Here is some important information from Mortgage Market Guide's Weekly report regarding the extension of the home buyer tax credit. Your local and national Realtors have been pushing to extend this tax credit, including myself, and we are very happy that this extension has been granted. The data has shown that this has really helped home buyers to get into the market, and I have seen this impact my own clients.Tax Credit for First-Time Homebuyers
FTHBs (that is, people who have not owned a home within the last three years) may be eligible for the tax credit. The credit for FTHBs is 10% of the purchase price of the home, with a maximum available credit of $8,000.
Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.
Tax Credit for Current Homeowners
The tax credit program now gives those who already own a residence some additional reasons to move to a new home. This incentive comes in the form of a tax credit of up to $6,500 for qualified purchasers who have owned and occupied a primary residence for a period of five consecutive years during the last eight years.
Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.
What are the New Deadlines?
In order to qualify for the credit, all contracts need to be in effect no later than April 30, 2010 and close no later than June 30, 2010. Those in the military do have some special extensions on the timelines available.
What's So Great About a "Tax Credit"?
The benefit of a tax credit is that it's a dollar-for-dollar benefit, rather than a "tax deduction", or reduction in a tax liability that would only save you $1,000 to $1,500 when all was said and done. So, if a first-time homebuyer who qualified for the entire benefit were to owe $8,000 in income taxes and would qualify for a tax credit of $8,000, she would owe nothing.
Better still, the tax credit is refundable, which means the homebuyer can receive a check for the credit if he or she has little or no income tax liability. For example, if a first-time homebuyer is eligible for a tax credit of $8,000 but is liable for $4,000 in income tax, she can still receive a check for the remaining $4,000!
Higher Income Caps
The amount of income someone can earn and qualify for the full amount of the credit has been increased.
Single tax filers who earn up to $125,000 are eligible for the total credit amount. Those who earn more than this cap can receive a partial credit. However, single filers who earn $145,000 and above are ineligible.
Joint filers who earn up to $225,000 are eligible for the total credit amount. Those who earn more than this cap can receive a partial credit. However, joint filers who earn $245,000 and above are ineligible.
Maximum Purchase Price
Qualifying buyers may purchase a property with a maximum sales price of $800,000.
Yes, that's right. 1st Thursday is here again, and it's happening next week (November 5th) all over downtown. Come stop by Eden at 17 W. Ortega from 5-8p.m. to see my most recent oil paintings, hear live instrumental music by The Refreshments, and have some refreshments (local wine, etc.). It will be a good time with good people. You can grab a 'Passport' from Eden that you can use as your guide through downtown for the evening.
as you can see from these somewhat blurry photos, a lot of joking around. (Anne Wright attacked me with red paint after I started laughing at her for having green paint all over her mouth.) I tend to paint really large pieces these days, although I do all sizes, and others paint very tiny and detailed pieces. Some are detailed and others are impressionistic, and that's what creates all the chemistry, because no one is trying to compete. Lots of love to my group!
First we have LoveMikana.com ~ and seriously ~ you will Love Mikana. Every day you can learn about Arts/Culture, a way to Be Active, the Green Scene, Style Files, Wine & Dine, and the Weekend Guide. Sign up on their website. You'll love the content... It takes about 10 seconds to read.
n use the live application to find local deals based on your 
preferences to save money, find popular spots, or decide what you'll do for entertainment tonight.
This Thursday, come out to check out "1st Thursday" which is an evening of art and culture in downtown Santa Barbara. Grab a "September Passport" at any of the participating locations to see all the open venues. There are 30 for the month of September and the event goes 5-8pm so get started early! My oil paintings will be featured at Live Culture, and this is our opening night (September 3rd). Or, stop in Live Culture anytime this month to see some of my recent work. Thanks for your support!
PEOPLE STARTING TO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE AGAIN
Recently over dinner, a friend of mine startled me by saying he and his wife were looking to buy a lake cabin. I figured that in this time of economic uncertainty, people would still be stuffing their mattresses with hard, cold cash. But buying real estate? That seemed particularly surprising.
The more I've talked to people, though, the more I get a sense that things have started to change. While the economy remains in rough shape and the jobless rate continues to rise, the frantic desire to save and build cash reserves has ebbed. Those fortunate people who have weathered the storm are emerging from their fetal crouch and starting to think more about taking some investment risks.
What I find especially interesting is where most of my risk-taking friends are headed. It isn't the stock market; in fact, the only folks I know who have waded back into the stock market are the gunslinger types who never really left it.
Instead, they seem to be heading for real estate. At first I found this puzzling, given the brutal battering real estate has taken. But that's the point: An increasing number of my friends see this as the perfect opportunity to find something at a bargain-basement price.
And so, among my friends: A New York executive and his wife are looking for a summer place in New England; a small-business owner in Minnesota is thinking about acquiring some rental property; a New Jersey technology consultant is considering buying a small apartment in New York, perhaps with some other friends.
The people doing this are employed, feel confident that they're not going to lose their jobs, and believe that while housing prices may fall a bit more the bottom is not too far away. Moreover, financing remains relatively cheap and, according to one lawyer I know in house-hunting mode, banks aren't as tight with mortgage lending as headlines indicate.
