Scott Cowan over at Keller Williams Real Estate just did a great blog post about all the new changes to the City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance Program. If your Mortgage Banker isn’t up to speed on the latest rules, make sure you read this- because it might save you a lot of money this year!
Here are some of the highlights:
- The property must be a single family dwelling or condominium. The seller will be required to document the property is vacant.
- The property must be located within the boundaries indicated on the maps and within the city limits of Tacoma Washington.
- An inspection will be required to verify the property meets minimum housing quality standards
- Borrower must be a first time home buyer
- Borrower must provide minimum down payment depending on income.
- Income up to 50% of the median income, max loan contribution is $30000 and min buyer contribute $500
- Income up to 80% of the median income, max loan contribution $20000 and min buyer contribute $1000
Income up to 120% of the median income, max loan contribution $10000 and min buyer contribute $1500
For more details, read the full post here, contact me, or visit the City of Tacoma.
Jan 9th, 2010 Posted in First Time Homebuyers | no comment »
Tags: City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance, Downtown Tacoma Real Estate, First Time Homebuyer Tacoma, Scott Cowan, Tacoma Foreclosure, Tacoma Real Estate
Homebuyers, Rejoice. Buying a house in 2009 just got even easier.
The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 this week. The bill is a $780 billion package, with about 35% of the package devoted to tax cuts (mostly for 2009) and the rest to spending intended to occur in 2009 and 2010.
The major part that agents have been watching for, (especially agents like me- 80% of my clients are buyers) is the tax credit. Previously, there was a credit of $7500 that had to be paid back. Not anymore!
– The bill provides for a $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment. Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same as under the 2008 rules: the credit will be claimed on a tax return to reduce the purchaser’s income tax liability. If any credit amount remains unused, then the unused amount will be refunded as a check to the purchaser. Source: Realtor.com
This is very exciting. I have a client right now who just bought a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house for $120,000. The seller (a bank) is paying his closing costs. His downpayment is $3,600. His house payment will be $897.00/month including taxes, insurance, and everything else. When he receives his tax return this year, he will be getting an extra $8,000 back that he will NOT have to repay. Thats enough for him to pay his mortgage for almost 9 months, or make some improvements to his house, or….put 6 months expenses in the bank like Suze Orman tells us all we should!
Feb 19th, 2009 Posted in First Time Homebuyers | one comment »
Tags: 2009 Homebuyer Tax Credit, City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance, Down payment, Downtown Tacoma Real Estate, First time homebuyer tax credit, First Time Homebuyers, Suze Orman
The New Tribune is reporting that the City of Tacoma has the opportunity to claim 2.9 Million of the 3.9 Billion Dollar Housing Bill congress passed in July.
“Pierce County is eligible for about $4.4 million, and the City of Tacoma is eligible for about $2.9 million. Both amounts are the highest in the state, because both areas have the highest foreclosure rates.
Local officials acknowledge the program’s limitations.
“Three million dollars in the housing market is a grain of sand,” said Rick Teasley, housing division manager for the City of Tacoma. “At the very best, we can hope to help maybe 100 to 200 home buyers get into houses.”
Everyone is going to have lots of opinions about how this money can best be used, the problem is (Like Rick Teasley says above) 2.9 million is not a ton of money. To put that in perspective that is 12.6 houses at our County’s median home price of $230,000.
I believe that adding cash to the coffers of the City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance Program would do the most good. That helps buyers, which helps sellers.
It will be interesting to see what happens next and how this money is used.
Dec 30th, 2008 Posted in National Real Estate News | no comment »
Tags: City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance, Downtown Tacoma Real Estate, First Time Homebuyers, Housing Bailout, National Housing News
