Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk

This came to my attention when Realtor Magazine posted this article on Pregnant woman being denied loans.

Then my friend Erica Ramus posted about it on Active Rain, but not at the mortgage application but near the end of the loan approval process.

Thankfully HUD announced they were going after the banks that were doing this in their weekly update:

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said, “Lenders have every right to ascertain the incomes of families to determine whether they are eligible for a mortgage loan but they have no right to use a pregnancy or a short-term disability as a cause to deny that family a mortgage they would otherwise qualify for. Having a child should be a time for a family to celebrate and must not be a cause for unfair lending practices.”

If this happens to you, please get up and walk away. We have good local Ann Arbor Area lenders who would not discriminate against pregnant or or “hope to be” pregnant woman.

You can also contact: Brian Sullivan, HUD
(202) 708-0685

Flickr photo credit

When a buyer wants to purchase a new home in the Ann Arbor market area, we often get asked, will be property taxes go up or down?

Not an easy question to answer because it depends on many factors. Each municipality uses their own factors for determining the taxes.For some it is the values in the overall neighborhood and for some it is the sales price of the home.

Lets say you bought a home in 2006, the top of the market in Ann Arbor. When you sold and a new buyer comes along, they are looking at an assessment or SEV based on the purchase price at that time. If the new buyer purchases a home that is 100K lower than what the original owners paid, it is up to the new buyer to challenge that based on the purchase price in 2010.

I have found not all municipalities will reduce the taxes, but some will.

We encourage our buyers to go the the Michigan Property Tax Estimator site and put in the homes information. From there you can see if what the ESTIMATED taxes will be. This is helpful if you bought a foreclosure that the taxes have been taken from Homestead to Non-Homestead.

Trust me it is not perfect but it is a good place to start based on the current mileage rates in each school district. Here are the disclaimers on the Mi Property Tax Estimator Site.

1. Millage rates are those levied and billed in 2009.  Rates for 2010 will be posted in July 2011. Rates include the 1% property tax administration fee.
2. Rates include special assessments levied on a millage basis and levied in all of a township, city, or village. Rates also include special assessments levied on a millage basis for police, fire or advanced life support and levied township-wide excluding a village. Rates do not include other special assessments.
3. In a few local unit/school district combinations, community college millage is levied on some properties but not others, or there are different community colleges in parts of the area. The database uses only one community college rate (or none if most of the area is not in the community college district).
4. Some properties that have been transferred from one school district to another pay operating millage to one school district and debt millage to another. The database typically does not include rates for these transfer properties.

If you have questions about SEV, homestead, non-homestead contact the Missy Caulk TEAM.

Ann Arbor Area buyers and sellers, do you think the Tax Credit should be extended for the closing date?

The Missy Caulk Team was incredibly busy the whole month of April with buyers who put homes under contract to get in on the $8000.00 First Time Home Buyer Credit and the $6500.00 credit for move up buyers.

Now it is time to get those homes closed by the June 30th deadline and people are panicking because of appraisal issues or they chose to work with lenders who haven’t been able to get the job done.  To say nothing of a few short sales (10) that have been under contract for 4 or more months.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN EXTENSION OF THE CREDIT, only an extension of the closing date to September 30th, 2010.

Today the Wall Street Journal wrote on post on how FRAUD could enter the picture IF agents back dated the contracts. This is a complete NO, NO.

Any Realtor who does this should lose their Real Estate License in a heartbeat.

Since the Amendment to the Bill has already passed the House and the Senate has wide support it will probably pass…but who knows.  I am in favor of the closing date being extended with a paper trail to show the home was really under contract and not backdated.

The National Association of Realtors is in support of the extension.

“NAR estimates the number of home buyers who have qualified for the tax credit and met the contract deadline of April 30, but who would not be able to close their transaction by the June 30 deadline, could go as high as 180,000. Realtors® have reported as many as one-third of qualified applicants have been notified by lenders that their mortgages will not close before June 30 due to the sheer volume of applications in the pipeline.”

What say you?

Ann Arbor Area open houses for today, Sunday, March 21st.

The Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors posts all the OPEN Houses and Condo OPEN houses on our web-site each Sunday.

You can search by School district and each Ann Arbor Area OPEN house has directions where you can map your search.

Enjoy your tour!

Ann Arbor Area home buyers, the clock is ticking if you want to claim the $8000.00 tax credit for first time home buyers. If you are a move up buyer you can claim up to $6500.

But, the clock is ticking for Ann Arbor home buyers.

• You must be under contract with a seller by April 30th.
  

• You must close by June 30th.

• Ann Arbor Area MLS homes for sale.

Ann Arbor Home buyers how to  file for the $8000.00 Tax Credit

Legislative changes in November 2009 expanded and extended the credit and also added documentation requirements for claiming the credit. Due to increased compliance checks by the IRS, failure to submit documentation will slow down the issuance of any applicable refund.

Filing Requirements

2009 Tax Return

Because of the documentation requirements for claiming the credit, taxpayers who claim the credit on their 2009 tax return must file a paper — not electronic — return and attach Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit (see the instructions for help with the form), and a properly executed copy of a settlement statement used to complete the purchase.

• Purchasers of conventional homes should include a copy of Form HUD-1, Settlement Statement, or other settlement statement, showing all parties’ names, property address, sales price and date of purchase.
• Purchasers of mobile homes who are unable to get a settlement statement should include a copy of the executed retail sales contract showing all parties’ names, property address, purchase price and date of purchase.
• Purchasers of newly constructed homes where a settlement statement is not available should include a copy of the certificate of occupancy showing the owner’s name, property address and date of the certificate.

Note Regarding Signatures: While the Form 5405 instructions indicate that a properly executed settlement statement should show the signatures of all parties, the IRS recognizes that the elements of the settlement document, often a Form HUD-1, may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may not reflect the signatures of the buyer and seller. The settlement statement that must be attached to the return is considered to be properly executed if it is complete and valid according to local law. In locations where signatures are not required the IRS encourages the buyer to sign the settlement statement prior to attaching it to the tax return even in cases where the settlement form does not include a signature line.

Long-Time Residents: The November 2009 legislation extends the credit to long-time residents of the same main home if they purchase a new main home. To qualify, eligible taxpayers must show that they lived in their old homes for a five-consecutive-year period during the eight-year period ending on the purchase date of the new home. For long-time residents claiming the credit, the IRS recommends attaching, in addition to the documents described above, any of the following documentation of the five-consecutive-year period:

• Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement, or substitute mortgage interest statements,
• Property tax records or
• Homeowner’s insurance records.

2008 Tax Return

It is still possible to claim the homebuyer credit for 2009 home purchases on 2008 tax returns. Homebuyers may use the December 2009 revision of the Form 5405 along with Form 1040X to amend their 2008 tax return.