Did you buy your new home in time to qualify for the Home Buyer Tax Credit?  Great… now you need to take the next step and claim your tax credit.

The deadline to be under contract was April 30th.  And the deadline to close is June 30th.  Here’s what you will need to do to claim the tax credit.

Download and read the filing instructions

Here’s a link to the IRS instructions for claiming your Home Buyer Tax Credit.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5405.pdf

You will need a copy of your settlement statement from closing.  You should have received a copy at closing, but if it’s been misplaced your Realtor should be able to provide you another copy.

Fill out IRS Form 5405

This is the official form used to submit, or claim your Home Buyer Tax Credit.  Here’s a link for the form.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5405.pdf

It’s my understanding that you can fill out Form 5405 anytime after closing.

More information

Here’s a link to the official IRS webpage for the Home Buyer Tax Credit.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

Consult your tax professional

I should have put this first.  If you have someone who does your taxes for you, then it would probably be a great idea to at least touch base with them.  The rules how to claim the credit are pretty straight-forward.  But it never hurts to ask the professionals for advice before you get started.

If you’ve read this far, you probably made a home purchase that qualified for the Home Buyer Tax Credit.  Congratulations to YOU!  It’s certainly been an interesting  time in residential real estate recently.  Mortgage rates continue to be very low and the affordability of homes is just about as as good as it gets.

Pile an $8,000 additional discount on top of all that and it truly is a great time to buy a home.

I know.  It’s been a while since I wrote anything.  In case you’re worried, Raleigh Real Estate Talk isn’t going anywhere.  I’m still here and going to be writing more than ever in 2009.  But until then…

I thought I would offer my very best wishes to all my readers for Christmas.  What makes Christmas special for you?  The thing that makes it special for me is the birth of Christ.  A celebration of the moment that Love so pure, almost beyond our ability to comprehend, entered our world.

Regardless of my circumstances, the world economy, the state of the real estate market, etc… the celebration of Christ’s birth always causes me to become overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude.  I’m glad he came.  And I’m grateful for the blessings He pours out each and every day.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Just couldn’t resist posting this.  Sometimes it’s good to try to find a little humor in an otherwise not-too-funny situation.

Many thanks to fellow blogger Chad Lariscy at www.TheFrontPorchView.com for the original post on his blog.

Do you feel like there is just too much noise in your world sometimes?  I certainly do.  And sometimes I just want to turn it off.  Take a peaceful little break.

For instance, I have not listened to the news for two days.  Let’s just call it doom and gloom overload.  I really don’t need another so called expert telling me how bad our economy is, or who they think I should vote for.  I especially don’t need to hear or see a panel of experts arguing and talking all over each other trying to convince me that their opinion is the correct one to have.

If what I just described is you, try tuning to WCPE FM at 89.7 on your radio dial. WCPE broadcasts commercial free classical music 24 hours a day right here in Wake Forest.  And an added bonus is they do not do the news!  That’s right.  Just beautiful classical music all day without commercials or news broadcasts.  Ahhh, the answer to the noise problem!

In addition to the local Wake Forest, NC broadcast on 89.7 FM, WCPE is heard around the world on their internet stream.  You can tune in from their website at www.theclassicalstation.org. I recommend WCPE to all of my clients relocating to Wake Forest, or nearby Raleigh or Cary.  And I get lots of thank yous for turning newcomers on to such a great treasure.

Even if classical music isn’t your thing, I would like to encourage you to give WCPE a try.  My wife wasn’t particularly interested at first, but WCPE has definitely grown on her.  We listen together quite often now.  This music allows you to enjoy conversation with someone while filling the background with wonderful soothing sounds.  Be warned though, WCPE’s music is highly addictive!

And as you begin to listen, you will be amazed at how many tunes you will recognize.  Great classical music has filled the soundtracks of many famous movies and makes up the theme songs of tons of events (the Olympics, etc) and even some commercials (the beef commercial).  So you can have all this familiarity without the noise (think commercials) that sometimes accompanies these great musical pieces.

You are probably wondering how WCPE does all this without the support of commercial sponsors.  They do it with a wonderful staff of volunteers and the financial contributions of listeners all over the world.  Even the voices of the mostly volunteer announcers is soothing and relaxing.  If you tune in and find WCPE to be a welcome relief from all the noise that surrounds all of us, please consider supporting what they do.  No gift is too small or too large.

As I’ve said before, there are some very attractive home deals in the Raleigh real estate market right now.  Especially in new construction homes.  And although selling a home in the Raleigh area can be tough, it certainly can be done. However, it seems we are now at a point where the traditional media sources, who are rewarded for creating attention getting and/or shocking headlines and stories, may be persuading some who should make a move to postpone without good reason.

