Forbes Magazine named Pittsburgh the best place to buy a house on its new list of America’s Best Housing Markets.

Using the Housing Opportunity Index, a metric created by the National Association of Home Buildersand Wells Fargo, the magazine said Pittsburgh’s appreciating prices, affordability ratingand low number of foreclosures, which help keep prices stable, all factored into the city’s ranking.

Forbes said the decline of what it called Pittsburgh’s “manufacturing-dependent economy,” helped the region’s real-estate market avoid the sharp increase in prices that occurred in other parts of the country.

Other cities in the top 10 included Louisville, Ky. (2nd); Houston, Texas (3rd); Minneapolis-St. Paul (4th); Indianapolis (5th); and Columbus, Ohio (tied for 6th).

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The maximum credit amount remains at $8,000 for a first-time home buyer –– that is, a buyer who has not owned a primary residence during the three years up to the date of purchase.

But the new law also provides a “long-time resident” credit of up to $6,500 to others who do not qualify as “first-time  .” To qualify this way, a buyer must have owned and used the same home as a principal or primary residence for at least five consecutive years of the eight-year period ending on the date of purchase of a new home as a primary residence.

For all qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 tax returns.

Martin Luther King was a man just like other men except he stood for what was justified and right in the face of massive adversity. He was a pastor, a Christian man, a very well educated man who didn’t care about ones religion, color, sex or anything else we label people with. He cared about every one of God’s children and wanted us to breakdown the barriers which we as humans put up. He was a simple man doing anything but what was simple in his era trying to spread a simple message. His works live on and allow us to remember that we are all equal and we all have the same opportunities if we choose to take advantage of them. God gave us the free will to choose.

Martin Luther King was anything but a man of one speech that everyone remembers so look at all his works and remember he was a man asking us to respect all of God’s children.

If this is you or someone you know then be calm, breathe and contact us so we can help you get through this trying time.

So why wait, contact your local agent today and get ready to take advantage of the new bill. Maybe your Christmas or New Years present can be to you and your family. Does the thought of a new home sound like the best gift ever!

Example 1:
Jane purchased a home in 2002, lived there for 5 years as her primary home, moved out in 2007, and turned that home into a rental property. If Jane decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she lived in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 2:
Harry purchased a home in 2004, and lived there for the past 5 years as his primary home. If Harry decides to buy a new primary residence today, he would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that he lived in the same residence as his primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 3:
Nicole purchased a home in 2006, and lived there for the past 3 years as her primary home. If Nicole decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would not qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she did not live in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight. 

The tax credit applies to homes purchased for less than $800,000 before May 1, 2010. “If you sign a binding contract to purchase a home before May 1st, you would need to close on the transaction before July 1, 2010,” Nicholas said. “It works kind of like a gift certificate that can be redeemed for cash. You simply file a form with the IRS right after you buy your home, and the IRS will send you a check for the full amount of your credit.” 

The income limitation for single tax payers went up from $75,000 under the old rules to $125,000 under the new rules. For married tax payers, the income limitation went up from $150,000 to $225,000. “This means that more people will qualify for the credit – especially in parts of the country with higher costs of living,” Nicholas said. “This should help stimulate parts of the housing market that may not have been impacted by the old version of the credit.” 

Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-11-08/expanded-version-of-tax-credit-will-allow-more-homebuyers-to-qualify/#ixzz0WMxbC3Go

This is great news for all home buyers as the bill has been expanded to existing home owners looking to sell their home. I have included a link to a PDF document which details the old bill and the new bill side by side so you can compare the difference.

http://www.realtor.org/fedistrk.nsf/files/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf/$FILE/government_affairs_tax_credit_ext_chart_110409.pdf

Now more opportunities are available for home buyers and home owners!

The next thing to consider is that like most people everyone has sat around waiting for the best deal. Now time is short and everyone that was sitting around has decided to get off the fence. There will be a surge of applications towards the end of the program. This means slower than normal loan approval and turn around for all loans conventional, FHA and VA.

Bottom line is “those who wait will miss out”! If you haven’t already done so then I would suggest making the short list soon and making your offers. Try to lock something in by 10/15/09 at the very latest so that you don’t miss out.

Oh, and for those of you that are saying “but the government might extend it”. Well I say look at the “Cash for Clunkers” program, it ended when they said it would.

Now this makes me wonder what is going on when all the major lenders have the tough lending requirements they do and were still able to get this guy the loan. They even stated that they have no idea why this buyer’s mortgage was changed in midstream as it was an easy loan for them to process. Is this a “red flag” that we should be concerned about? Is there a bigger issue going on with some of the local banks that communities should be worried about?

i guess the question needs to be asked; what happened to that bail out money!