South Austin Texas Real Estate blog: January 2009

 I have been comtemplating how to do a HOLIDAY EMAIL CAMPAIGN.  Following the months where there is sure to be a holiday in each month. It's not difficult to do an email to everyone, I just need to know how to make email postcards.  Any ideas anyone?  Something that doesn't have to be opened like a word doc?  Simple would do.

I bet there is someone in AR land who knows just what I need to make my new email holiday campaign work perfectly.  If you could share I would love it.

This ingenious idea came about due to the pop-by treats I had done over the Christmas Holidays, so expanding the idea I am ready for Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day too. 

In December I have had fun with pop-bys. Little treats I drop by my past clients home and leave as a little "Hello and don't forget I'm your favorite Realtor". 

In December it was Snowman Soup or Santa Kisses, now its almost Valentine's Day, I have my treat bags almost done, with Hersheys Kisses and a cute homemade Valentine card. 

Already I'm thinking about Saint Patrick's Day.  Ahh,  treat bags with pieces of gold (you know those candies that are wrapped like coins)?  Tie the bag with a green curly ribbon and a Shamrock or two.

And April is Spring, flowers, packages of flower seeds.   May, here in Texas its Cinco De Mayo... among other holidays, Mothers Day too.   Well those are my upcoming plans. Now if I could figure out that holiday email campaign.

Looking to buy or sell in the South Austin Texas area?  I can help you ...  call me or email today!

It seems since Bob wrote his piece about the LONG TAIL in Google and the $7500 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit that we all have an opinion. 

So, I know, opinions are like elbows everyone has one or two.  You didn't ask but this is how I see it.

Congress took away and voted out the Down Payment Assistance Programs, DPA'S, and replaced them with this .. $7500 Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers.  Well except .. now listen up here Little boys and Girls, YOU need to have money to BUY a house BEFORE YOU CAN CLAIM THIS CREDIT... and here is the second piece of good news about it..  YOU PAY IT BACK.  ALL OF IT.  oh, sure the IRS won't charge you interest.. isn't that swell?

SO, if you bought a house in the correct time frame, and are eligible to claim this repayable TAX CREDIT and you want some money for fixin or stuff and you know you can pay it back at the required rate,  Claim it... check the box and the IRS will send you a nice check.

Now, I heard that one can put this into some kinda bank deposit stuff and earn enough to pay it back then it becomes free .. eventually.  I'm not a banker so I don't know how that works.  But, I did work at the IRS and I know they do NOT forget about debts owed them.  :)

I just would like to know when our Congress can and will start looking out for the people who really need the help.  yeah yeah, I heard about the DPA's are responsible for the mortgage mess... I disagree, I think its was more interference from Congress into the financial worlds demands of making mortgages for folks who were not credit worthy.

I have sold homes  to folks who used DPAs such as AmeriDream, who did not default, will not default and homeownership was their dream and it helped them realize it sooner.  For the life of me I can't see this $7500 TAX CREDIT doing the same thing.

Now that's my rant for today!  IF THIS TAX CREDIT CAN HELP YOU.. THATS WONDERFUL and I congratulate you.

Its a sad day for builders now, inventory not selling and builders need home buyers to buy and lenders to lend.  Mortgages are harder to get so all this adds up to problems for a builder.

Mercedes has long been a staple in the Austin TX area, building quality homes that had great appeal to moving up buyers.  In our economy today moving up buyers are putting their dream homes and move-ups on delay.

Mercedes Homes has several active listings in the Austin MLS ... and a few pending, those should go forward with no problems.  The court judges will determine next Tuesday what the next steps for Mercedes Home Builders will be. 

I for one have always enjoyed taking buyers to these homes, good craftsmanship and current trends are always in fashion at Mercedes.  I hope they can get some issues resolved and still be one of Austin's premiere builders.

According to the news article on KEYE TV a Mercedes spokesperson was quoted as saying, If you are a current buyer and need information please contact your local Mercedes sales staff to help you.

This morning while doing my surfing, drinking my coffee, watching the horses jump around in the cool morning, the squirrels frolicking, half listening to The Today Show, I hear the 5 myths of buying and selling your home.

