Pat Starnes' Snippets

An exciting new program is making funds available for Mississippi homebuyers to purchase bank owned foreclosures throughout the state. The program, "Home Buyer Advantage" hasn't received a lot of press, but it is a tremendous opportunity.

Don't confuse this program, which is funded by the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) through Congress's Neighborhood Stabilization Program with the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit. They are two separate homebuyer incentive programs. And guess what? You could be eligible for BOTH credits!

The "Home Buyer Advantage" is designed to prevent neighborhood decline from having too many foreclosures. The requirements are relatively simple, but the highlights are as follows:

• The foreclosure you wish to purchase MUST BE your primary residence. This is not a program for investors.
• Current homeowners ARE eligible (as long as they occupy the foreclosed property).
• There are household income limits based on the county in which the property is located. For Madison, Rankin, and Hinds Counties, the income limit cannot exceed $47,650.
• Applicants must spend eight hours in a pre-purchase homebuyer education class (through a HUD-approved counselor).
• You must qualify for a mortgage.
• The purchase price of the property must be 1% BELOW the current appraised market value.
• The purchase price cannot exceed $238,000.

For further information, visit MS Home Corp or contact this Realtor.

If you are a first time home buyer, or haven't owned a home in three years, now is an EXCELLENT time to buy a home. My first post on the subject, Credit for First Time Homebuyers in MS depicts the differences between the old and the new stimulus packages.

If you purchased a home on or after April 9, 2008 but before January 1, 2009, you are entitled to a maximum tax credit of $7500. After January 1, the credit was increased to either 10% of the price or a maximum of $8,000, whichever is less.

What could you do with an extra $8,000?

Before January 1, 2009, the tax "credit" was actually an interest-free loan, to be repaid over 15 years through your annual tax return, beginning in 2010. Should you sell your home before the 15 years elapse, then the remaining credit would be repaid (in full) when the sale closes.

For homes purchased between January 1 and December 1, 2009, you must live in the home for three years without having to repay any portion of the credit. If you have not owned a home for three years, although you are not a "first-time buyer", you are still eligible for the tax credit.

The attached tax form, Form 5405, will explain how to file for the credit, whether you purchased a home in 2008 or 2009.

Rates are lower than ever. If you haven't purchased a home since January 1, 2006, with the additional tax credit available through December 1, can you think of a BETTER TIME TO BUY?

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Pat Starnes, a Realtor since 1988, specializes in Mississippi Residential Real Estate and can assist you with buying or selling in the Jackson MS Metro area. 

Search homes for sale in Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Madison, Ridgeland, Florence, Bryam, or Jackson, MS.

Written and Published by Pat Starnes REALTOR

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Yesterday I shared information about the new MLS system adopted by the Jackson Association of Realtors. Today I've learned how to implement one of the features I've seen agents from other regions utilize, and I wondered "How'd They Do That?"

Now I know!

For one, they had a quality MLS. Second, the agents spent a little time learning the enhancements, the bells and whistles, if you will.

Want to see what I learned? I knew you would.

I can now prepare a search, for instance, for waterfront homes for sale and paste the code into my website or blog, like I've done here. So whenever a consumer wants to look specifically for waterfront properties, the information will be up to date, as I've selected only active listings to appear in my search criteria.

Awesome!

How about homes located in golf communities? Yep. Done.

Homes in BOTH waterfront and golf communities? I can do that, too.

The really cool part is that as an IDX subscriber, my contact information is highly visible. 

I'm so excited about this new feature and I'm sure buyers and sellers will love it, too.

(I should remind everyone as a caveat that the system is new and some data was "misplaced" during the transfer of information.  Some homes for sale may inadvertently be omitted from the search due to the MLS conversion. There are bound to be glitches with an undertaking of this size.)

If you are looking for a specific home you think should be listed, but isn't on my search report, contact me and we'll try to figure out the problem.

Isn't this cool?  Being able to save and post specific searches onto your website has a lot of possibilities.

What do you think? Can you see the value?

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Pat Starnes, a Realtor since 1988, specializes in Mississippi Residential Real Estate and can assist you with buying or selling in the Jackson MS Metro area. 

Search homes for sale in Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Madison, Ridgeland, Florence, Bryam, or Jackson, MS.

Written and Published by Pat Starnes REALTOR