President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009.  The act extended the tax credit for first time homebuyers for contracts written before May 1, 2010.  The sale must fund prior to July 1, 2010.  The act also expanded the tax credit for existing homeowners who have owned and occupied their primary residence for at least 5 of the last 8 years.  Surprisingly this expansion is effective at time of enactment which is today November 6, 2009.  That's a real nice surprise for anybody who is closing in the month of November and fits into that category!

More on Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension and Liberation

Check out this 4 minute clip from CNBC today.  Existing home sales were reported to see a downward trend for the month of August.  For today, this helped rates take a dip lower than we've seen in a couple of weeks.  The positive housing activity is refreshing, but as mentioned in my post yesterday the government has a major roll in our current upward trend in sales and downward trend in rates.  As the expense to tax payers begins to fade away we are sure to a change in our current trends.

More on The Housing Market: A National Snapshot

With the constant change in our industry, economy, and culture I have to say I spend plenty of time on the web.  Pretty much every aspect of my job involves some need associated with the good ol' WWW.  Much of my time is consumed by communicating via email, updating blogs (conradventi.com, blog.ventiscafe.com, and my family blog), and keeping up with friends, family, and business associates on social networks such as Facebook.  The new way of online communication, also known as Web 2.0, allows business or people like myself to communicate with clients in an interactive fashion.  Blogs are good examples of Web 2.0.

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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a new program for struggling home owners.  The existing modification program for those who are delinquent is still available, but now there is a program geared towards those who have continued to be responsible with their mortgages, but simply don't have the equity in their home to take advantage of today's low interest rates.

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The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" updated the first-time homebuyer tax credit.  After rumors processed through the mill about a potential increase to $15,000, the Act came clear with the facts of the increased tax credit.  The tax credit for 2008 was $7,500 and will have to be paid back to the federal government beginning in 2010 or 2011 depending on when the credit was claimed.  The updated tax credit was increased to $8,000 and will not have to be repaid if the home is owned for three years.

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After running some errands with Kari and M (N went to grandma's house) I was able to catch President Obama's speech on the White House's blog – www.whitehouse.gov.  It was not much of a surprise to hear more the common theme about our plan to "rebuild" from the newly elected president.  In fact, as I was listening, I was wondering (mostly knowing the answer) if the markets would react in a similar fashion the next day.  Without much change to the recent trend, the markets did finished down with the Dow closing -80 points following a speech by President Obama.

More on Obama's 3 Step Plan vs. Oscar Roger's 3 Step Plan To Recovery

Photo courtesy of Jeff Gordon.

A word from the wise (Larry Buhler, my wife's grandfather):

Dear Bethel Family and Friends: (E-Mail Version)

I’m as confused by the recent “Stimulus Plan” as the next guy. In fact, although I’ve tried, I have yet to find anyone that can explain it in a meaningful, understandable way. The first stumbling block is that it’s hard to imagine how much even one trillion is.

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Below is a Video that I caught on MSNBC.  It's interesting to hear Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke come out and say that he really doesn't know why rates are not as low as they said they would be.  The Fed is purchasing up the mortgage backed securities which has definitely helped rates come down, just not to the level was forecasted.  With the constant announcements from the Feds that they will continue to pour money into our system it's safe to say that we may not see the rates come down any more drastically than they have already.

More on What Happened To 4%?

100 Million – 150 Million.  Check out this video I came across.  With the new stimulus package approved and checks currently being written it's fun to see some of the stuff that's actually in the Bill.  Stay tuned for President Obama's announcement of his additional housing recovery plan.  He is in Phoenix today, one of the foreclosure capitals of the country, to announce the highlights of the plan…

More on Uh, I meant 150 Million…