because we had all that carbon paper that worked just fine.)

Talk to your peers, friends who have bought, a good lender. Be sensible.

Just remember that sensible does not = scared.

So, is this a good time to buy a house? Yes.

Is this a good time to wait? Yes.

Ask questions, find out your options. Follow your instincts and your heart.

Buying a house is not like planting tomatoes where, if you plant seedlings in March you can count on a freeze wiping out your crop. (BTW, in the Greensboro area, don’t plant before the end of April)

Other than the very broad idea that one should ‘buy low’ and ‘sell high’, there is not a particular season. And even the low/high thing is only part of what should be considered.

Certainly you don’t want to pay more for a house than it or its area are worth. But getting the help of a reputable lender, appraiser and Realtor can all help avoid doing that. Remember that you’re buying a home. And a home has intrinsic value that goes beyond making a quick profit. Indeed, making a quick profit is something you see some folks attempting on cable network shows and infomercials. There are people who have done it.

And there are people who have reduced their caloric intake by 30% for months at at time. That, too, is easier said than done.

No, it makes sense to buy a home because you want to control at least a part of your life. Sure, there are hassles to having to fix your own water heater if it goes out. But you get to paint your living room lavender if you so desire. You can deduct mortgage interest from your taxes. You get to show your parents that you are an adult after all. You can plant 50 tomato plants – after April 30th.

It just feels great walking into your own home for the first time. Really. It does.

And now is an historic “buyer’s market”. Plenty of inventory from which to choose. Still great interest rates. And as I’ve written before, if you’re paying rent, you are paying a mortgage. It’s just that someone else is getting the benefit.

If home ownership made sense 200 years ago, and through the Great Depression, and in the middle of WWII and even during the disco years – all times of real trauma – it makes sense now.

Start doing some research. And dream about lavender and tax deductions and tomatoes.

Have they taken some Smiley-Grinny pills?

Did someone just tickle them?

No. They all just bought their first home. That’s right. They purchased real estate.

“But that can’t be”, you might say. “Don’t they know that it’s a BAD IDEA to buy real estate these days? Don’t they read the papers?! Someone should have stopped them!!”

But just look at Mindy…

And Ken….

And Karen….

And Feliz and Maria…

So, why ARE they smiling? Because, frightening press stories nothwithstanding, they know that owning your own home is a good thing. They are all first time buyers and were able to get good interest rates. They worked with a reputable lender, looked at homes that met their needs and their budgets, asked good questions and are all now enjoying the personal and financial rewards of investing in their futures.

Mind you, not one of them is looking at their houses as if they’re slot machines, spewing cash. Again, here in the Greensboro NC area, we’ve never looked for double digit appreciation. Steady, sustainable growth. That’s us.

And that’s why they’re smiling.

Now, drop me a note and let’s see if we can get grin out of you.