NAR Existing Home Sales Estimate (February 2008) – 5,030,000 (1)
Census New Home Sales Estimate (February 2008) – 590,000 (2)
Total Home Sales Estimate – 5,620,000
Less ineligible existing homes – 1,666,000*
Less ineligible new homes – 195,000*
*(Total investment/vacation homes (3) + nonconforming homes – fraud)
Total eligible sales – 3,759,000
Tax credit per sale – $10,000
Total cost – $37,590,000,000
If this plan increases home sales by 10%, total cost will rise past $40 Billion, a rise in sales of 20% will increase the total cost to $45 Billion. If this program reignites the boom, and sales surpass the 2005 peak, total cost will far exceed $70 Billion.
Where is this money coming from?
(1) Source: NAR Existing Home Sales February SAAR Estimate.
(2) Source: U.S. Census Bureau New Home Sales February SAAR Estimate.
(3) Source: NAR Vacation and Second Home Sales 2007 Estimate.
From MarketWatch.
House lawmakers propose home-buyer tax credit
Home buyers would get a $10,000 tax credit for their purchase under a bipartisan House bill proposed on Wednesday.
The bill, a response to the sluggish housing industry and its drag on the overall economy, was unveiled by Reps. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. The temporary credit would apply only to those planning to live in the home and could only be claimed by taxpayers once, making speculators and flippers ineligible for the perk.
But the tax benefits won’t last for long; the credit would expire one year after enactment, according to a release from the two lawmakers. A tax credit reduces an individual’s tax liability on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
To be eligible for the credit, home purchases would have to meet the new temporary conforming loan limits approved in the economic stimulus package, according to the proposal. The limits are now equal to 125% of the area’s median home price, up to $729,750. The bill also includes an alternative-minimum-tax blocker to protect people who claim the credit, according to the release.
Totus altus quod validus charlatans had haud forsit obvius sursum , iam they’re fletus obvius down. Quoque nocens.
Would you expect any less from a NJ legislator?
So they are going to try to FORCE people to buy houses right now.
Dear Sellers,
Tick…. tick…. tick…. tick….
It’s like trying to tempt someone into overpaying $100k for a house with the promise of $10k in stainless steel appliances.
Then again – that scam was working for a while.
For those looking to take advantage of the tax credit, there are a number of properties in Camden currently asking a bit over $10,000.
Free houses!
Does a tax credit of 10K mean 3K (based on tax bracket) in real savings?
thanks.
What a great deal. Pay 150K more than the asset is worth to receive a 10K credit? They are addressing every possible avenue, except the obvious. Prices are in the process of adjusting downward. It’s a major bust. Concentrate on that, rather than some gimmicks. It’s just another failed attempt at price fixing. We are already buried with band aids, paper clips and rubber bands. Just blow out the dead wood, move on.
Better idea, give every purchaser free gap insurance upon closing.
ABC you later….
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aPXjEYObI2as&refer=us
Bogle me this Batman….
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=ahrA_w9CRg_k&refer=home
#1 & 2,
Whaaaa?
But the boyo’s on Kudlow tonight are saying this is great, and the economy is going to turn around in the 2nd half.
Chi: I noticed that as well re Vanguard. Not sure what the point of it is. Relatively few “total market indexers” want to overweight (cap-weight?) international, given that they invest and spend in dollars, and “low cost fund-ers” will be annoyed that the proposed expense ratio of the fund (.45) is significantly more than that of its two components (Total US Market Index and FTSE All World Except US).
A 10k tax credit is chump change. I can blow that easily in a date or 2.
REO observation:
For the last 4-5 months I’ve been receiving Wells Fargo REO list. During that time I’ve noticed the increase in the price of the houses that have gone REO.
Example: today the list was 5 pages.
1135 Glen Road, Fort Lee, 1100s/f, $444,900.
269 State Rd 5, Fort Lee, 1600s/f, $540,000.
At these prices, I’m guestimating the purchasers were not subprime.