Well my half turned ears tuned in just in time to hear the Real Estate Consultant guest, Barbara Corcoran answer the question by Matt Lauer, "is this the worst time to sell a home?" and Ms Corcoran answered, "no, in some areas, depending on where you are, it is not the worst time, prices have already turned around."  Matt then asked "where" and Ms Corcoran stated in "areas such as San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, these areas are seeing prices rebound".

Then Ms Corcoran went on to say, if you are looking to buy up, this is the best time to buy while prices are down and you can get so much more for your money.  Ms Corcoran had many good things to say to the general public, things we Realtors have been spouting for months.  I think her audience is a bit larger than mine and I am grateful for her presentation.

We all know real estate is cyclicial and what goes down doesn't stay down forever, its just refreshing to hear it on a national TV show such as the Today Show.  For so long most of media has been bashing real estate, now perhaps the clamoring for getting the good deals will start.  I'm ready for that, I'm sure the rest of America is too.

If you would like to see the bit about the 5 myths as presented on the Today Show this morning here ya go!

If you are looking in the Austin Texas area for your new dream home, contact me, you will be happy you did.  Gail Tassey, Realtor, Sky Realty, 512-217-9482 or email .. gailnttexas@gmail.com

Its that time again to think about filing taxes, while our Federal Taxes are due on April 15th, there is another important date for Texans to remember,  April 30th.  The deadline for filing for the HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION in Travis County.

If you purchase a home in 2008 and resided in that home before Jan 1,2009 you could be eligible for the 2009 Property tax exemption...  locally that is known as the TEXAS HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION.

Go to the website and print out the forms for yourself  http://www.traviscad.org/formlist.htm  or call the Travis County Appraisal District and get this done while its on your mind and you are not franatically trying to get all the IRS filings done, just get this simple form filed out and send it to..

8314 Cross Park Drive - Austin, Texas 78754 * Phone (512) 834-9317 * Fax (512) 835-5371

If you purchased a home last year as your primary residence and moved into it before Jan 1, 2009 you could be eligible for the 2009 Tax Exemption for your county.

Go to the website and look for forms,  there are additional exemptions for Seniors, Disabled Vets and other exemptions.  Call the tax assessors office if you have questions.

http://www.wcad.org/appraisal/publicaccess/  on the left side of the screen look for FORMS

Williamson Central Appraisal District
625 FM 1460, Georgetown, TX 78626-8050
Austin Metro: (512) 930-3787 Taylor Metro: (888) 331-7807

The homestead exemption is a bit of property tax relief for Primary Residential homes and homeowners. In some areas this is called the homesowners property tax relief.  Here in Texas its HOMESTEAD.

So be sure to file for this its your money!

If you bought a home in 2008, now is the time to contact your local Tax Assessors Office for the forms needed to send in and get the homeowners, Homestead Exemption. 

Last night I spent a bit of time going thru all my closings for 2008 and sending everyone an email reminder with the appropriate forms.  Since I have sold last year in Travis County, Williamson County and Hays County I had reason to go to each county website. I tried to put them all here but it just didn't work out so I will do a post for each County.

If you haven't gotten your form yet you can visit these websites and print off the form to mail in.  BE SURE TO GET IT DONE soon... the DEADLINE is APRIL 30th.  I know that is a bit away, this is just January, but do it NOW so its done and not forgotten when you are frantically rushing to do your IRS taxes due before April 15th of each year.

Hays County website..  http://www.hayscad.com/PA/forms.htm    

 or call their office..

January 20,2009..  Its a big day in our country's history.  Its also a day of news other than to welcome a new President.  The Austin Board of Realtors has given out a press release with some great news to home owners and buyers in Austin Texas.

The month of December 2008 Multiple Listing Service the volume of single-family home sales was down last month 21 percent compared to December 2007. While prices in Central Texas remain stable, with the median price down by only 4% compared to December 2007, proving the Austin market is still a good buy.

