April — 2009 — Louisville Homes Blog: #1 Real Estate Blog in Louisville, KY

Archive for April, 2009

Kentucky Joins in Tax Incentives for Home Buyers

Apr 25, 2009 News

Back in July we posted about the First-time Homebuyer Gets Tax Credit Relief that was signed into law by President Bush. This was great news for home buyers. Then, early in 2009, the new administration made the following adjustments.

FEATURE	H.R. 3221 – Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008	REVISED – Effective for Purchases on or after January 1, 2009 and Before December 1, 2009
Amount of Credit	Ten percent of cost of home, not to exceed $7500	Maximum credit amount increased to $8000
Eligible Property	Any single-family residence (including condos, co-ops) that will be used as a principal residence.	No change
Refundable	Yes. Reduces income tax liability for the year of purchase. Claimed on tax return for that tax year.	No change
Income Limit	Yes. Full amount of credit available for individuals with adjusted gross income of no more than $75,000 ($150,000 on a joint return). Phases out above those caps ($95,000 and $170,000, respectively).	No change
First-time Homebuyer Only	Yes. Purchaser (and purchaser’s spouse) may not have owned a principal residence in 3 years previous to purchase.	No change
Revenue Bond Financing	No credit allowed if home financed with state/local bond funding.	Purchasers who utilize revenue bond financing can use credit.
Repayment	Yes. Portion (6.67% of credit or $500) to be repaid each year for 15 years, starting with 2010 tax filing.	No repayment for purchases on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009
Recapture	Yes. Portion (6.67 % of credit) to be repaid each year for 15 years. If home sold before 15 years, then remainder of credit recaptured on sale.	If home is sold within three years of purchase, entire amount of credit is recaptured on sale. Applies only to homes purchased in 2009.
Effective Date	Purchases on or after April 9, 2008	All revisions are effective as of January 1, 2009
Termination	July 1, 2009	December 1, 2009

Source: Realtor.org | More information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

What was good was made even better! Now we learn that for home buyers here in Louisville KY, there are even more financial reasons to buy in 2009.

On April 22, 2009 Governor Steve Beshear announced a special initiative by the Kentucky Housing Corporation to offer up to 4,500 for down payment and closing costs for first-time home buyers who obtain a KHC home loan. The program will begin on May 1, 2009 and continue through Nov. 30, 2009.

For the full press release, follow this link: Governor Beshear announces help for first-time home buyers

The Bottom Line: Don’t Miss This Opportunity

If you are currently renting or moving up in home price, you should without a doubt speak with a Realtor and Loan Specialist about your options. Interest rates are at history lows and combined with the tax incentives from the both the State and Federal governments, in all honesty, there may never be a better time to buy a home than 2009.

Tags: Governor Steve Beshear, President Bush, President Obama

New Permanent FHA Loan Limits

Apr 21, 2009 News

This article was written expressly for LouisvilleHomesBlog.com by Mortgage Loan Place so that you can be better informed in all of your housing decisions here in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a government agency that exists to help low income families and first time home owners achieve the American Dream of owning a home. The FHA offers direct mortgage loans or insures (guarantees payment to lenders) loans. The FHA costs the tax payers nothing; it operates from the mortgage insurance payments made by the homeowners.

When the FHA guarantees a loan, traditional lenders are more likely to offer a loan to a higher risk/low income family. This all sounds like a win-win situation. However, up until recently there was one problem. The FHA would only insure a mortgage up to a maximum amount of $362,790. With the rising cost of housing, this limit was often not sufficient, leaving many Americans still unable to obtain a mortgage.

Changes to Loan Limits

In February 2008, the FHA instituted a temporary Stimulus Package which raised the FHA maximum loan limit to $729,750. The Stimulus Package was slated to be in effect until December 31, 2008.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 has established that beginning January 1, 2009 the new loan limits of a single family home in a low cost area will be up to $271,050 and the loan limit of a single family home in a high cost area will be a maximum of $625,500. This permanent change is nearly double the previous maximum loan limit.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, Steve Preston, recently stated that “these new loan limits will ensure FHA can continue to help struggling homeowners refinance into safe, affordable government-insured loans, and allow many first-time buyers take advantage of today’s buyers market.”

