What does this mean for you?

FIRST-TIME BUYERS: You have more time to find your first home and still qualify for as much as 10% of your new home in the $8K credit. Condition: This extension only applies to homes purchased for more than $800,000.

EXISTING HOME OWNERS: If you’ve lived in your primary residence for at least five of the last eight years, you also qualify for a special credit of $6,500.

Other special conditions: There are some income limits that apply. For more information, see this Wall Street Journal article.

According to an article from FOX Business, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index fell to 18 this month, even though economists had guessed that it would rise to 20. It was marked at 19 in September. An index of 18 means only one out of six builders has a positive view of the housing market.

With this number set so low for the month of October, it can be assumed that it will decrease even more in November, with the expiration of the tax credit available for first-time homebuyers.

What does this mean for you? For one thing, brand-new homes might be hard to come by, so now’s a great time to check out www.BuyOwner.com to search already built homes for sale by owner. Also, this slowed building market may help even things out in the oversaturated market, which is good news for sellers. Time will tell.

A recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times discussed a subject that has been a topic of conversation for many news publications for a while now: foreclosure. However, this wasn’t your typical piece about the poor housing market or the mortgage crisis. This article, titled “Vacate with Vengeance,” concerned the vindictive actions of those homeowners facing foreclosure.

For a long time, the masses have regarded homeowners dealing with foreclosure with pity, as a group with whom they should sympathize. When lenders and banks take properties away from a struggling laborer, a single parent, a newlywed couple or a family of six, we can’t help but feel empathy. Yet many of those homeowners don’t walk away without leaving their mark.

The Sun-Times article first mentions a home in Orland Park (a suburb of Chicago), which sold for nearly one million dollars just three years ago, that would go for less than half of that because the current owners suffered from foreclosure. But why, exactly did the home sell for only $375,000? The owners tore apart the home, removing appliances, even plumbing, leaving a basic skeletal structure, taking away even more of the value (marked down already to $500,000) after foreclosure. And this is not the first time something like this has happened.

Many foreclosed homes in the Chicago area are being stripped of practically everything, including cabinets, countertops, fixtures, toilets and more. Some expensive items like granite counters or brass chandeliers end up on eBay or Craig’s List. A man in Chicago Heights was even arrested for trespassing and theft when he stole the windows out of his foreclosed house. While some real estate agents think that the homeowners should pay for the damages, there is usually no actual way to prove who defaced the properties, since most of the previous owners are long gone (with the stolen goods) before the lender/bank actually repossesses the property.

According to a recent New York Times article entitled “Spending to Sell,” many of today’s sellers are approaching this slower buyers’ market with a can-do attitude: rather than sit back and wait for buyers, they’re doing something about the wait. They’re renovating.

“Some sellers are making the bold move of renovating their homes to sell them,” writes Vivian S. Toy. “Brokers say that this strategy can help keep the price out of the basement, and more important, help the home sell much more quickly.”

In other words, if you can’t lower your price (or even if you can), improve your property.

Because today’s buyers have so many homes to choose from, and, given the market’s recent struggles, a lot of leeriness about jumping into purchases, renovations make sense. Get your home looking better than the competition, and price it fairly, and you have a recipe for a successful sale.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

To read previous Buy Owner Blog articles that focus on renovations, click the below links:

• Increase Your Home’s Value
• Cost-Efficient Ways to Add Value
• Does Going Green = More Money?

In today’s real estate market, there’s a new normal—at least according to this recent article from the Associated Press.

What once was has changed, and savvy buyers and sellers will take notice. There are new lending standards, appraisers are more strict, buyers are expecting more.

What does this mean for sellers?
“The record number of foreclosed homes on the market gives buyers even more leverage. ‘They can afford to wait,” says David Baran, a broker with Prudential Preferred Properties in Chicago.

If buyers can afford to wait, they have all the power, which means sellers have to be more aggressive—consider pricing!—and finding ways to attract buyers.

Read the rest of the AP article here.

On August 12, 2009, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn confirmed changes made to the Seller Disclosure Form and to the Radon Disclosure Law, both effective immediately and requiring the use of revised forms.

