1. Home prices have fallen making this an excellent time to buy. Purchasing real estate in a down market is an excellent investment in your future. Over the long haul home prices still appreciate more than the stock market.

2. Interest rates are currently at near record lows making purchasing a home NOW more affordable than ever! Lock in on an interest rate that fits your budget.

3. First time home buyer tax credit. If you are a first time home buyer (haven’t purchased a primary residence in the last 3 years) and meet income regulations you qualify for a $8000 federal tax credit! The full amount is refunded to you directly in your federal return. More info at: FederalHousingTaxCredit.com

4. Mortgage loans are available. If you have good credit and a down payment, lenders are eager to work with you.

5. Great selection. With so many homes on the market you can get the fabulous features you want at a price you can afford.

6. Spring has sprung! This is the best time of year to purchase a home. Get settled in time to enjoy the summer months and be ready for the new school year!

We have received many inquiries regarding the specifics of the first time home buyer tax credit. The following information will give you a broad overview. If after reviewing this you have further questions, please consult  with your professional tax provider.

• The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. A first time home buyer is defined as a buyer who has not owned a principal residence home in the past three years. If a couple is married and one of the spouses has owned a principal residence within the last three years, the couple is disqualified from the tax credit. However, unmarried joint purchasers may allocate the credit amount to any buyer who qualifies as a first time buyer. Ownership of a vacation or rental property not used as a principal residence does not disqualify a buyer as a first time home buyer.
• The tax credit pertains to the purchase of any kind of home, new or resale, that will be used as a principal residence, and has been purchased on or after January 1 2009 and before December 1, 2009 (the purchase date is the date when closing occurs and the title to the property transfers to the home owner).
• The tax credit does not need to be repaid. This is the most significant difference between this tax credit and the one Congress enacted in July 2008. Because it had to be repaid, the previous credit was in essence, an interest free loan. This tax incentive is a true tax credit. However, the home buyer must use the residence as a principal residence for at least 3 years or face recapture of the tax credit amount.
• The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the homes purchase price up to a maximum of $8000.
• Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit. Individuals and couples whose income exceeds these limits may qualify for a partial tax credit.
• Claiming the tax credit is easy! Simply claim it on your federal income tax return and the money is refunded to you in your tax refund check.

2/11 The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released a report that concludes that people who sell by owner get closer to their asking price and sell more quickly than those who list with an agent.  NARs report 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was based on a questionnaire of 133,000 consumers who purchased a home between July 2007 and June 2008.

According to the report, homes selling by owner reap 97% of their asking price as compared to agent listed homes which come in at 96%. The report also found that an agent listed property took 10 weeks to sell while it takes just 6 weeks to sell by owner.

While the study didn’t specifically mention the cost of a real estate commission, it did suggest that using an agent would result in the seller losing another 6 percent off the sales price in addition to the 1% lost on the asking price. In response to the troubled current market where home prices are falling, sellers need to know that Realtors own suggest that homeowners will end up with more money in their pocket if they sell by owner than they will if they list with an agent.

The NAR report findings provide further evidence of the benefits of selling by owner.  In separate studies by Northwestern  and Stanford Universities, FSBO sellers were found to be as effective as agents in maximizing the sales price of their homes. After commissions are factored in, the studies reported, sellers who sold by owner actually saved money and realized more equity than sellers who sold through agents. The September 2008 issue of consumers reports magazine reported that FSBO sellers are more likely to get their asking price while agents, on average, deliver a sales price that is $5,000 less than the original asking price.

We have recently embarked on on the challenge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for our website. For those who are unfamiliar with the world of SEO, it is the science (or art) of optimizing your website to become better positioned in the search engines for certain terms.

For instance, if you google “For Sale By Owner Albany” we consistently enjoy the #1 spot for our domain fsbosearch.com. In fact we have literally hundreds of keyword phrases that are in the #1 spot in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I will expand on this in a future post.

Interestingly, we are starting to see some positive results from our efforts. Our traffic is up significantly from this time last year. But the real interesting thing is that we are starting to see more and more traffic from outside the Albany NY Capital Region.

For instance, I was browsing through our traffic logs this morning and looking specifically at the recent visitors by location. Check out the two screenshots below (click on the images to enlarge):

As you can see, 10 of the last 40 visitors were from outside of the Capital Region. Furthermore, five were from outside of the country - 2 from India, 2 from Italy and 1 from France. While we know that 90% of all real estate is sold to local buyers it is encouraging to see visitors from outside the area on our site. Are these visitors on our site because they are truly searching for Albany Homes or because of some of our real estate related content brought them here?

We will monitor the traffic logs to see if this is a trend or simply an aberration. In either event we will post again with our findings. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if your phone rings from a potential buyer with an Italian accent!

Albany, N.Y. was named to the Forbes magazine list of the “Top 25 Strongest Housing Markets” in the country, ranking #21.

According to Forbes, the list is based on analysis done for the magazine by Moody’s Economy. Moody’s analyzed housing forecasts for metropolitan areas with populations over 500,000 through 2011.

Moody’s compared the forecasts to housing prices in the 2nd quarter of 2008 to determine how far prices are likely to drop before hitting bottom.

Albany accompanied it’s Upstate NY metropolitan neighbors Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo on the list. Syracuse ranked #2, Buffalo #4 and Rochester was #15.

Forbes does not anticipate price increases in any of the metro areas before the end of the year, predicting the strongest metro areas will be “flat at best”. That is significantly better than Moody’s forecast of the 15 percent average drop for the entire country in 2009.