Landscaping Tricks that will WOW most buyers

In today's market, sellers have to work harder to persuade buyers that their property is worth the bite.

According to Landscape designer Michael Glassman has cooked up a recipe for guaranteed curb appeal.

1. Add splashes of color. With every changing season, a landscape should provide a new display of colors, textures, and fragrances. "It’s best to use one or two and repeat them," Glassman says. Example: white iceberg roses that bloom in spring, summer, and fall as a backdrop; in front, a contrasting punch of purple salvia or lavender that will flower at the same time; and as an accent, a crape myrtle tree that provides changing leaf colors in fall and interesting branches come winter.

2. Size trees and shrubs to scale. These should be planted in the right scale for the house so that they don’t block windows, doors, and other architectural features on the home’s facade. A large two-story house can handle a redwood, Chinese pistache, sycamore, or scarlet oak, but a one-story cottage is better paired with a flowering cherry, crabapple, or eastern redbud. Too many trees cast too much shadow and cause potential buyers to worry about maintenance and costs.

3. Maintain a perfect lawn. A velvety green lawn demonstrates tender loving care, so be sure sellers’ homes don’t have brown spots. Some rocks, pebbles, boulders, drought-tolerant plants, and ornamental grasses will generate more kudos, especially in drought areas.

4. Light up the outside. Good illumination allows buyers to see a home at night and adds drama. Sellers should use low-voltage lamps to highlight branches of specimen trees, a front door, walk, and corners of the house. But less is better. The yard shouldn’t resemble an airport runway.

5. Let them hear the water. The sound of water appeals to buyers, and you shouldn’t just reserve this for your backyard. A small fountain accented with rocks provides a pleasant gurgling sound, blocks street noise, and is affordable.

6. Use decorative architectural elements. A new mailbox, planted window boxes, and a low fence wrapped in potato vines add cachet, particularly during winter months when fewer plants blossom. Colors should complement the landscape and home. Just don’t overdo it: Too much can seem like kitschy lawn ornaments.

Source: REALTOR® magazine by Barbara Ballinger
Source: Michael Glassman, landscape designer, Michael Glassman and Associates, Sacramento, Calif., www.michaelglassman.com

Tax Deductions when owning a house

At tax time, your house is not simply a home: It's also a tax deduction.
You get to deduct:

• Your property taxes. And if you bought the home in 2009, you may be able to deduct more property taxes than you think. Don’t forget to include taxes you may have reimbursed the seller for—taxes the seller had already paid before you took ownership.
• You won't get a 1098 report listing these taxes. Instead, that amount will be shown on the settlement sheet.
  
• Property taxes for taxpayers who don't itemize. You can increase your 2009 standard deduction by up to $500 for real estate taxes paid in 2009 or by up to $1,000 for real estate taxes paid in 2009 if you are married and file jointly.
  
• The mortgage interest on your primary residence, as well as on a second residence. (There are limits, but relatively few taxpayers are affected.)
  
• The interest on up to $100,000 borrowed on a home equity loan or home equity line of credit, regardless of the reason for the loan.
  
• Points that you paid when you purchased the house (or those that you convinced the seller to pay for you).
  
• The premiums paid for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) in 2009, but only for policies issued after 2006. (The right to this deduction disappears as Adjusted Gross Income rises from $100,000 to $110,000 (or $50,000 to $55,000 for those who use married filing separately status.)
  
• Home improvements required for medical care.

Call your Accountant for more details or your Tax Return agency.

Source: TurboTax for 2009

Sellers Need to List their House NOW!

Daily Real Estate News January 6, 2010

Sellers Should List Homes Early Selling a home in the dead of winter might seem ill-advised, particularly considering the state of the economy, but some experts think that making the decision to wait until spring to list the property could be a mistake.
Government incentives will likely have a big impact in 2010, with many buyers determined to sign a contract before the April 30 tax credit deadline.“This year, we're anticipating sales will peak earlier,” says Nicole Hall, editor in chief of Lendingtree.com, an online mortgage comparison service. “The best time to get your house on the market will be February or early March, and maybe even earlier if you want to avoid competition.”Traffic on real estate Web sites begins to rise right after the New Year, says Ken Shuman, spokesman for real estate Web site Trulia.com. Source: Forbes.com, Francesca Levy (12/24/2009)