The Seller Disclosure Form has been modified to add a question related to methamphetamines. The buyer will now have to check off whether they are or are not aware that the property has been used for the manufacture of methamphetamine. This is a concern for homeowners, as the manufacture of meth creates a buildup of toxicity in the home that could lead to long-term health problems for its inhabitants.

So what does this mean for potential homebuyers? If you’re in the market for a new home, you should be aware of these updates and make sure that the seller has complied with the new law.

While there are signs that today’s real estate market is recovering, the turnaround is going to be slow going. And what this means for you as a home seller is you need to get proactive, if you are serious about selling soon.

According to data from the Multiple Listing Service (MRED), average sale prices have decreased—in some areas, such as Chicago, by as much as an average 30% loss. Unfortunately, there is still an oversupply of properties on the market, including low-priced foreclosures and short sales, and not enough buyers to buy them. The buyers who are serious are often first-time home owners looking to qualify for the $8000 tax credit and get a steal of a price.

So what should you do?
The best strategy for a savvy home seller right now is simple: lower your price. This isn’t an easy answer, but it’s one that works. Lower your asking price, as reasonably as you can, until it generates interest.

Why is this the best answer?
Price is the first thing a buyer will notice, as we’ve written before in posts like How to Sell Fast and 5 Price Tags of Overpricing. Price is also the #1 thing that can turn a potential buyer away, especially when the competition is filled with lower-cost alternatives.

So consider reducing your price by $5K and seeing what happens. That’s the way to be aggressive in this market, and that’s the way to sell.

Long-time blog readers will already know Buy Owner is on Twitter—both with @BuyOwner (auto-posts all new home listings & blog articles) and @BuyOwnerBlog (more interactive, auto-posts blog articles).

But did you also know you can find us on Facebook? We have a fan page there, which not only updates you with informative blog posts, but it’s also the place to get updates on the latest Buy Owner news.

Are you on Flickr? Post photos tagged with “BuyOwner,” and we may add them to our list of favorites, showcased on the Facebook fan page!

You can also add the Buy Owner Blog to your list of favorites through the NetworkedBlogs application on Facebook or on Blogged!

Earlier this year, the Buy Owner Blog covered one of the most important incentives for buyers in 2009: the tax credit for first-time home buyers.

Those who had purchased their first home before July 1, 2009 would have been able to take advantage of a federal tax credit worth up to $7500 as long as they met a list of specific requirements. Essentially, if the first-time buyer received the federal tax credit, it would have worked like an interest-free loan.

Now that the date for acquiring this credit has expired, a proposal in Congress wishes to extend this procedure to June 2010 and to increase the credit to up to $15,000. Although it is currently a buyers’ market, the tough economic times doesn’t really make it any easier for buyers to purchase homes. This new tax credit would continue to encourage potential first-time homeowners to buy a house.

This Homebuyer Tax Credit Expansion Act 2009 bill not only asks for an extension of time and an increase in the amount of money possibly acquired. It also calls for a repeal on the homeowner requirements, allowing any first-time home buyer to qualify for this tax credit. The bill was referred to the House Committee on June 16, 2009, and has yet to be voted on by either the House or the Senate.

Should any first-time buyer be allowed to receive this tax credit or should the old requirements still stand? And if the bill is approved by both the House and the Senate, do you think it will be approved by President Obama? Feel free to leave a comment.

According to a RPX Housing Market Report released on June 10, evidence shows that the decrease in home values has begun to stabilize. Graphs released by Radar Logic in April show that though values continually fell from June 2008 to February 2009, the values have remained steady since February.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) backed up this data by stating that home sales increased by 3.2 percent in just one month, previously stated in one of our blogs from May, and have continued to do so. Foreclosed homes are being bought at a discounted rate, which, according to NAR’s chief economist, will “set the stage for healthy market conditions going forward.”

While it’s too soon to state a definite recovery, this data offers the real estate market a sigh of relief that the home-value freefall has, for now, halted. If this continues, we may foresee a recovery in the upcoming months.

To view the graphs and the full analysis from the RPX Housing Market Report, click here.