Still have two days of posts to catch up on, but …
Mike NJ Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Grim,
Cousin rents in spring lake and is in commercial real estate. He is now looking to buy selectively in town and is absolutely amazed at what is available. Even the gold coast streets nearer to the beach are seeing large price reductions. He told me over Easter dinner that prices are indeed coming down.
We have visited Spring Lake each of the last two summers, and this past one, we saw (and wrote on here) about the insane amount of incredible real estate for sale. I can only imagine what the prices are now.
Love that little beach town.
And how exactly, does the esteemed Congress-critter from NJ plan on paying for this tax credit?
from Barons:
is greenspans PhD thesis a sham?
Auerbach, a veteran Fed basher, portrays Greenspan as a real-life Professor Marvel — who, through double-talk or “garblement,” transformed himself into a mighty economic wizard à la Oz. Auerbach strongly implies that Greenspan’s 1977 Ph.D. from New York University was obtained in a few months with little more rigor than a matchbook-cover art degree and that Greenspan has kept his Ph.D. thesis secret in order to protect his vaunted academic reputation.
[algreenspan]
Greenspan appears to have taken only a few months to obtain his NYU doctorate in ’77.
Although Auerbach’s evidence is circumstantial, it certainly is provocative. For years, NYU told the public that, at Greenspan’s request, the thesis was locked away from public view in a vault at its Bobst Library. Auerbach himself was told this in January 2004 when he tried to obtain a copy.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120675340444773623.html?mod=b_hpp_9_0002_b_this_weeks_magazine_home_right
bruiser 17 That’s easy raise taxes or go with a tin cup to China.Maybe just ask Ben he seems to be given it out by the boat load.
re pets…
So it turns out that if you have a cat or dog with congestive heart failure, the treatment is the dame as it is for humans, (blood thinner, diuretic, beta blockers)
20
Kettle – Pretty much. Question is, can it be cleared up and will there be any type of quality of life afterwards?
#15 Orion
1135 Glen Road, Fort Lee, 1100s/f, $444,900.
If you look at msn bird’s eye view map of the house looks like a so so house and very so so area.
link to msn bird’s eye map http://tinyurl.com/3xg6v7 .. click on bird’s eye to view house … notice the limo on the road … cheesy!
vodka (18)-
Well, I’ll bet Crazy Al got an A+ in his hyperinflation class.
I played on a Little League team where the coach promised us pizza or a trip to Friendly’s after every win. We finished 0-16. The coach made this promise knowing that he wouldn’t have to deliver on it.
This tax credit won’t do anyone any good if buyers can’t get mortgages or sell their current homes. The gov’t can look like they’re trying without having to deliver. I hope to gain from it, but it’s clearly a case of election year bread and circuses.
A Gov that gets it?
“ST. PAUL – The centerpiece of Democrats’ solution to the foreclosure crisis appeared to be in trouble Tuesday when Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he would “probably” veto legislation to put off foreclosures for a year for 15,000 homeowners.”
“Pawlenty said he is concerned about the potential effect on credit for the entire Minnesota mortgage market. He made the comments at a news conference where he announced a federal grant to beef up the ranks of foreclosure counselors and a privately funded bridge loan program for homeowners at risk of foreclosure.”
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/17196631.html?ref=patrick.net
Schering-Plough announces layoffs, plant closings
Faced with a crushing blow to its top selling cholesterol medicine, Schering-Plough tonight announced layoffs, plant closings and spending cuts to save $1 billion over the next two years.
“No area will be exempt,” Fred Hassan, Schering-Plough’s chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
OT
so lets all move to florida!!!
ORLANDO, Fla. — A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.
http://tinyurl.com/2yuca8
sync (26)-
That’s gonna leave a mark.
jmac 24 That is what crossed my mind upon reading the numbers in the header Grim put up.Still need DP & fico.This might get you to buy a house for 120 in Huston or Kansas but in the northeast it is a drop in the bucket.
in case anyone missed it, Ron Paul smacking bergabe around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbi-0Tg1b_g
Mike (29)-
Smoke and mirrors. They’re grasping at straws now…or, they’ve just decided to pander their way through the rest of the election cycle. Panem et circenses.
