The Chicago 77

On Friday, President Obama signed into law an extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit. To qualify, buyers must sign a contract before April 30, 2010 and close on the property by June 30, 2010.

6 November 2009 ?Bonds opened up 12bps and have trended upwards to an impressive day change of up 31bps. The Labor Department announced that unemployment rose higher than expected. The 10.2% unemployment rate for October exceeded analysts’ predictions of a 9.9% rate.  This is the first time in 26 years that unemployment has topped the […]

6 November 2009 ?As home buyers, sellers, Realtors® and affiliated professions await the signing of the expanded Home Buyer Tax Credit by the President, buyer options continue to narrow. According to the regional MLS, MRED LLC, there are 26% fewer homes under $800,000 on the market today than in October of 2007. While single family […]

27 October ? The stock market fell off yesterday due to anticipation of the first-time home buyer tax credit coming to an end on December 1st, 2009. There is a glimmer of hope on extending this tax credit. Senate majority leader Senator Harry Reid has proposed to slowly phase out the tax credit by extending […]

27 July 2009 ? With only 127 days left for first time home buyers to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit, speculation is heating up on whether it has been effective with much doubt it will be renewed. Because of longer times for processing mortgages, buyers must be under contract in the next 60 […]

10 July 2009 ? Affordability is driving more buyers back into the market according to a survey conducted by Realtor.com. As reported today on Rismedia, bargains are motivating millions of buyers to engage in the market and at the same time delaying homeowners to sell. For 14.6% of first time home buyers, the federal $8,000 […]

In many articles you can find on the Internet, in publications, and in advertisements for energy efficient products, there are claims made of impressive energy savings for making certain energy efficient improvements to homes and buildings. What would it mean to our country if every building were actually able to reduce its energy use by that much? What about if the savings were more substantial?

NEWS FLASH!  President Obama signed a stimulus bill!!!  What?!  OK, talk about old news…but it has grander tax implications for Americans.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has some significant changes to the energy efficiency tax credits. Here are the highlights: The tax credits that were previously effective for 2009 only, buy […]

The recent stimulus plan that was enacted can help home buyers, but it’s limited to certain situations.  If you are a first time home buyer, or if you have not owned a home in the past three years you could qualify for this credit. The credit cannot be used at closing, however.  This credit is […]

Uncle Sam is offering to let you keep some of your money through tax credits for green upgrades to your home. This is somewhat old news?green tax credits have been around since 2006?but the tax credits have recently been expanded.