Summers Predicts Job Growth by Spring

“Most professional forecasters are looking for a return to job growth by the spring,” he said in an appearance on “ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Mr. Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, made his forecast one day before President Obama is scheduled to meet with banking executives at the White House in an effort to ratchet up lending to consumers and small businesses, to make it easier for homeowners to obtain mortgages and spur businesses to generate jobs.
Mr. Summers, Secretary of the Treasury at the end of President Clinton’s administration, said that “it doesn’t cost anything to encourage banks to expand the flow of credit to small businesses.” He said the president will remind them that given what the federal government did to bail out banks when they were in trouble, they have an obligation “to enhance lending across the country.”
“We were there for them and the banks need to do everything they can” to be sure they help American business and generate jobs, he said.
The nation’s unemployment rate stabilized in November, with only 11,000 more people losing jobs and the rate itself edging down to 10.0 percent from its yearlong peak the previous month. The ranks of the employed stood at 138.5 million in November and the number of unemployed still seeking jobs stood at 15.4 million. When the recession began in December 2007, 7.5 million Americans were unemployed and the jobless rate stood at 4.9 percent.
Mr. Summers said flatly that “everyone agrees the recession is over.” But at least one dissenter was Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican minority leader, who said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that, given a 10 percent national unemployment rate and 11 percent in Kentucky, “I don’t think it’s over.”
“I hope he’s right that we’re coming out of an economic slowdown, but unemployment is the key,” he added.
Mr. Summers, though, sounded a more upbeat tone.
“We were losing 700,000 jobs a month when President Bush turned the economy over to President Obama,” he said. But looking at the latest employment statistics, he said, by spring, “growth will be starting to turn positive.”
Asked what the Obama administration would be doing to create jobs, Mr. Summers said, “Every bill is going to be a jobs bill.” The president plans to spend $50 billion on repairing the nation’s infrastructure, and health care reform — the centerpiece of the Obama domestic agenda — too would help he economy by paring away the nation’s deficit, which he described as an $8 trillion shortfall over 10 years that “the Obama administration inherited.”
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: December 13, 2009 , New York Times

IRS Sets New Rules for Tax Credit

The IRS has spelled out guidelines for eligibility for the home buyer credit when co-borrowers purchase a property.

• When a home-owning parent of an adult child co-signs for a mortgage and both names appear on the note, the IRS says that under some circumstances, the first-time home buyer can qualify for the whole amount.
• The IRS says the parent doesn’t qualify for any portion of the credit, but if the child hasn’t owned a home during the three years preceding the current purchase and can qualify based on income, he or she can be allocated the entire $8,000 credit.
• When unmarried individuals co-purchase a home and only one of them is eligible for the credit, then the full $8,000 can be allocated to the eligible buyer.

Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (12/04/2009)

Banks Start to Embrace Short Sales

Banks Start to Embrace Short Sales Even before the government put pressure on them to embrace short sales, more banks were starting to take their lumps, do the short-sale deals and move on.Three years into the housing meltdown, short sales have tripled to 40,000 in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same time period a year ago, according to data from the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corp., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. this year have hired and trained more staff to handle short sales and also developed software for expediting them. “It’s really finally dawning on banks that they’re better off with a short sale,” said Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “I think banks were in denial.”
Source: Bloomberg, John Gittelsohn and Margaret Collins (12/4/2009)

Why to use a Realtor

Reasons why it pays to work with a REALTOR®. National Association of Realtors(member)

1. You’ll have an expert to guide you through the process. Buying or selling a home usually requires disclosure forms, inspection reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, deeds, and multi-page settlement statements. A knowledgeable expert will help you prepare the best deal, and avoid delays or costly mistakes.

2. Get objective information and opinions. REALTORS® can provide local community information on utilities, zoning, schools, and more. They’ll also be able to provide objective information about each property. A professional will be able to help you answer these two important questions: Will the property provide the environment I want for a home or investment? Second, will the property have resale value when I am ready to sell?

3. Find the best property out there. Sometimes the property you are seeking is available but not actively advertised in the market, and it will take some investigation by your REALTOR® to find all available properties.

4. Benefit from their negotiating experience. There are many negotiating factors, including but not limited to price, financing, terms, date of possession, and inclusion or exclusion of repairs, furnishings, or equipment. In addition, the purchase agreement should provide a period of time for you to complete appropriate inspections and investigations of the property before you are bound to complete the purchase. Your agent can advise you as to which investigations and inspections are recommended or required.

5. Property marketing power. Real estate doesn’t sell due to advertising alone. In fact, a large share of real estate sales comes as the result of a practitioner’s contacts through previous clients, referrals, friends, and family. When a property is marketed with the help of a REALTOR®, you do not have to allow strangers into your home. Your REALTOR® will generally prescreen and accompany qualified prospects through your property.

6. Real estate has its own language. If you don’t know a CMA from a PUD, you can understand why it’s important to work with a professional who is immersed in the industry and knows the real estate language.

7. REALTORS® have done it before. Most people buy and sell only a few homes in a lifetime, usually with quite a few years in between each purchase. And even if you’ve done it before, laws and regulations change. REALTORS®, on the other hand, handle hundreds of real estate transactions over the course of their career. Having an expert on your side is critical.

8. Buying and selling is emotional. A home often symbolizes family, rest, and security — it’s not just four walls and a roof. Because of this, home buying and selling can be an emotional undertaking. And for most people, a home is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make. Having a concerned, but objective, third party helps you stay focused on both the emotional and financial issues most important to you.

9. Ethical treatment. Every member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® makes a commitment to adhere to a strict Code of Ethics, which is based on professionalism and protection of the public. As a customer of a REALTOR®, you can expect honest and ethical treatment in all transaction-related matters. It is mandatory for REALTORS® to take the Code of Ethics orientation and they are also required to complete a refresher course every four years.
Source:realtor.org