$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

• The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.
• The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold or ceases to be used as the buyer’s principal residence within three years after the initial purchase.
• The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
• The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
• The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.
• For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
• For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

• To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.
• The tax credit does not have to be repaid unless the home is sold or ceases to be used as the buyer’s principal residence within three years after the initial purchase.
• The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.
• The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.
• The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.
• Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit: 6 Things to Know

While the proposed $15,000 home-buyer tax credit died in negotiations between the House and the Senate, the $787 billion stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday includes a similar--albeit smaller--measure designed to help revive the real estate market. Here are six things you need to know about the freshly-enacted $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.

1. Eight grand, new buyers: The tax credit included in the economic stimulus legislation is much narrower than the $15,000 proposal. This credit is equivalent to 10 percent of the purchase price of the home--although it's capped at $8,000--and applies only to first-time home buyers and principal residences. But unlike an earlier $7,500 home buyer tax credit, this one does not have to be repaid.

2. First time buyers defined: For the purpose of this legislation, a "first-time home buyer" is someone who hasn't owned a principal residence for three years before buying a house. (The date of purchase is considered the day that the title is transferred.) That means if you've owned a vacation home--but not a principal residence--within the past three years, you would still qualify for the credit.

3. 2009 buyers only: Only those who purchase a home on or after January 1 and before December 1, 2009 are eligible for the credit. Anyone who bought a home last year won't be able to take advantage of it.

4. Income limits: The tax credit is subject to income limitations. Single buyers need a modified adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less to qualify for the full credit, that's $150,000 for married couples. Those earning more than these thresholds may be eligible for reduced credits.

5. Refundable: Because the tax credit is "refundable," qualified buyers can take advantage of it even if they don't have much tax liability.

6. Recapture: Buyers have to own the home for at least three years in order to capitalize on the credit. If they sell the home before then, they will have to return the credit to the government. (Exceptions will be made in certain cases, such as death or divorce.)

As Featured on MCAR 8/12/2009

Foreclosure prevention laws now in effect

Homeowners on the brink of losing their home now have a 90-day period to work out a payment plan with their lending institution. Public Acts 29, 30 and 31 of 2009 – which went into effect last week – provide consumers at risk of foreclosure a 90-day period to work with their lenders on a loan modification plan.

Further provisions of the law require the lending institution to provide the borrower with written notice of the reason for default, information on the mortgage holder (including name, address and phone number) and an assigned contact with the mortgage holder.

These new laws are designed to get both the borrower and the mortgage holder to the table to work out a plan in order to forego the foreclosure process. If an agreement is reached with the mortgage holder, the loan will not be foreclosed upon if the borrower is able to abide by the terms of the agreement. Additionally, the new law gives homeowners the right to take their case to court if a lender does not cooperate on a loan modification plan.

While MAR fully supports keeping homeowners in their homes, the judicial aspect of this law may clog up the legal system, thus “dragging” the process out and increasing costs all around. However, given the increasing number of foreclosures in this state, these new Public Acts are a big step in getting struggling homeowners the help they need in order to keep their homes.

as Featured in Model D, June 23, 2009

Selling Homes in Detroit: It's About More Than Just the Benjamins

By: Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey

June 23, 2009

If all you knew was what you saw in the national media, you'd think being a real estate agent in the city of Detroit would qualify you for a guest spot on the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" show. Talk of $100 houses makes Detroit seem like the blue-light special of real estate. Everyone from CNN on down is telling the story of out-of-state speculators snatching up Detroit property like the sample vultures at Costco mindlessly gorging on the freebies. It sounds sad and ugly.

There's some truth in those cheap property stories, but that's only one part of the real estate picture here.

Enter Sabra Sanzotta's beautifully decorated live/work space in Eastern Market's FD Lofts, where swaths of luxurious fabric drape brick walls, silver cut out butterflies glimmer from the impossibly high ceilings and the kitchen gleams with fancy appliances. As Sanzotta sits, chatting and monitoring her buzzing cell phone, she doesn't seem on the precipice of defeat, gnashing her teeth and shaking her fist at the heavens. She offers no "why me?" diatribe and doesn't rail against the state of real estate. She just seems busy. Really busy.

"This has been our best year,"  says the proprietor of The Loft Warehouse. You may have a hard time believing this, but she means that this year -- yes 2009 -- has been her best yet. Huh?

