Existing-home sales rose again in November as first-time buyers rushed to close sales before the original Nov. 30 deadline for the recently extended and expanded tax credit, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. More…

The IRS has recently published clarifications of the Homebuyer Tax Credit. This article explains some of the gray areas in the law. There is also a great Q&A section that goes through some scenarios that help clarify even more.

The Virginia Housing Development Authority has extended its Homebuyer Tax Credit Plus program to match the deadlines of the Federal First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit. VHDA’s program lets borrowers take advantage of the tax credit to finance down payment and closing costs up to 5% of the sales price, using a second mortgage. Here is a link to information on their program. For more info, give us a call at 540-330-8000.

According to a recent article in REALTOR Magazine, Lawrence Yun, Chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS states, “It’s been a long time coming, but thanks largely to strengthening housing markets, the country is pulling out of the recession.” He goes on to to speak about the recession and hopefully better economic conditions ahead. This article was in the November/December issue and had a couple of very interesting graphs showing Home Sales and Business Confidence. more …