$8000 Tax Credit As Down Payment.

The latest good news :


Tax Credit Can Be Used for Down Payment

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced Tuesday that
the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

FHA will allow approved lenders and nonprofits, and state and local government agencies to issue short-term bridge loans buyers can use for down payments, Donovan said. Buyers would repay the loans after getting their tax refunds.

Previously, most buyers wouldn't receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment,” Donovan says. His remarks came in an address to several thousand REALTORS® gathered Tuesday morning at "The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy," at the 2009 REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C..

He says FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406129_FHA12.html

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/hud-secretary-announces-monetization-of,821509.shtml

Latest News On The Net

The latest economic forecast by NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®:

• Homebuilders will limit new construction well into 2008. The forecast predicted that home prices are poised for recovering in 2008 as housing inventory falls from current levels.
• The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is estimated to average 6.7 percent during the second half of this year, and fluctuate around 6.6 percent in 2008.
• Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) will probably be 2 percent in 2007, compared with a 3.3 percent growth rate last year; GDP is forecast to grow 2.8 percent in 2008.
• The unemployment rate is likely to average 4.6 percent in 2007, unchanged from last year.
• Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is projected at 2.6 percent in 2007, down from 3.2 percent last year. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income should rise 3 percent this year, up from a 2.6 percent gain in 2006.—

- REALTOR® Magazine Online

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Sales of High-End Homes Are Booming

From an article by David Leonhardt (07/11/07) on The New York Times

Sales of high-end homes are doing better than the rest of the market in many areas, according to DataQuick Information Systems, which tracks home prices.

In Boston, for instance, the number of homes selling for at least $1 million fell to 619 in the first five months of 2006, but jumped to 711 in the first five months of this year, about equal to sales during the same period of 2005, which was a boom year.

The same situation is true for New York City; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Denver; and Houston. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami, high-end sales are down but not by nearly as much as sales in other price segments.

There appears to be three main causes of the split in the market. First, affluent families continue to do better financially than others, thanks to healthy income gains and a rising stock market.

The upper end of the market has also been helped by an influx of well-off foreign investors whose buying power has grown with the recent decline of the dollar.

Finally, both the recent rise in interest rates and the problems in the mortgage market have had a much bigger effect on low-income and middle-class buyers than affluent ones. It's become harder to get a subprime mortgage, while the uptick in interest rates this year has added about $100 to the monthly payment on an average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Source: The New York Times, David Leonhardt (07/11/07)

Today's REALTORS®: Demographic Characteristics of NAR Members

Today's REALTORS®: Demographic Characteristics of NAR Members

by Paul Bishop, Anna Barlett and Jessica Lautz
NAR Research

The services provided by real estate professionals – from brokerage and property management to appraisal and relocation -- are essential to most real estate transactions. More than 1.3 million of these real estate professionals – about half of all real estate licensees – are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. REALTORS® bring their knowledge, experience and expertise to each transaction, while abiding by a strict Code of Ethics.

To better understand today’s REALTORS® and their important role in the real estate industry, NAR regularly surveys its members about their business activities, use of technology, demographic characteristics and their relationship to their firms. Last month in this column we examined some of the business characteristics of REALTORS®, including type of licenses held and the types of technology frequency used. In this issue of Real Estate INSIGHTS, we look at some of the basic demographic traits of REALTORS.

Demographic Profile of REALTORS®
Today’s REALTORS® run the gamut in terms of age, prior profession, and years of experience in the real estate business. But results from the 2007 NAR Member Profile indicate that:

The typical REALTOR® is a 51-year-old white female.
She has attended college, is married, owns her home, and lives there only with her spouse.
The typical REALTOR® has a household income of over $100,000.
The typical REALTOR® votes in both national and local elections. Indeed, the percentage of REALTORS® who vote is well beyond that of the electorate at large. Ninety-five percent of REALTORS are registered to vote. Ninety percent report that they voted in the last national election. Eighty-one percent voted in the last local election.

Although these are the typical characteristics, real estate practitioners are a diverse group with 2.7 million licensees and more than 1.3 million REALTORS®, many of them are not defined by the profile above.

Age and Gender
Fifty-nine percent of all REALTORS® are female. That is an increase since 2005, when 54 percent of REALTORS® were women. Females account for a larger share of REALTORS® in each age group, except for those over 60 where the gender share shifts to a slight majority for males. The majority of sales agent licensees and REALTORS who function as sales agents are female. REALTORS® who function as brokers and appraisers are predominantly male. Managers who are also involved in selling are about as likely to be male as female.

THE WHOLE REPORT AT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTOR® :

http://www.realtor.org/reinsights.nsf/pages/marketintelligence?opendocument