Manchester Vermont Real Estate Blog

I’m on Anna Maria Island in Florida this week. Things move a little slower down here so my weekly market recap that usually appears on Mondays is coming to you on Tuesday this week, poolside at Marbella.

New Listings – 16 new listings came on the market last week ranging in price from $64,900 to $1.49 million.

Price Reductions – 9 properties were reduced in price last week.

Under Contract – 10 properties went under contract last week with good distribution across most price points including 2 properties over $1 million.

Sold – 2 properties closed last week, one for $180,000 which was 90% of asking price and one for $236,000 which was 91.5% of asking price.

There are some hopeful signs in last week’s data. The number of properties going under contract was the largest we’ve seen recently. The number of price reductions should also help get the market moving. Let’s hope these trends continue.

That’s all for now, the pool is calling.

Yesterday’s post referenced the Home Buyer Tax Credit which has been extended to April 30, 2010 and has been expanded to include repeat home buyers. Here are some key points about this tax credit.

•A tax credit of up to $8,000 is available for first-time home buyers purchasing on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. In cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

•A tax credit of up to $6,500 is available for repeat home buyers who have owned a home for five consecutive years out of the prior eight years. The repeat home buyer tax credit applies to houses sold after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. In cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

•Income limits of $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for married couples filing jointly apply to all sales occurring after Nov. 6, 2009.

•The income limits for sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009 are $75,000 for individual taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

•Homes priced above $800,000 are not eligible for either the first-time home buyer tax credit or the repeat home buyer tax credit.

•Expanded tax credit benefits apply to members of the military, the foreign service and the intelligence community.

•Home purchases in 2010 may be claimed on an amended 2009 income tax return.

•Persons who are claimed as dependents by a taxpayer or who are under age 18 do not qualify for a tax credit.

•Home purchases from relatives of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse do not qualify for the tax credit. The IRS defines relatives as ancestors (parent, grandparent, etc.), lineal descendants (child, grandchildren, etc.) and spouses.

•Married couples are not eligible to claim the first-time home buyer tax credit if either spouse has previously owned a home. They may, however, qualify for the repeat home buyer tax credit.

•Neither the first-time home buyer tax credit nor the repeat home buyer tax credit 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.

•Taxpayers must submit a copy of the HUD-1 settlement statement and IRS Form 5405 to claim either the first-time home buyer tax credit or the repeat home buyer tax credit.

This information is courtesy of the National Association of Home Builders and is taken from www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/home. Additional information is also available at www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/2009_first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit.

Over the next month there will probably be a lot of buzz in the media about the homebuyer tax credit. The original credit of 8% for first time home buyers expired on November 30^th, 2009. Although I don’t have any statistics at my finger tips, the original credit seemed to give a needed boost to the 4^th quarter. The credit was extended and broadened to also include some existing home owners. The new expiration date is April 30^th. A buyer will need to have an executed Purchase and Sale contract by this date with a closing date no later than June 30^th to qualify. Let’s hope this enticement brings some additional activity to a historically slow month in the local market.

On to the weekly recap:

New Listings – 10 new properties came on the market last week ranging in price from $69,900 to $2.35 million.

Price Reductions – 16 properties were reduced in price with an average price reduction of 7.9%.

Under Contract – 5 properties went under contract last week, 2 are priced under $100,000, 2 are in the $200,000 - $300,000 price range, and 1 is in the $300,000 - $400,000 price range.

Sold – 3 properties closed last week: one at $140,000 which was 83% of asking price, one at $300,000 which was 94% of asking price, and one at $900,000 which was 95% of asking price.

The first quarter comes to a close on Wednesday. Check back with me at the end of the week by which time I hope to have an analysis of the market’s performance so far this year.

It was a beautiful weekend in Vermont, more like mid-May than mid-March. It provided a great opportunity to get a head start on the Spring clean-up of lawns and gardens. Hopefully some of our motivated sellers took advantage of the great weather to work on that all important curb appeal.

It was another slow week locally in terms of buyer activity.

New Listings – 9 new properties came on the market last week ranging in price from $115,000 to $535,000.

Price Reductions – 10 properties were reduced in price with an average price reduction of 7.9%.

Under Contract – 1 property went under contract last week, in the $200,000 - $300,000 price range.

Sold – 2 properties sold last week: one at $163,500 which was 92% of asking price, and one at $375,000, which was 94% of asking price.

April (mud season) is typically one of our slower times. Less visitors come to our area and many locals take the opportunity for some well deserved R&R after the hectic Winter season. It will be interesting to see if the early Spring continues or if we get hit with an April snow storm, and how that will play out in the real estate market.

One of the agents in our office will occasionally use the phrase, “people don’t like to buy a pig in a poke”. It will usually be in relation to how difficult it is to sell raw land that doesn’t have a septic design and waste water permit, let alone a current survey in place. Contextually I could grasp the meaning of the phrase but I was curious to find out where the phrase came from and what the heck a poke is. So off to Google I went.

On a side note, isn’t it amazing to think that 10 years ago many of life’s questions went unanswered? I’m not talking about the big questions like “Why are we here?”, but rather the every day curiosity questions like “Does it ever snow in Australia?” This specific question came up with my kids over breakfast one day. In a matter of moments I had the answer – occasionally at higher elevations but almost never at sea level. The information resources we have at our disposal today are incredible, as is the speed with which we have integrated them into our daily lives.

But I digress. It turns out that a poke is a sack, derived from the French word poche. The phrase originated in the Middle Ages when a con-man would place a cat in a bag and attempt to sell it to an unsuspecting and hungry person as a suckling pig. Interestingly enough, this also gave us two other common expressions “to let the cat out of the bag” which of course means to give away the trick or secret, and “to be left holding the bag” which means to end up with nothing for our efforts. I must give credit to the good people at Wikipedia for this information.

Feel free to share with me your own interesting but possibly useless information.

As a licensed real estate broker I am required to complete 16 hours of continuing education every 2 years. The deadline is March 31^st and I still have a few credits to complete so I spent yesterday taking a very informative online course on Buyer Representation. So here is my weekly recap, 1 day later than usual.

New Listings- 12 new listings came on the market last week ranging in price from $79,900 to $645,000.

Price Reductions – 10 properties were reduced in price.

Under Contract – 3 properties went under contract last week with asking prices of $32,000, $178,000, and $550,000.

Sold – 4 properties closed last week at the following prices: $215,000 at 90% of asking price; $250,000 at 87% of asking price, $270,000 at 90% of asking price, and $312,500 at 92% of asking price. I am pleased to report that two of the properties sold last week were listed by Battenkill Real Estate.

It’s interesting to note that the number of new properties coming on the market each week is fairly consistent, ranging between 11 and 16 each week since I’ve started reporting on the market. We need to start seeing the same type of consistency among buyers but so far this year we haven’t.

With the weather warming up this week, it feels like Spring is in the air. Hopefully, an early Spring will bring some early energy to our local real estate market. There are certainly some hopeful signs that have been developing over the past couple of weeks.

New Listings – 11 new listings came on the market last week ranging in price from $198,000 to $499,000.

Price Reductions – 12 properties were reduced in price last week with an average reduction of 7.3%.

Under Contract – 12 properties went under contract last week, ranging in price from $149,000 to $1.2 million.

Sold – 2 properties closed last week, one for $182,000 which was 92% of asking price and one for $195,000 which was 93% of asking price.

Last week marked the first time this year that the number of properties going under contract surpassed the number of new listings coming on the market. Over the past 2 weeks 22 properties have gone under contract. We have also seen 21 properties reduced in price over the past 2 weeks. Let’s hope that these trends and the early taste of Spring continue.