As I wrote a couple of months ago, it's always dangerous to hypothesize a global trend based on the all-too-limited view from your own backyard. But it's also sometimes an insightful way to get a jump on what's coming. And for me, what's most intriguing is that, for now, most of this risk talk is prospective. There's no sense of rushing, no desire to "stretch" too far in making a purchase. It's like these people are permitting themselves to dream a little bit and get closer to pulling the trigger. But they want to be doubly sure before making a move.
What's more, all of these people have a similar, cautious, mind-set. They don't believe real estate will rebound or make a great investment. But they also don't think real estate will lose a lot of value. Instead, they are focused on real estate as something they can use: a solid place to live or play that should also be, at worst, an OK investment.
Not all investments are the same. You can't live in a stock certificate or gaze wistfully at a bond (at least most of us can't). In what is still a time of tumult, there's something deep inside us that finds the solidity of a home soothing. I think that explains why people moving out on the risk scale are focused more on real estate than on stocks or bonds.
My wife and I recently considered buying some property, too. We don't own our home, and we've thought about one day returning to the Midwest. On a recent trip to Minnesota, we looked at several properties, including an old farmstead on the outskirts of St. Paul.
Examining the farmstead, it became clear why people who have ridden through this economic storm in decent shape are thinking more about real estate. It had been on the market more than a year, the price had fallen more than 60% and the seller would only take offers that didn't require the sale of another home before closing.
Ultimately, we decided not to purchase the house, but we continue to hunt because we believe bargains can be had. We also think those bargains aren't going away anytime soon, which is a thought shared by many and a big reason that real-estate sales remain sluggish.
Even as my friends, as well as my wife and I, consider making real-estate purchases, I am quickly reminded of how real-estate fixations got out of control earlier this decade.
An entrepreneur I barely know recently confessed how he owned seven homes, all of them rented, all of them underwater. He figures he'll do all he can to hang on until prices rebound. His credit cards are groaning and his business is struggling. He provides a stark reminder that investing in property can go off the rails as quickly as anything else.
That is probably why the current real-estate chatter I hear sounds very different from the speculative boom of the recent past. While buying a second home or even considering some rental property entails risk, I don't hear the kind of zero-down fervor familiar just a couple years ago. Instead, it's about buying something that you can touch, feel and see—and imagine holding onto for a long time.
New Listing
plan flowing out to a Balinese style temple, with
Santa Barbara Real Estate Market Update (South Coast)
January - June 2009
For the Santa Barbara South Coast, the single family home market has seen the number of sales rise to the high 70’s and low 80’s range, which is about 20% higher than the number of sales we were seeing in June 2008. Even more encouraging are the number of properties that entered escrow, which was in the 90’s for the month of June 2009 compared to the low 80’s for June 2008.
With the number of sales rising, the median sales price slid back for June to the mid $800,000s after rising each month since February. The median list price for homes entering escrow is also in the mid $800,000 range, so that should be approximately where the median sales price will stay for the moment.
The sales price to original list price ratio rose in June to the high 80's and low 90's - percentile after sliding down into the high 70’s in May. This signifies that prices are starting to hold, particularly in the market under $1M.
The inventory continued to decline in June. There were about 150 new listings in June for a median list price of $1.2 million. The median list price for the overall inventory is at approximately $1.85M, and there are about 625 available homes.
The South Coast Santa Barbara condo market has seen a large improvement for sales in June. The sales for June about doubled (going from the 20's to the 40's) compared to the previous two months. And, the number of condos currently going into escrow is staying in the 40's range, so this pace should continue for now. The number of sales rose, yet the median sales price for those condos dropped back into the $400,000 to $500,000 range. We could stay here for a bit, because the median list price of condos that have been entering escrow are also in the mid-$400,000 range.
Both the single family home and the condo markets are bringing in better numbers than they did last year. If we can keep up this pace, 2009 should be not far off from 2008, and will hopefully turn out even better than 2008.
Stay tuned for next month's update...
A crew of us went sailing today on a Melges 24 ~ and what a gorgeous Santa Barbara afternoon! We raced Wednesday in the Santa Barbara Wet Wednesday race (it will be going on every Wednesday at 5:25 p.m.) and had some 'bad air' as we were starting, so today we practiced some starts and some other moves. I'm learning a lot, and there's a lot to sailing .. it's a whole other set of vocabulary! Seeing Santa Barbara from the
Today was really windy, and luckily we only had one man overboard (Ron) as we practiced our moves, and Ron is a world-class sailor with 48 years of sailing experience, so that was pretty funny. We were at a fast speed, and I was amazed .. somehow Ron held onto the boat with one hand and was dragging along under water .. and then was able to pull himself back on board. I probably shouldn't laugh because I know that one of these days, the person overboard will probably be me.
Haole The PenguinHomes/SFR
# New Listings:
'09 YTD: 324
'08 YTD: 325
The inventory is staying at the same level & not building.
