May’s sales across the United States were down 2.2% from April, but May closings were up 19.2% from May 2009. I am certain much of this is due to the extended homebuyer tax credit and buyers working to ensure they close long before the settlement deadline of June 30.

Though the tax credit is gone, interest rates are low, and housing prices are also low. Buyers can take advantage of these lows and possibly use an FHA to buy a home — and some may be eligible to have most of their closing costs paid for by the seller if they are able, or have some of their costs rolled into the loan, so those lucky buyers may only need about 3.5% (the downpayment minimum) out of pocket to get into a new home.

There are other FHA loans available as well, including some to get your home more energy efficient, FHA203K rehab loans to rebuild a fixer upper, and other FHA loan programs to assist in better homeownership.

For more information about Baltimore FHA home financing, please contact me today.

NAR reported that around 180,000 eligible buyers were unable to settle by the original deadline to no fault of theirs, causing them to lose out if the extension were not to become law.

On June 29, the House voted to extend the settlement deadline, but had a provision about unemployment in the same bill.

The Senate rejected that version, but agreed unanimously to extend the tax credit deadline by itself.

Congratulations to those buyers who had done everything in their power to settle on time yet could not, and will now be able to take advantage of the tax credit for which they were eligible.

NASDAQ reported this wonderful news a short time ago.

The House voted in favor of the homebuyer tax credit extension yesterday. The Senate voted unanimously today. President Obama must still sign it into law.

What a wonderful thing for those approximately 180,000 homebuyers who were unable to settle today due to circumstances out of their control.

The House voted 409-5 in favor of bill H.R. 5623.

This would be a welcome relief for the estimated 180,000 homebuyers who would lose out on the tax credit due to no fault of their own because they are unable to settle by tomorrow’s deadline.

The Associate Press quotes Representative Sander Levin, chair of the House Ways & Means Committee:

“We owe this to the people who have essentially followed the rules who are caught by a closing date.”

The bill enters the Senate for vote now, hopefully passing in this attempt, separating this issue from the others that caused it to fail in passing prior to now.

The countdown is on with one day until the deadline to close passes.

NAR reports that in Maryland, that number is around 2,630 homebuyers.

This is due to waiting on short sales, foreclosures, or lender delays, none of which these homebuyers have any control over.

According to NAR President Vicki Cox Golder,

“These are not buyers who just entered into the market. These are buyers who previously met all the qualifications for the tax credit, but find themselves at the mercy of a workflow jam with lenders or other delays such as lapses in the National Flood Insurance Program, Rural Housing Service, and new home construction, and might not be able to complete the purchase of their homes by the current deadline,” said Golder. “It would be a tragedy for them not to be able to complete the purchase in time to claim the credit.”

This is bad news for these qualified buyers who have done everything in their power to meet all deadlines for the tax credit that they are eligible to receive.

This is GREAT news for buyers who are facing issues with either financing, short sales, or other issues which could have delayed their closings, due to no fault of theirs, and them possibly missing out on their qualifying homebuyer tax credit.

MSNBC reported this breaking news.

Next, it is Congress’s turn to approve the proposal.

April 30, 2010 marked the end of the Homebuyer Tax Credit. Though there was an small uptick in sales from qualified homebuyers, this does not truly mean the end of the spring market for sellers who are currently on the market or getting ready to go on the market.

Three tips are given in the video for homesellers to make their house ready for sale and more marketability.

1) Price it right. Be ahead of the curve and price more aggressively than the ones recently sold in your neighborhood.
2) Get a pre-sale home inspection. Then you can fix things up front and have your house ready for buyers without worrying about what may pop up during an inspection and cause re-negotiations.
3) Consider all offers. Notice they say “consider”. Sometimes a lower offer than you wanted or expected may have better terms and conditions than one later on. Keep in mind that an offer with a lot of contingencies or conditions has a more likelihood of something not going correctly than one that has less.
Finally, contact a local real estate professional.

For Towson real estate professional advice, contact me today.

This a telling sign that buyers were looking to take advantage of the ending homebuyer tax credit, as well as hopefully previewing that the economy is beginning a recovery.

The Baltimore Business Journal reported this on information from MRIS, our local multiple listing service.

2,205 homes went under contract in April, while 1,800 happened in March. Last April at the same time only 1,632 homes sold.

I did notice a large number of homes going under contract, but I also have noticed that the first half of May has been very busy as well. I had three homes go under contract in April, and only one was eligible for the tax credit, so that was not a driving force for my set of clients.

Though I agree that it was a nice benefit for those who qualified, I think a really big drive is the combination of low housing prices AND low interest rates, which has rarely happened throughout history.

Baltimore house prices are very low and buyers really can take advantage of this market along with the affordable interest rates!

Though I did see an increase in the Baltimore real estate market in the past two weeks, the interesting thing was that most of those I was working with in buying or shopping for a home were NOT eligible for the tax credit.

There also was not as much of a rush to get the credit right at the end. In searching the MLS, there were not a significantly higher amount of homes going under contract than one would expect at the same time any other year.

The tax credit certainly did its’ job of stimulating the real estate market, but I am finding that it is the low interest rates as well as low house prices that has been enticing people to buy homes, whether or not they were able to take advantage of the credit.

While interest rates and house prices remain low, Baltimore home buyers will continue to purchase — and home sellers will continue to sell their current houses to move up to their next home.