Too bad that the fallout, blowback and unintended consequences of these bailouts is going to make things exponentially worse than if they just kept their hands off and let things work themselves out.
“April 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. and U.K. regulators are wasting their time threatening traders who profit from speculation about the deteriorating health of the financial community. The gossips aren’t to blame for the demise of Bear Stearns Cos., and they won’t be at fault when the next firm goes bang, either.”
“Banks are engaged in a beggar-thy-neighbor fight for survival. The correct number of banks to go bust in a crisis isn’t zero, and it probably isn’t one, either. As Suffolk, Virginia-based economist Dennis Gartman is fond of reminding readers of his newsletter, there is never only one cockroach.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a0XP0Z4bU.kc&refer=home
vodka (30)-
Great. Paul kicks the whole thing off by very subtly calling Bergabe a fascist. Classic.
JB,
In moderation. Dennis Gartman or roach?
“There is a fundamental change of behavior of consumers,” Sharma said. “For many years, going back to the Great Depression, consumers always first paid their mortgage and if they default, they would default on their credit cards. For the first time, in 2005, we started to see the line being crossed, where consumers are willing to walk away from their mortgages.”
march Fed charts
http://tinyurl.com/2ph6hc
Kettle,
Checked out the portable apps; cool stuff!
this is for you clott….
Some homes worth less than their copper pipes: reuters
BROCKTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) – Shards of broken glass outside the basement window of 31 Vine Street hint at the destruction inside the three-story home.
Thieves smashed the window to break in and then gutted the property for its copper pipes — a crime that has spread across the United States as the economy slows and foreclosed homes stand empty and vulnerable.
“They cut it here and then pulled it right out of the wall,” real estate broker Marc Charney said, pointing to broken plaster near a wrecked baseboard heating system in the 2,774-sq-ft home in Brockton, Massachusetts, a working-class city of 94,304 people.
Similar stories are unfolding nationwide as a glut of home foreclosures coincides with record highs in the price of copper and other metals.
glad i could help Syb!
Damn; work filter still works even on firefox portable :-(
vodka (38)-
I’m just hoping to score another listing that might be suitable for a Foreclosure Fiesta. :)
OK, am I crazy? How about all the stupid people who got into this mess just have to suck it up and leave the rest of us alone? Whatever happened to the concept of “ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES”???
Clot 31
They’re standing in front of a freight train
with a cardboard box to stop it.But as you say this will keep the sheeple happy.I watched the entire Ben & Chuck show today, got to love Ron Paul.
Is the long nightmare finally at an end?
“I need to sit down with Isiah and have a meaningful basketball conversation,” Walsh said.
40 sybarite
if you really want to get past work filters use putty and vpn into your home pc. portable putty is available on the portable apps website
#16 Bloodbath
There are currently 78 homes for sale in Spring Lake for you to choose from that range from $649,900 to $8,950,000. Since you visited last summer(July 07)there have been 25 sales ranging from $747,200 to $9,350,000.
found on another RE Blog….
Vegas home for sale: Includes a hot 22-year old model, two cars, and porn star and stripper phone numbers. Cocaine not included.
Man, it’s getting ugly out there now. People are trying to sell their life along with their house.
Meanwhile, I think we can now confirm that Vegas is indeed full of hookers, strippers, porn stars, shallow people, unemployed mortgage brokers and screwed homedebtors.
Las Vegas – the cesspool of America. On sale now!
Thanks Richard for the link. I’m going to take a shower now.
Las Vegas Life – House, Benz, and priceless extras
Perfect way to move to Las Vegas and get a head start in your new home. You are bidding on a complete package that includes:
My 2750 sq ft luxury home on the 15th fairway of the prestigious Las Vegas Country Club, right in the middle of everything that is Las Vegas. Granite and Travertine flooring, Granite Kitchen, Euro Cabinets, Stainless appliances, His and her shower and fireplace in Master Suite. House has been completely custom remodeled and has a new automated lap pool and spa, new A/C, Heat, Water softener, too much too mention.
