First Time Home Buyer Extension Plus a Tax Credit for Everyone Who Has Owned Their Home For 5 Years

The new proposal extending the first time home buyer tax credit that is due to expire on November 30th  is still working it’s way through Washington, Senate leaders have agreed  to support extending the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit which will also offer a tax credit of up to $6500 to buyers who already own a home.  In order to qualify for the $6500 credit, repeat home buyers will need to have owned their current home for at least 5 years.  The new extension, if approved by the full Senate and then voted on and approved by the House,  will allow buyers to have until April 30th 2010 to get a signed purchase and sales contract on a home  and then they will have until June 30th to close.

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Coventry and Mansfield Ct MOMS Club

The MOMS Club of Coventry and Mansfield is a support group designed for the stay at home mom of today, this club also serves Storrs, Willimantic and Windham Ct.  The club is part of the International MOMS Club which was started in 1983 by a stay at home mom in  California who was tired of being at home alone and began looking for a way to connect with other stay at home moms, when she could not find an organization that met during the day she started the MOMS Club.  The MOMS (moms  offering moms support) Club offers support as well as organized play groups for children and is designed for moms who are interested in the world around them and want a variety of activities for themselves and their children

How to Help Families Find Support in a New Ct Community

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Yes, we were pleased when, after having our clients home on the market for a number of months, we finally got them a full price offer!  The house had been languishing on the market, and after reviewing market statistics with them, they followed our advice to use our “Current Pricing Strategy” along with some unique marketing strategies. Almost immediately the showings for their home increased dramatically, and within 3 weeks they received a full price offer.

Identity Crisis: A Tale of Two Houses

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Changes are about to occur with FHA in Connecticut and throughout the country, the conditions needing to be met for a condominium complex to be approved for FHA backed financing will change as of Oct. 1, 2009 . Currently, a complex can be on the FHA approval list with 50% of the units having mortgages insured by FHA.  Looking to reduce their risk as the number of loans they have insured in the last 2 years has soared, FHA will now only approve a condominium complex with no more than 30% of the units  having mortgages insured by FHA. 

The FHA website offers a “pre” Oct. 1st approval list and a “post” list – much to my surprise, there are currently no condominium complexes in Connecticut on the “post” list.  I assume that the transfer of information has not been completed yet, but it does give me pause to realize that if a complex was not approved by FHA within the last year, the complex will now have to reapply for approval and I am told that process will take a minimum of 4-6 weeks.

At a recent FHA seminar, the discussion was held that the current list of over 10,000 currently approved condominium complexes will be reduced to 400-500 approved complexes for the entire country.  This is only until the complexes area able to obtain a new approval, but given the new restriction on  30% or less of FHA mortgage insured units, many of these complexes will not be able to overcome that barrier for years to come. 

One of the Attorneys we work with closely has stated that the expectation at the FHA seminar was that only one in 200 currently approved complexes will retain their approved status.  We see many of our first time home buyers buying condominiums under $200,000 and up to $250,000 in the Storrs, Coventry, Glastonbury, Tolland, Manchester, South Windsor , Willington and Vernon areas with an FHA backed mortgage, so some creative challenges will be facing Realtors, sellers and buyers with these new changes.

FHA has become a central player in financing as a buyer can be approved for an FHA backed loan with as little as 3.5% downpayment.  Most banks and lenders are no longer approving loans with a 3.5% downpayment unless it is guaranteed by FHA.

These changes will take place as of October 1st and if you are a buyer or a Realtor with a client  involved in a condo transaction I would strongly encourage you to have the lender get the FHA case number on or before September 30th.

As I listen to buyers and review the offers coming in on homes for sale in the Storrs area,  Tolland County, Windham County and Greater Hartford areas, it does not look  like  home prices have leveled off yet…and one of the indicators we are now seeing of this is the appraisal.

I had an interesting conversation with a loan officer last week who stated that she felt Connecticut property prices in the Storrs, Tolland County and the Windham County areas were starting to go up.  

I was pretty surprised to hear this - and when I asked her why, she said because she is no longer having any problems with homes appraising at the agreed upon sales price. She said, in fact, many appraisals are now coming in OVER the sales price.  This immediately made a bell go off in my head and supported what we have been seeing  in the market: housing prices are still going down.  I even wrote a blog about an appraisal coming in $20,00 above the selling price just a couple of weeks ago. (more…)

Can a wine label really help you sell your home?  We sell homes in the  Tolland County, Windham County or Hartford County Connecticut area and one thing I would NOT recommend is to put out a bottle of wine with a name like (OOPS), Frogs Piss or Senile Farms – the buyers touring your home may think you are trying to tell them something……

Sell That Connecticut Charm & Elegance

When you are staging your Connecticut home for sale, leaving out a great looking bottle of wine and a couple of wine glasses is a nice touch.  Remember, you are selling not only your home, you are selling a lifestyle and anything you can do to convey how much they will enjoy living there is important. We call it “emotionally moving in” when buyers get attached to a house and start thinking about what it will be like to have this be “their” home. (more…)

We recently helped clients save $20,000 on their Mansfield CT home purchase!  After about 6 months of looking at homes for sale in Storrs Mansfield CT, they finally found the right home and they were ecstatic when the appraisal came in and the savings were confirmed: the appraisal was $20,000 higher than the price they were buying the house in Mansfield for! 

Is Saving Money for CT Home Buyers a Bad Thing?

Banks are difficult these days, but honestly…I did not expect that this would be a problem.  Really? They could not approve the loan because the house was worth so much more than the price they were paying for it. Does this make sense to you?  (more…)

The Great Hartford Association of Realtors reports that for the second month in a row, pending home sales have risen over this same time period last year.  In May, Connecticut pending home sales in the Greater Hartford region rose 3.54% in comparison to May of 2008.  This includes the regions we work most strongly in - Tolland County, Windham County, Hartford County and CT lake area homes as well as the UConn area.

CT Pending Home Sales: 4 Month Streak

In regards to a short-term comparison of month to month changes, CT real estate continued to show a four month increase in Connecticut pending home sales.   The National Association of Realtors reports that pending homes sales throughout the contry have also continued to rise for the fourth straight month in a row.  (more…)

So, you have moved out of the Mansfield Storrs, CT area and have been renting your home to these very nice tenants.  Life has been good with them! They take good care of your charming home, and they even want to purchase it from you!  Sounds great, right? 

Reality hits, and you discover that they are not qualified to purchase the house. So even though they WANT to buy it, and love the CT lifestyle they have while living in your greater Hartford, CT area home, they simply cannot afford to buy it. (more…)

As greater Hartford area real estate agents, Tom and I deal with home inspection issues on a daily basis. When we navigate and negotiate through this complex part of a Connecticut real estate transaction, I often wonder why home buyers and sellers get so bogged down in this process. 

Real Estate is Emotional

I think the answer is pretty simple – real estate is typically an emotional process.  Remember, we’re dealing with homes (definition: the place in which one’s domestic affections are centered; emotional attachment)  not houses (definition: residence for human beings; no emotional attachment). This is the part of the negotiation where the home seller may be leaving a long loved residence and a buyer may be excited (and yet nervous) about the decision they have made to purchase “this” home.   (more…)