# Under Contract
'09 YTD: 247
'08 YTD: 165
49% Increase Year Over Year
Condos
# New Listings:
'09 YTD: 252
'08 YTD: 314
19% decline
# Under Contract
'09 YTD: 163
'08 YTD: 105
55% increase Year Over Year
The key with our market is that buyers are benefiting from this "perfect storm" of a buyer's market - low interest rates combined with reduced prices and motivated, (some "distressed") sellers. These two components combine to provide a low monthly mortgage payment, and this has caused the affordability factor to increase sharply. Interest rates would only have to increase slightly and the home buyers' monthly payment could jump up by several hundred dollars per month.
The other factors that buyers should understand are:
With inflation almost certainly in our future, owning real estate is a great place to be - Historical data shows us that South coast real estate has doubled or better every 10 yrs. since the 1960s.
The same benefits of home ownership remain constant:
Ability to deduct mortgage interest from income taxes (not true for rent), the forced savings aspect of home ownership, (vs. paying off your landlord's mortgage for him/her) & just as important ... the satisfaction that comes from owning your own home ... & not having to worry that your landlord is keeping current with his mortgage ...
Thanks to Jackie Walters for putting this together & keeping the Village agents up to date with great statistics!
Uluwatu, Indonesia
ites and apartments before the ship’s launch in 2002 and has been enlisted once again to provide premier marketing for the ship’s resale residences.
d like to set an appointment with me, please respond soon to emily@villagesite.com. A background check will be required for all visitors. Ask me about the requirements and how to set your appointment. We can discuss this opportunity, and I can provide you with all the details.
Here's another painting I'm working on - this one is not complete yet but I am hoping to finish it by next Tuesday. It's of Uluwatu in Indonesia. I'll post it again once it's complete. Enjoy!
he years, but that can cause difficulty at the point of sale, when those agreements become very important. When a rental property is sold, estoppel certificates become part of the escrow. These are certificates that the tenants fill out and sign to verify who is living in the property, the amount of rent they pay, how much they have given for a security deposit, the length and terms of their lease, etc. The purpose is to verify that the rental agreements the landlord is providing through escrow are in alignment with what the tenants are disclosing, and vice versa. In our case, this became a problem. We were given different statements, and we had to sort it all out and get to the bottom of who was living in each unit, dealing with language barriers in the midst of it all, and what to do from there. January 1 - April 30th, 2009 (Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito, Hope Ranch, and Goleta)
April 2009 revealed some closings with the many escrows that had piled up in the previous months. The month showed an improvement in the level of closings we had seen so far this year. The median sales price for April went up slightly from the previous month, but was still in the low to mid $800,000 range. The number of homes that went 'pending' in April was approximately 10% higher than what we saw in March, and the median list price for those pended properties was about $50,000 above the previous month’s figure of $849,000. This means that the median sold price should begin to rise. The inventory also continued to grow throughout the month and is about 10% above where it was in March. It looks like we are currently at the bottom of the price swing for the market under $1M, but prices above $1M could still adjust a bit more.
For condos, just like with homes, there have been a lot of escrows piling up for the first few months and now they’re starting to close. The median sales price dropped to the mid $400,000 level for April ’09 compared to $610,450 in April ’08. This decline can be attributed to a near complete lack of activity for higher priced condos and is more of a shift in the type of condo that has been selling ~ not a large drop in the prices of condos. Comparing April ’09 to April ’08, the pending numbers for condos are up about 35%. The inventory for condos declined slightly from March to April & the median list price for the inventory stayed stable at about $600,000. The condo market is starting to rebound because the lower priced single family homes that were available in Goleta and Carpinteria are basically gone at this time, making condos look more appealing. Unless we see a lot of new foreclosures going for sale, the condo market should continue to move forward with prices starting to stabilize.
ts all over Santa Barbara and Montecito. I drive a fun car, so I'm not exactly complaining but just seeing room for adventure. Can you imagine showing up at a house on the Riviera where it's steep and windy - say you have 15 realtors who happen to show up there all at once, all only planning to do a 10-minute run through of a house before they're off to the next architectural gem of the day? Do you know what type of cluster that causes in a driveway?? It's pretty entertaining. Not all realtors are good drivers.
Tokyo and has lived in many parts of the world. Per UCSB's Arts and Lectures, McDonough is an internationally renowned architect and Time magazine “Hero for the Planet." He is recognized as one of the leading proponents of practicing ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the U.S. and abroad. He is also a recipient of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development--the nation's highest environmental honor—for his groundbreaking efforts in designing profitable and environmentally intelligent solutions for client companies around the world.
It's a shock to see Santa Barbara in flames yet again this year. Yesterday the fire started at 1:45pm. From Montecito, where I first noticed the smoke, it looked like a small fire off in the distance and not a big deal. But as the winds picked up, combined with the heat of the day, the fire has become much worse than expected. As of this morning, the fire seemed under control and contained on three sides. We were expecting 65 mph winds today, and around 2-3 p.m. the situation took a negative turn. This photo was taken from the 154 with my iPhone at about 5:00 p.m. today. Currently the cause of the fire is under investigation.
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