If you like, you also have the opportunity to continue having ( as long as you are cool enough to keep her around) my very cool and gorgeous 22 year old aspiring model, rent paying, best I ever lived with, rock and roll connoisseur roommate(pictured)-This alone is worth the purchase price.
1996 Triple Black Mercedes Benz 500sl Sport Edition(117,000 miles),
2004 Toyota Tundra pickup(20,000 miles, loaded) (Appeared in 2006 Gumball Rally and the movie 3000 miles)
My cell phone number(702) SEL-SEXY, including many stored numbers (and some introductions), highlights include 3 porn stars, one a 2007 AVN award winner, numerous strippers, “VIP girls”, bartenders, club hosts, DJ’s, and an original member of Guns n Roses, who will even come over and have a drink or two to welcome you.
Sale will be treated as 700,000 for the real estate(less than the most recent appraisal) and the rest as a personal property and goodwill sale. Good luck and happy bidding
w/pic, safe for work/home
http://tinyurl.com/2ub4a6
Crazy question:
If you are going to do a “deal”…any kind of deal, like…
…Buy a house…
…Rent a commercial building…
…Hire a surrogate mother…
…Buy a small business…
…Create a spinoff of your huge business…
Would you prefer to be offered a contract or prefer to present your own contract?
(been musing some crazy s**t recently)
Work is busy and my assistant went out on leave/possibly permanently. I need a new assistant and needless to say, I’m buried with normal work plus her stuff….and then I gotta have crap like this floating around in my head….
Kettle1 and Sybarite there is a good chance if your company has even a half ass Network or Security admins they will notice the traffic over time.
A better choice is to get off of the corp network completely, use an Aircard from Verizon or a personal blackberry with unlimted data access connected to a cheap laptop.
#48
Yeah, I figure I’d probably get in bigger trouble using putty than if I simply tried accessing my Yahoo Mail and got blocked.
#25
“……..he announced a federal grant to beef up the ranks of foreclosure counselors …….”
what does a foreclosure counselor do?
do you need a counselor to tell you how to foreclose?
Anyone have info on MLS #2807649?
Listing price just came down, but I have a feeling it needs to come down summore!
Thx in advance…
#50 foreclore counselor..It’s the new growth industry
Sybarite:
You could be brave and review your employment policies to determine what, if anything, has been specified in your “employment contract” concerning use of resources, access and/or monitoring. Remember that employee privacy is a public good.
If the policy clearly states that you are free to roam on your own time (i.e., breaks, lunch, b&a work), then send the URL to the admin for release.
Theoretically, you have a “contract” with your employer (even absent a union). The conditions you agreed upon when you accepted your wage should be upheld by both sides. You may have accepted your wage with the understanding that you would have certain rights and priviledges. Did your employer tell you that you’d need to spend an additional X amount of money for a blackberry and unlimited personal internet access? If your employer had done so, would you have negotiated for a higher wage?
If you’ve never received a revised contract in the form of an updated policy, ask for it.
movinBC (51),
SLD 572 CLARENDON CT $325,000 12/4/2007
REMARKABLE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A SOLID COLONIAL IN RIVER EDGE! YES, THIS HOME NEEDS LOTS OF TENDER LOVING CARE, UPDATING AND OF COURSE IS ONLY BEING SOLD IN AS IS CONDITION BUT THE POTENTIAL IS PHENOMENAL FOR THE BUYER WILLING TO PUT FORTH THE EFFORT. TRULY A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH! THE KITCHEN AND BATHROOM HAVE BEEN UPDATED IN THE PAST. THE LIVING ROOM IS LARGE AND RUNS FRONT TO BACK W/ A FIREPLACE AND ENTRANCE TO THE PORCH.