I have had an alarming number of people tell me in the past few weeks that they are putting off buying a home because they feel they cannot get a loan.  I ask about their credit score and down payment amount and discover that there are some with scores over 750 and 20% down payment who feel that mortgage money is not available for them right now because of our country’s current financial mess.  This is simply NOT true!

The person I just described is what is know to lenders as a conforming client.  In other words, they meet all the standard conditions for a traditional 30 year, fixed rate mortgage.  I have asked every lender I know in the past few weeks if mortgage money is affected by what is going on in the financial markets and the answer has been that nothing has changed for borrowers who qualify.

These people who expressed concern with getting a mortgage tell me they got that idea from watching the evening news.  While the credit markets have undergone constriction in the past few weeks, it affects money available for capital projects and the huge amounts banks loan each other over very short terms, NOT mortgages.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a huge problem for our economy, but it has zero effect on mortgage availability for home buyers.

As I was thinking about this topic yesterday, I heard a national news anchor person doing a story about the very attractive home prices around the country, finish his piece by saying if buyers could only get a loan they may be able to capitalize on these opportunities.  That was irresponsible for him to say that.  How many people heard him, and the voices of others on the national news, and made a decision to let some of the lowest prices we have seen on residential real estate in recent history pass them by?

100% financing is no longer available, but that has been the case for many months.  Undocumented income and assets are no longer allowed, but that stopped being an option early this year.  By the way, both of these things were probably a bad idea and needed to be stopped.

Let me just say it again.  Home buyers with down payment money, good credit scores, and verifiable income can qualify for a mortgage and there is plenty of funding available for you.

Please don’t let your opportunity to purchase the home of your dreams pass you by.  The low prices and flexible terms that are out there right now will not last forever.  When the market turns, they will go away as fast as they appeared. If you need to move, there has never been a better time.

The NC State Fair is officially under way at the fairgrounds in Raleigh.  It actually started yesterday, a day early.  North Carolina remains a big agriculture state and the State Fair showcases this in a big way.

There are a quite a few events that I tell my clients who are relocating to the Raleigh area not to miss, and this is at the top of the list.  The bottom line is, if you’re new to the area, be sure to go to the fair this year.  You will learn much about your new state and have some fun too.  In addition to the agricultural exhibits, there are nightly concerts, a full blown midway complete with rides and junk food, livestock exhibits and contests, horse shows, and much more.

Here is the nightly lineup for concerts:

Thu Oct 16 – Josh Turner ($22)
Fri Oct 17 – Jason Aldean ($15)
Sat Oct 18 – Toby Mac ($10)
Sun Oct 19 – Antebellum/Heidi Newfield ($8)
Mon Oct 20 – Bobby Flay ($22)
Tue Oct 21 – Bucky Covinton ($5)
Wed Oct 22 – Rodney Adkins ($11.50)
Thu Oct 23 – Mario ($16.50)
Fri Oct 24 – Skillet/Leeland ($8)
Sat Oct 25 – Joe Nichols ($11.50)
Sun Oct 26 – Montgomery Gentry ($31.50)

The concerts are held at the Dorton Arena, a relatively small venue with great acoustics, and the shows start at 7:30 each evening.  I assume Bobby Flay will cook something, rather than sing?

Oh yeah… be sure to eat something fried while you are there.  That will not be hard to do.  Each year the vendors seem to push the possibilities of all things fried just a little further.  The hot thing a few years ago was fried candy bars.  No that’s not a typo.  There’s no telling what fried goodies you might find this time around.

For more info about the 2008 NC State Fair visit www.ncstatefair.org

Great news for anyone living in Heritage Wake Forest.  The long awaited opening of Heritage Lake Road has finally happened.  This new intersection is near the corner of Jones Dairy Road and the 98 Bypass and will cut some serious time off any trip out of Heritage going north.

Okay, well it will cut a few minutes off your trip.  But hey, a few minutes is serious time when you’re in a hurry. It can also save some time getting in the neighborhood if you don’t want to mess with all the trafic on Main Street and Rogers Road.

Google Map

Now if we can get the new shopping center on that corner with the Lowes Food and Ace Hardware open we’ll be all set!

Sorry I missed posting an article yesterday.  But it was Columbus Day after all.  My wife had the day off and I decided to take it off with her.

Unfortunately I won’t have a real estate related article for you today either.  I’m teaching a class on doing business on the internet for any Keller Williams agent who is interested.  This happens to be something I know a little about and our market center gives agents the opportunity to share their areas of expertise with other agents in this way.

