If you live in Los Angeles County, you can soon say goodbye to rundown vacant homes with overgrown lawns, broken windows and graffiti as city officials announced the launch of new efforts to clean up recently abandoned foreclosed properties. Effective July 8, 2010, a LA city ordinance will help building inspectors identify the banks that [...] Read more »
Are You Eligible for the Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension?
If you’ve watched the news lately, or read the thousands of news articles and blog posts that hit the internet this past week, you’ve probably heard that the First Time Homebuyer’s Tax Credit has been extended to September 30th, 2010. This new legislation, passed by congress last week, will allow thousands of new homebuyers to [...] Read more »
Will the Home Buyer Tax Extension Help or Hurt the Housing Market?
Is it too early to get excited about the home-buyer tax credit extension? If you read the news last week, you've probably heard that the Obama administration has extended the Home-buyer Tax Credit from its original expiration date of November 30, 2009 to March 30, 2010. The government also added a provision for current homeowners that would allow them to sell their current homes and receive a $6,5,00 tax credit when they purchase their next home. In California, one of the hardest-hit and most expensive housing markets, it may be too early to tell how this extension will affect us in the coming months. Some analysts argue that the tax credit’s impact has generally been overstated and that its impact going forward is likely to be uneven, but the psychological effects for new home buyers could give the economy a greatly needed boost. Read more »
Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act: How Does it Help Home Buyers?
What is the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act? Basically, the federal government has put forth a legislation that replaces the 3-day waiting period for initial disclosure with a 7-day waiting period that does not include Sundays or holidays. Also, before the borrower can close on a transaction, they must receive the initial Good Faith Estimate (GFE), and the initial Truth in Lending (TIL) statements quoting the final Annual Percentage Rate (APR) seven days prior to closing. Read more »