3 Bed / 1 Full bath
ACT 572 CLARENDON CT $499,000 2/25/2008
PCH 572 CLARENDON CT $469,000 4/2/2008
COMPLETELY RENOVATED BRIGHT/SUNNY CENTER HALL REIS COLONIAL SITUATED ON LARGE PROFESSIONALLY LANDSCAPED PROPERTY, ALL WOOD FLOORS THROUGHOUT, FRONT TO BACK LIVING ROOM WITH WOODBURNING FIREPLACE, SIDE DEN WITH VAULTED CEILING & SKYLITE, NEW GRANITE KITCHEN WITH ALL NEW TOP OF THE LINE APPLIANCES,DINING ROOM OPEN TO KITCHEN…GREAT OPEN FLOW. BASEMENT NEWLY FINISHED WITH RECESSED LIGHTING AND NEW FULL BATH. NEWLY PAINTED BEDROOMS AND NEW BATH ON SECOND FLOOR. NEW ROOF,NEW CENTRAL A/C,& NEW FURNACE
3 Bed / 2 Full bath
Rich (54) –
Fantastic! Thanks much. U rock.
re: (53) Toyin – Sure fight it in court after you are terminated, but the fact remains most of us today are “at will” employees and if you start rattling the cage in HR or Legal the baboons will want to terminate first and ask questions later.
All it takes is one click on a website of questionable content over an entire career and all you will remember about that last job is how standing in the unemployment line arguing to some under anxious gov’t employee that you weren’t terminated and you should get benefits sure feels like a legitimate catalyst for a shooting spree.
Spend a few bucks for a piece of mind, heck you can even surf all the bare naked ladies you want as long as you are paying for it and off the corporate grid.
Fantastic! Thanks much. U rock.
Why… why thank you.
[57] Rich,
I call it like i see it!
So this one is a flip, right? I don’t know much about home improvement costs, but I imagine this isn’t a wise time to get into flipping properties. Maybe they were able to do the work themselves, but that still seems to be quite a steep jump.
kettle1
if you really want to get past work filters use putty and vpn into your home pc. portable putty is available on the portable apps website
That will work, so long as port 22 is open on the corporate firewall, and the LAN Admins don’t notice the extra traffic on the port. Also, deliberately attempting an end-around past corporate firewalls to access banned content is just as bad – if not worse than – accessing the banned content directly. Sybarite may be joining the Schering folks on the unemployment line in the near future by following your advice.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/business/03labor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Unsold Homes Tie Down Would-Be Transplants
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080327/MEDIA0201/80326023
One other thing that folks like to do themselves…like making beer.
RE: bruiser
Good advice. If your boss wants to fire you but don’t have an excuse – in my company he calls me to request a phone call log and a proxy server log. Note: we have a policy prohibiting access persononal email accounts but I don’t block access to any URL unless specifically requested. If you are good worker – no questions asked. If you are not – that would be one of legal excuses the day they fire you
How do you think if I make a lawball offer 15%minus. 289900 to 245000.for the house of MLS#811335. I need a serious advice, please. anybody, please. Thx.
“Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.”
Sorry – I can’t help. I left my $70 billion in my other pair of pants.
34 BC
C*ck, of course.
Spam
“Would you prefer to be offered a contract or prefer to present your own contract?”
The latter. This has been another episode of Simple Answers to Simple Questions.
53 Sybarite
If you do that you’ll make your employer nervous.
53 Sybarite
What Sean said at 56, but with bells and whistles.
#64
If you’re still reading, if i was me i wouldn’t make an offer of more than $250,000. So yes i think you can get away with $245,000. After seeing the picutres of that place it’s going to need A LOT of love. Every floor, every wall, every ceiling will need something done to it whether it be paint, striped, removed, gutted etc…The kitchen will need new cabinets at the very least or stripped. It can be done and probably could/would have been flipped easy “back in the day”. They only have pictures of two of the “four” bedrooms mentioned and no pictures of the second bathroom. If there isn’t heat in any of the other two rooms they can’t legally sell it as a 4 bedroom anyway. The property actually looks very promising. If i was ready now i might make an offer :)