Teaching is the best way to learn.  Even if you know a subject fairly well, I find that there is always some concept or idea that at the very least becomes clearer when I teach.

I’ve been doing serious business on the internet for about four years now.  About half of my clients come from the Web and the other half from referrals.  I love referrals.  But my internet clients are pretty cool too.

I get to met some really great people that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to get to know.  Teaching agents does that for me too.  I get to know some of my fellow agents in a way that would not be possible outside of teaching classes.  And hopefully I can give them something that will help with their businesses too.

I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow.  Until then, click through some of the categories that might interest you and check out some past articles you might have missed.  And if there is anything in particular you would like to read about here, that you don’t find already written about, drop me a note and I’ll be glad to put an article together for you real soon.

There is much buzz out there about how Wall Street greed is to blame for the economic mess we find ourselves in right now.  I don’t happen to think that is accurate.  About the only thing Wall Street is guilty of is perfectly following the rules they were given to make a profit.  And isn’t making a profit what they are actually supposed to be doing?  If placing blame is the objective, you might have to look a little deeper.

Speaking of rules, maybe that is a good place to start.  Many years ago our government leaders decided that it would be a good idea if “everybody” could own a home.  At that time, most everybody who could afford to own a home already had one because they realized the long term benefits of home ownership and they could afford to pay a mortgage.  They had to use some creativity to achieve their goal.

These government leaders made a fundamentally flawed decision to begin a process of forcing banks and lending companies to lower the standards that had to be met to qualify for a loan in order to expand the pool of homeowners.  Pretty soon after doing this they realized that private investors were not too excited about creating mortgage instruments that supported such a high risk borrower.

So, these government leaders decided to use their rule making power to further interfere with the mortgage markets and they turned to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to back these high risk mortgages that they had forced lenders to make.  Now our government had the complete package in place and we had begun our journey to the place we find ourselves today.

The fact that lenders were forced to meet quotas for high risk loans was startling enough.  But it really got crazy when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were given special accounting rules and the ability to borrow money from the treasury at discounted rates.  This created an unstoppable machine that put billions of dollars of government backed mortgages in the hands of people who had no capacity to pay it back.  Our journey was now well under way.

What was Wall Street’s involvement?  Well they certainly didn’t create this bad loan machine.  But they were needed by Fannie and Freddie to buy the exotic mortgage instruments that they had been empowered to create.  Without investors to buy their sliced and diced mortgage backed securities, Fannie and Freddie could not complete the mission.

A rate of return was established for these mortgage backed securities that was high enough that Wall Street, and the rest of the global investment world for that matter, took a seat at the table and loaded up with these seemingly lucrative deals.

Then, about two years ago, the trouble began.  People began to default on some of these loans. Fast forward to today and we have discovered that any private company who drank from the Fannie and Freddie cup of mortgage backed securities is getting very sick.  Some have ceased to exist.  Others had been rescued in an attempt to stop the spread of panic that could do extensive damage to an already weakened economy.

The problem with this whole mess is that the idea of market based risk and reward was replaced with government backed risk and market driven reward. No one should be too surprised with the notion that people will seek much higher reward when risk is implicitly assumed by someone else.

The problem is those who assumed the risk are you and me.  We didn’t agree to assume it.  At least not directly.  Those who we elected to lead our country assumed the risk in our name.

We will have our opportunity to have a voice in what happens next on November 4th.  A good question for the candidates you support might be what is their position on markets free from government manipulation.

Think about where we might be today if our elected leaders had not seen fit to manipulate the mortgage market.  I might have been able to get by without mentioning politics on a business blog dedicated to the local real estate scene and our economy might be a whole lot better right now.

It’s that time of year again.  Time for the Parade of Homes sponsored by the Wake County Home Builder’s Association.  The Parade of Homes started last weekend and runs for the next two weekends.  The Parade homes are open from 12-5 pm on October 10-12 and 17-19.

This is the 43rd Parade and there are almost 400 homes on display.  Most are professionally decorated and all are priced to sell.  Homes on Parade range in price from $125,000 to $3,150,000.  There’s something for everyone.

Even if you’re not in the market to buy a new home right now, it can be fun just to look and there are tons of great decorating ideas you may be able to use to breathe some new life into your home.

And if you are in the market for a new home, a Parade home can be a very good deal.  Usually the builders put all the bells and whistles into a Parade home and those upgrades do not always show up at full price.  I personally live in a 2007 Parade home and have quite a few upgrades I’m able to enjoy that I likely would not have asked for (or cared to pay for) otherwise.

I hope to see you at the Parade!