In the overall arena, median price for 2008 was $189,500, a 2 % increase from 2007, and the volume of single family homes sales was down 20% to 20,199. So although we are not exempt from the National market we certainly are not what many parts of the US are experiencing in high foreclosures, multiple short sales and stagant homes on the market.

Yes we are not experincing the rapid sell of 2005 and 2006, we are still economocially sound.  Since we didn't have the exploding bubble our sales are remaining steady and true to a good market place.

For a buyer this is probably one of the best times to buy a home in recent history, with the inventory available and the interest rate, don't wait and miss out on owning a piece of America.  You can live the dream with renewed hope today.

Call me today, I'm a buyers representative agent, a professional Realtor, Gail Tassey 512-217-9482 or email me at gailnttexas@gmail.com

I can not believe it happened.  Looking back I am still amazed, I actually did it.  Well, let me start a couple of weeks back, I was approached by our Career Development Coach,  Betsy Scheffe and asked to teach a blogging class.

I said, Betsy, I don't know that I can do that.. I mean to stand up in front of a roomful of people and give an organized presentation of something?  I am sometimes shy, would you have guessed that?

Stage fright is very real.  I experienced it first hand and conquered it I may add.  I was fortunate to have some friends in the room that were supportive so it made the whole process much easier. 

Oh I thought, and I wrote down, and I read blogs of how to, and then I rewrote my scripts, then I rehearsed, then I rewrote, then I said, well self, its now Monday morning your class is in 4 hours, you must have something in order so this draft is IT.

I gathered my thoughts that were swirling about and put them into a word doc, printed out 30 copies and mustered up myself and marched off to conquer the dragon.

I still have lingered butterflies in the pit of my stomach, but I did it.  I was warmly welcomed by Betsy to her class and then I put AR up on the screen and I walked the class thru how to set up and do a blog post. About groups to join, read the rules, don't copy others, use original content and photos, how to write something, content rich, tags, clouds, oh where did these words come from?

We went over the who, what, where, why and how that we all learn as 5th graders, It's what you put into a blog about an activity or event.  Write about your neighborhood, events, a place you have taken your family on a picnic, include some photos.  Readers like to get to know you also.  Its not all statistics.

After some questions and answers I introduced my friend Stephanie Zellous who is a very good blogger on WordPress so she could show another style and type.  Over all I believe the class did turn out informative and I hope Active Rain gained a few more readers and some bloggers.  I hope the class gained some value again.  I am glad I did it, but I think there is definitely room for improvement...  chuckling here because the last time I had taught a class was to teach a bunch of 4H'ers how to make blackberry jelly in 1977.   What along time ago that was!

I just read this bit of news that is noteworthy for many many homeowners ... it came from the PMI newletter.. and here is a bit about the article.   Relating to your 2008 tax return:

Thanks to the new federal law extension that allows eligible borrowers with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 to deduct 100% of their 2007-2010 borrower-paid MI premiums on their federal tax returns*.

The law is effective for transactions closed in 2007-2010. MI premiums paid in those years may qualify for tax deductibility on borrowers' federal tax returns as follows:

• Borrowers with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 may deduct 100% of their 2007-2010 premiums.

• Deductions are phased out in 10% increments for borrowers with adjusted gross incomes between $100,000 and $109,000.

When determining loan options that best meet your borrowers' individual needs, make sure to consider the following benefits of a loan with MI:

• MI premium payments are fixed and unaffected by rising interest rates
• MI is cancellable if borrower-paid**
• MI payment period is often shorter than term of piggyback
• Helps preserve access to future home equity
• Both loan interest and borrower-paid MI premium may be tax-deductible!

"The extension of this federal law has the potential to help thousands of low- and moderate-income Americans secure affordable mortgages that keep them in their homes and keep their communities strong."

This is news for many homeowners who are paying Mortgage Insurance, ask your lender what portion of your house payment is PMI or MI and make sure your accountant or tax preparer knows about the new guidelines.

If you are searching for a new home in the Austin Real Estate Market please call me, I can help you.  gailnttexas@gmail.com or Gail Tassey 512-217-9482  Keller Willia