Sanzotta isn't the only one telling that story. Realtors who specialize in the greater Downtown area and some of the city's more affluent neighborhoods say they aren't immune to the realities of a national mortgage crisis, sky-high home foreclosures and other unsavory economic realities. They aren't quitting the city either, not when there's good money to be made.

Many of the city's agents are selling more than just cheap houses to scavengers. They are selling things like luxury lofts to happy new residents. They sell fixer uppers to families, condos to empty nesters. Good homes to people who will live in them. And Detroit agents are making money doing this, even if to do so they have to work their tails off and harder than ever.

What are they buying?

Oh, that mythic $100 house. It's out there, but most of us couldn't or wouldn't live there.

While innovative projects like the internationally famous Mitch Cope/Gina Reichert Power House are extremely cool, not everyone has the guts or the vision to be gutsy and visionary. Some people want to buy a home, move in and live in it without first giving it an extreme makeover. You can do that in Detroit, real estate agents say, but you'll have to pay a little more than a Benjamin.

Joy Santiago, a real estate agent and resident of The Villages,  says people who have been waiting are now moving forward to get into properties and neighborhoods that in another time would have been out of reach. "We've got the biggest opportunity ever to be able to purchase Riverfront, Downtown, or Midtown property," she says.

Condos on the riverfront that were once six figures are going for less than $100,000. Houses in sought-after neighborhoods like The Villages -- historic homes that anywhere else in the nation would be worth millions -- are more affordable than ever.

In Midtown on highly desirable historic Ferry Street, Sanzotta is selling new construction luxury condos at Centurion Place starting at $150,000 – about half of what they were selling for a couple years ago.

One of Sanzotta's young professional customers, Damoni Hurt, a marketing manager for Ford who is in his 30s, was one of those waiting for the right time. He just bought a condo with a downtown view on E. Jefferson across from Belle Isle.

"Now is the opportunity to transition from renting and sitting out to really jumping in," he says.

Hurt bought a bank-owned condo for $80,000 in The Lofts at Rivertown, a building that a couple years ago had units going for at two to five times as much. He knew the location was perfect: He was living there already. "It was a no-brainer from a quality of life standpoint," Hurt says. "I was living in the same building renting, paying twice as much for rent."

And he was not just buying junk. His is a tri-level loft with high-end fixtures. "This is the whole kit and caboodle," he says. "It's a foreclosure, but it wasn't a falling apart, dilapidated kind of East Side house deal."

The same space in downtown D.C. or Atlanta -- where he's lived before -- would have been out of his reach: "It'd be $1 million plus in D.C. In Atlanta, half a million easily," he says.

In addition to foreclosures, real estate agents say another big part of their business right now is short sales. In these cases, they negotiate with the banks to let homeowners sell the homes for less than they owe, and then the banks forgive the difference.

A short sale, however, is a lot more difficult and takes longer than a traditional sale, but agents say that when these short sales work out, it's a win-win for all the parties involved. In a short sale, the home won't sit empty, the seller gets out of the mortgage, the buyer gets a good deal and the agent gets a better commission than he or she would have gotten if the home was sold in a foreclosure.

More than foreclosures

Foreclosures and short sales aren't the only deals being made in the city. It's squishy, but there is still a market out there.

Last month, Sanzotta sold a $165,000 condo in Harbortown to a firefighter who plans to retire on the riverfront. She's also closing on a $141,000 townhome in Corktown in a few days. Both are not foreclosures.

Ryan Cooley of O'Connor Real Estate and Development in Corktown, says he's had a lot of demand for architecturally significant properties like the Mies van der Rohe townhomes in Lafayette Park. This month, in fact, he showed them to a couple from Baltimore, relocating here to work at Wayne State University. And it looks like they're buying.
 
Santiago just wrapped filming an episode of the ultra-addictive real estate drama "House Hunters" for HGTV. She showed the buyers three $400,000 properties -- all within Detroit's city limits. If you watch the show, which we already established that you do, you know they always buy something at the end.

And real estate agent Austin Black II, who works a lot in his Midtown neighborhood, says a customer walked in recently and paid a cool half million cash for a penthouse loft in the new Willys Overland Lofts development in Midtown.

Those stories -- market rate sales and big properties with high price tags -- might be more rare thanks to foreclosures and short sales, but they are out there.

Who is buying?