Tags: FHA, HUD, Steve Preston

Tax Assessments Aren’t True Indicators of Value

Apr 12, 2009 News

Here in Louisville KY, our local newspaper is the Courier-Journal. They recently wrote a piece entitled, Some home assessments are dropping, and that’s completely accurate! Some are dropping, but given that home values dropped last year -2.8%, shouldn’t all assessments be lower?

The reason I post this is not to depress you (there’s enough negative on the evening news) but to educate you that a home’s assessment is not a true indicator of your homes value. For the differences between assessment, appraisal and CMA, please visit my personal glossary page.

A good Realtor will perform a manually-adjusted CMA, just like a home appraiser. (I won’t say what a lazy agent will do.) The tax man? They generally use only their computers, seldom drive by the property and never step a foot inside.

Who do you think has a better idea about the true value of your home?

Tags: Courier-Journal

Home Improvement Costs vs. Values for 2008

Apr 10, 2009 Home Improvement

I posted Are Replacement Windows a Wise Home Improvement? last month with the chart you see below. Today I thought, why not include the whole story for you?

So here is a link to the official 2008 Cost vs. Value Report: Still Many Happy Returns for Home Rehabs. If you want to know how different home improvement projects affect the value of your home, this stuff is information gold!

Make sure you check out the whole article but I wanted to include here the National Association of Realtor’s Top 10 Project Paybacks:

1. Upscale fiber cement siding (86.7%)
2. Midrange wood deck (81.8%)
3. Midrange vinyl siding (80.7%)
4. Upscale foam-backed vinyl (80.4%)
5. Midrange minor kitchen remodel (79.5%)
6. Upscale vinyl window replacement (79.2%)
7. Midrange wood window replacement (77.7%)
8. Midrange vinyl window replacement (77.2%)
9. Upscale wood window replacement (76.5%
10. Midrange major kitchen remodel (76.0%)

Regional Data

They used to publish how those numbers changed by regions here in the United States. So, if for example, you lived here in Louisville, Kentucky, which I assume most of you do, you could find that a Midrange Bathroom Upgrade won’t get you as far (63.8%) as in other parts of the country (66%). I think they’ve found that the data follows cost of living levels so they aren’t extremely helpful.

Here’s a helpful chart for you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Tags: Home Improvement, NAR

March 2009 Home Sales in Louisville, KY

Apr 2, 2009 Trends/Statistics

Numbers still moving up in most areas for number of sales over last month. Pricing also increasing, if only marginally. If you haven’t read Louisville Kentucky Real Estate Review of 2008, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Like always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

March 2009

AREA	SALES	AVERAGE	DoM
0 Central Downtown District	5	$38,520	51
1 Downtwn/Old&WestLouisville/Shively	81	$29,609	63
2 Butchertown/Highlands/Germantwn	46	$158,500	70
3 Brownsboro/StMatthews	37	$229,008	99
4 Pleasure Rdg/Valley Station	61	$90,700	82
5 Auburndale/Fairdale/Iroquois Park	46	$100,798	81
6 Buechel/Highview/Okolona/FernCreek	104	$130,993	93
7 FernCrk/Hikes Point/Jeffersontown	93	$163,078	96
8 Hurstbourne/Middletwn/Anchrg	37	$253,027	142
9 Anchrg/Lyndn/Prospct/UpRvrRd	52	$224,597	94
11 Bullitt Co.	65	$124,973	68
19 Spencer Co.	15	$202,390	104
20 Oldham Co. – North	15	$265,280	104
21 Oldham Co. – South	23	$233,984	131
30 Shelby Co.	28	$166,719	115