Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers

"GOOD COMMUNICATION IS AS STIMULATING AS BLACK COFFEE...AND JUST AS HARD TO SLEEP AFTER." Anne Morrow Lindbergh And communication on the new $789 Billion Stimulus Plan has been flying fierce over the past week, resulting in late nights for Congress and probably more than a few cups of coffee. President Obama is certainly hoping the new plan will wake up the struggling economy, and breathe some life back into the housing market as well.
The tax credit in the Stimulus Bill has been scaled down to $8,000 from its previous level of $15,000, or 10% of the value of the home for any first time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November. It starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000, and buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.
In addition, there's news that the Obama administration is trying to hammer out a new program to subsidize mortgages to fight the credit crisis. The plan would seek to help homeowners before they fall into arrears on their loans, whereas current programs only assist borrowers that are already delinquent. There are no details yet on this plan, but I will be monitoring this news closely in the weeks ahead.

1-800-SELL-NOW Opens New Dallas/Ft Worth Location

Cindie Stewart and Debbie Mitchell and their team at Texas Sold Team Realty LLC have

secured the exclusive licensing rights to 1-800-SELL-NOW for Tarrant County, Texas.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) –

Dec 30, 2008 – Home sellers in Tarrant County, Texas have a new number to call when they want to sell their house NOW.....1-800-SELL-NOW.

1-800-SELL-NOW, which connects real estate professionals across the country to motivated home sellers, today announced that it expanded into the Fort Worth, Texas area real estate market by awarding exclusive licensing rights in Tarrant County to Cindie Stewart and Debbie

Mitchell.

“We're excited to have Cindie, Debbie, and their team at Texas Sold Home Realty LLC to join the 1-800-SELL-NOW program. We know that Cindie, Debbie and their team will be valuable assets to the area home sellers,” said Kent Clothier, president and CEO of 1-800-SELL-NOW.

Home sellers in the Tarrant County area can be connected directly with the Texas Sold Realty LLC office by calling 1-800-SELL-NOW or visiting http://www.1800sellnow.com/tarrant.html. 1-800-SELL-NOW is currently seeking new license holders throughout the state of Texas - including Abilene, Houston, Austin, and El Paso.

For more information, please visit http://www.1800sellnow.com/register.html or email sales@1800sellnow.com Tarrant County area home sellers that want to sell their real estate property can call 1-800-SELL-NOW or visit us online at http://www.1800sellnow.com/tarrant.html to sell their house now.

Lowest Fed Funds Rate in History

These are incredible times! Recently, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by .75%, bringing them down to .25%...the lowest Fed Funds Rate in history.

Additionally, the Fed has been purchasing Mortgage Bonds which has helped drive interest rates to the lowest levels seen in our lifetime. While this is great news, we must remember that these windows of opportunity may exist for a very brief period of time. And the interest rate market has recently been incredibly volatile, with spikes of .25% within hours and .50% within days.

As rates can change quickly, the best advice for buyers is to lock early and get all of their paperwork in immediately to capture and protect the best rates ever. Also, I expect that pipelines will start to bulge and push many lenders to their limit.

Buyers need to ensure that they are prepared with all income and asset documentation needed to process their application immediately to avoid a delay in closing. Although it might seem obvious that buyers should act quickly, it is sometimes human nature to get greedy and try to capture the very bottom of the market.

There are many problems with that risky strategy, the least of which is that we don't know where the bottom is until it is already in the rear-view mirror. With rates at all-time lows, we know this will generate more buyers.

Anyone wanting to wait for better rates is taking a huge risk. Many lenders are offering rates near 5% on conforming 30-year fixed mortgages, with government-sponsored programs not far behind. Also, think about your personal situation right now. We might be able to help you save money on your own mortgage.

Call me today and we can explore what options are available for you.

Sincerely,
Lisa Warren
Southlake Branch Manager
Silver Oak Mortgage
(817) 410-2518
lwarren@somlp.com
www.silveroakmortgagelp.com