Black says 2009 is turning out to be a good year for him, as well, but he's had to hustle. "Part of it is, I am working with a lot more people, and you have to work a lot harder with those buyers," he says. Buyers have a lot more from which to choose, and they want to see the options, he says. "But it's paying off."

There might be out-of-state speculators looking to buy up Detroit by the block, but Black, Sanzotta and others who regularly sell in the city say those customers aren't as frequent as one might think. And the media reports mislead people to believe that for pennies, they're going to get a great house.

"I've gotten calls from people who are not from this area and who are from other parts of the country, and their impression is that they are getting a livable home for $100 in a livable neighborhood," Black says. "I think you'll find the market is typically more stable in Midtown."

OK, so who are the regular buyers? Sanzotta says many of her customers are professionals coming to work at the Medical Center. Black sells a lot to empty nesters, too. Cooley has a lot of customers relocating from out of state. Black does, too, and says that "95 percent of them grew up in the 'burbs, and a good percentage of that group has lived in cities across the country." They want an urban lifestyle, and they want it here.

In Detroit, he says, new development has slowed but there's still a trickle, like the newly rehabbed condos on Mack in Brush Park that Black sells. Black says selling new condo developments is tricky right now because lenders want 15 percent down on condos not already half sold, and most buyers don't have that to pony up. Sanzotta is facing the same challenge at Centurion, but she's seeing new interest in the property.

But even with the slowdown, Black says don't let those big media guys fool you: In Detroit, there's still plenty of life.

"One of the unique things about the downtown and Midtown areas, we've lost some businesses and some of the developments that were proposed never got off the ground, but you still see businesses opening, places under construction, new restaurants," Black says. "I still see more people walking outside, more people walking and running. Things are still happening and people want to be down here."

---

Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey is managing editor of Model D. Send feedback here.


Photos:

Centurion Place interior

Sabra Sanzotta, realtor

Centurion Place interior

Damoni Hurt

Damoni Hurt in his tri-level loft

Austin Black, realtor

Photographs by Detroit Photographer Marvin Shaouni Marvin Shaouni is the Managing Photographer for Metromode & Model D Contact Marvin here




Press Release
For Immediate Release
 
 
“National HGTV Show "House Hunters" to Feature Detroit Realtor & Homebuyers”
 
Metro Detroit, MI   May 15, 2009. Pie Town Productions, a TV production company for Home and Garden Television (HGTV) is coming to Detroit film and episode for “House Hunters” a reality TV show that features buyers that are searching for a new home.   HGTV and Pie Town Productions will be filming from Monday, May 18, through Thursday, May 21  in Detroit. 
 
“This is very exciting for the city & Downtown Detroit”, says Joy Santiago, Broker/Owner of Dwellings Unlimited, LLC,  who will be the real estate expert for the episode.  “It will give us an opportunity to show off some of the most beautiful homes in the area and to reveal to the nation what wonderful real estate choices we have in the city. 
 
The "House Hunters" (buyers) will be choosing from 3 unique and different homes:  A loft at River Place Condos, a historic home in Indian Village and a condo in the Westin Book Cadillac.  "We're totally excited at our options to purchase.  Detroit has gorgeous homes, and compared to real estate around the country, dollar for dollar has the best value," says Jay Diem, the homebuyer that also will be featured on the show.
 
Jay Diem, a IT Systems Analyst that has recently returned from working in Iraq for a government hired contracting company, and his wife, Boo-Young are the homebuyers that will be choosing their new home in the next few days. 
 
Joy Santiago has been an agent in the Metro Detroit Area for the past 12 years and is broker & co-owner of Dwellings Unlimited, llc a real estate sales, management and investment company, specializing in unique housing & investments.

Contact
Joy Santiago
joy@dwellingsunlimited.com
313-980-0400
Dwellings Unlimited, llc
www.differentdwellings.com
www.dwellingsunlimited.com
###

Great News for First-Time Home Buyers!
HUD recently announced that qualified First-Time Home Buyers who want to take advantage of the available tax credit of up to $8,000 now have another option available to them to help them become homeowners.

It's clear that first-time home buyers have been having a major impact on the housing market this year. The National Association of Realtors announced that first-time buyers, who typically account for less than 40% of home sales each year, have been especially busy…in March, homes that were purchased by first-timers accounted for 53% of all sales, and this percentage is expected to hold true for all of 2009.

With home affordability higher than ever, available tax credits and some of the lowest interest rates ever recorded for home loans, who can blame them? Particularly as a first-time buyer, there may never be a better time to buy a home than right now.

