A Realtors Take On The Stimulus Bills
July 6th, 2010 | 
Author: A Realtors Take On The Stimulus Bills
Here’s our take on the Stimulus Bill and Treasury announcements made this week. We look at the Stimulus package AND the Treasury’s package holistically in compliment with each other mostly because that’s how the Obama team is looking at it. Our representatives the NAR Board of Directors asked us in November to do 4 things with an unspoken but clearly understood mandate to PRESERVE what we already have. Here they are: 1 get loan limits raised for high cost areas 2 make the 7500 tax credit NOT a loan 3 try to find ways to push interest rates down which are higher than they should be due to systemic risk right now by 200 basis points and 4 help provide solutions to the foreclosure/short sale problem.
So here’s what we have achieved: 1 the loan limits will be raised to 727000 in high cost areas 2 the tax credit will be raised to 8000 with NO payback a true credit 3 interest rates have come down 125150 basis points and 4 the bill has over 50 billion in it for foreclosure mitigation with Geitners Treasury plan signaling that the second half of TARP and TALF will be used to mitigate foreclosures through a government guarantee drive down interest rates by buying another 200300 billion of mortgage paper from the GSES’s thereby freeing them up to do the same with new mortgages and Fannie has just agreed to lift the cap of 4 investment properties eligible for loans and raise it to 10.
In addition we preserved what we have which some tend to forget is always on the table when these negotiations start up again mortgage interest deductability real estate tax deductability and the 250000/500000 cap gains exclusion an overall package worth more than 100 billion and for some a very attractive funding source for their pet projects.
We did make a run at the 15000 credit and we would have loved to have gotten that or the Homebuilders 22000 credit idea as well as their 5 year loss carryback deal but they were considered too rich for this program. What it did do though is totally take the debate off of whether a tax credit should be reinstated at all it expired last year and whether it was a true credit or a repayable loan and kept the conversation on how much it should be. It also kept the debate off of ‘what we are willing to give up to get a 15000 tax credit’ and kept the debate again on how much it should be. It’s pretty hard to complain when they give you what you ask for and you lose something you never had.
While we study the Treasury specifics on their major role in providing the rest of the housing solution there is much more to come and we are working diligently with the Administration to help ‘unclog the pipeline’ and get capital flowing into housing again.
*Information supplied by NAR
Thanks for reading
Laura Wunder
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Specializing in the Great St. Louis Metropolitan Area with an emphasis on real estate investing.* New Home Construction* New Investors* Buyers Agency* First Time Home Buyers* Member of the 1 Real Estate Team in the St. Louis area Coldwell Banker Gundaker!* Member of the most successful residential real estate brokerage company in the nation NRTProfessional Education and Designations* RRES Residential Real Estate Specialist* NAR Member of the National Association of Realtors* MAR Member of the Missouri Association of Realtors* SCCAR Member of the Saint Charles Association of Realtors* Extensive continuing education to help keep me abreast of market trends and license law.PersonalFrom the home search process to financing to title insurance and more straight through to the final closing of your transaction I will make it happen walking you through the process step by step. So When Buying Selling or Relocating for the support you need and deserve just call 6363462455. Serving you is my 1 priority!
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