 |
Rates Hold Steady
In Freddie Mac's results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.10% for the week ending January 29, 2009, down from the previous week when it averaged 5.12 percent.
Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.68 percent.
Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages reached a 50-year low toward the end of December. This has contributed to housing affordability reaching its highest level
|
|
|
|
since 1973, as measured by the National Association of Realtors'® monthly affordability index and help to explain a 7.0 percent increase in existing home sales in December.
|
|
|
|
Builders Offer Ideas for Up-to-Date Kitchens
At the International Builders' Show last month in Las Vegas, the emphasis was on kitchens.
Builders and designers say that strapped consumers are eating out less and cooking more, which is increasing demand for functional kitchens. Kitchen trends include:
Making room for multiple refrigerators, including under-counter models and island refrigerators.
Considering cost-effective updates, including using limited amounts of expensive tile as a backsplash or accent and eye-catching hardware.
Going green, not only in terms of recycled materials in countertops and floors, but also as a color for walls and other surfaces.
|
|
|
|
New Buyers Are
Bred on Bytes
A marketing company that focuses on the needs of Generation X'ers - that home buyer group born between 1961 and 1981 - says homes that show they can accommodate upscale gadgetry are most likely to whet the appetite of this mainstream buyer.
Generational Marketing Corp. is recommending that home sellers showcase technology features in their homes, such as availability of phone jacks and cable outlets, as well as extra space that can be freed up for an at-home office.
Gen X'ers "will demand special wiring for cables, phone lines and electrical outlets, clustered together properly," says the firm. "A home that appeals to an X'er welcomes the future."
|
|
|
|
|
Home Buyer Tax Credit: How It Works
First-time homebuyers can take an income-tax credit on their purchase, thanks to passage in Congress last year of the first-time home buyer tax credit.
The definition of first-time homebuyer is generous.
To get the credit, the homebuyer cannot have owned a home in the previous three years.
The home must be a principal residence and purchased between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009.
The credit is equal to 10 percent of the purchase price, up to $7,500. Single taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) up to $75,000 and couples with MAGI up to $150,000 will qualify for full credit.
Singles with MAGI up to $95,000 and couples with MAGI up to $170,000 will get a reduced credit amount.
Those with higher incomes do not qualify.
If the amount of tax a homebuyer owes is less than the amount of the credit, they get to keep the difference in the form of an IRS refund.
The homebuyer must begin to repay the credit in two years in increments of about $500 a year over a 15-year period for those who received the full credit
Homebuyers who sell their home before the credit is repaid must pay off the loan with any profits. If they sell the home at a loss, the loan is forgiven.
|
|