However, the availability of a tax credit, while a great incentive, does not put the money in the hands of a buyer right away. HUD's announcement now allows for prospective and qualified home buyers to borrow the money from approved agencies and lenders.

While details of participating lenders and HUD-approved agencies are not yet available, this should turn up the heat on prospective buyers to get busy searching for their next home. As further details become available, I will get them to you.

In the meantime, alert your database that one more barrier to homeownership is being removed and the time to start shopping is now!



Detroit Development News

 as featured on in Model D, February 10, 2009

Indian Village home to be featured on HGTV this evening

When HGTV looked at Detroit last spring to film several episodes of "My House is Worth What?" they turned to realtor Joy Santiago for possible locations. They ended up shooting two homes in Indian Village, one in Royal Oak and one in Southfield. The first of the four, a home in Indian Village on Seminole, will air at 11 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 10.

The home's owner, Michael Tyson, will be on the air along with Santiago. His 1911 colonial home is 6,000 square feet, has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half baths. The episode looks at whether or not he should continue renovations on the home.

Read more about the filming of the shows and contact Santiago via her web site. Show info can be found here.

Source: Joy Santiago, Dwellings Unlimited, LLC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Neighborhoods: The Villages



As Featured in The Detroit Free Press
October 14, 2008

Metro home sales up, but prices plunge

Foreclosures fuel trend

BY GRETA GUEST
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Driven down by sales of foreclosed homes, median sale prices fell 34% in metro Detroit in September compared with a year ago, dipping below $10,000 in the city of Detroit.

The median price on a house or condo sold in Detroit last month plummeted 57%, to $9,250, from $21,250 a year ago, according to figures released Monday by Realcomp, a multiple listing service based in Farmington Hills.

Foreclosures represented two-thirds of sales in Detroit in September, and they boosted sales by 81% as buyers laid claim to 1,019 homes.

For the wider metro area, the median sale price was down 34%, from $129,000 a year ago to $85,000 last month.

"There's tons of properties out there that investors are snapping up and that skews the numbers," said Joy Santiago, a Southfield-based real estate broker. "You can't say in the city of Detroit that the values are down, because many areas are strong, like Indian Village and Palmer Woods. They are a little bit more stable."

Sales are picking up, she said.

"People have to start realizing there are awesome deals out there, and it is just the time to purchase," Santiago said. "September for me, in the past 10 years, has been slow, but it was my best September ever."

Dan Elsea, president of brokerage services for Real Estate One in Southfield, said the prices are evidence of heavy investor activity in Detroit.

"We are seeing that low end of the market sell quicker. If you have a $75,000 house in the city of Detroit, there are not a lot of buyers for it," Elsea said. "But if you have an $8,500 house, it sells very quickly."

He said that if investor activity is factored out, the true price depreciation in metro Detroit, excluding the city, is at a rate of 1% a month since last September.

Realcomp reported that 5,818 sales of houses and condos in the metro area were concluded during September, up 57% from 3,703 sales in the same month a year ago. The figures consist of closed sales reported by Realtors who subscribe to the service.

More than 37% of the September sales in the metro area were foreclosures, according to Karen Kage, Realcomp president.

But have we hit bottom yet?

"It is near impossible for me to say we are near done," Kage said.

Wayne County sales were up 73%, to 2,278, from 1,320 in September 2007; Oakland County sales rose 51%, from 941 to 1,422; Macomb County sales were up 58%, from 478 to 754, and Livingston County sales were up 45%, from 138 to 200.

And pending sales in September were up 75%, to 7,832 from 4,472 in September 2007. Pending sales are those with signed purchase agreements that have not closed.

With the credit crunch and falling prices, more pending deals are falling apart at the closing table. In September, 1,265 properties went back on the market that were either pending or withdrawn from the market. That compares with 732 properties put back on the market in September 2007, Kage said.

"It's not the best news ever," Kage said of the falling sales prices. "We have said all along that until we weed out some of the inventory, we will not see prices rise."

Realcomp also reported that housing inventory in metro Detroit dropped 16%, to 63,453 homes and condominiums on the market, as compared with 75,932 listings in September 2007. That's a 10.9-month supply at the current sales pace, far above a normal market of a three- to six-month supply.

Contact GRETA GUEST at 313-223-4192 or gguest@freepress.com.