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Monday, October 26, 2009
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44 comments:
anielarke,
would this Highview Park property make a good rental after renovation?
not anie but see that gigantic structure across the street? IIRC, some guy built it too big/tall and then tried to get a zoning variance after the fact. The neighbors hated the house and he was denied. He claimed the house was so big because he walnted to house his extended famiy but people thought he was planning on running a boarding house. He had to spend a fortune basically cutting a story off the top and making the house farther away from the sidewalk in the front. I'm not sure if anyone ever moved in-it was for sale for a long time.
I wonder how much it would cost to make that house liveable? Could be dangerous to be that close to Heidelberg.
MM, again, not the target of your q but I'll step in it anyway; Highview Park is dicey; properties vary from very nice and well-maintained/new, to terribly run-down, with a fairly high proportion (IMHO) of the latter. There is a reason that prices are low in certain parts of Arlington.
We found a house, wrote the contract and while reviewing the contract and signing, we realized it was directly next door to a registered sexual offender.
Sigh...the search continues...
Oh, and he was convicted of sexual crimes against 2 children.
Meshell, Ace,
Thanks for the comments.
Meshell,
I know you're joking but the real threat to me is the Mickey Ds behind Langston-Brown Community Center...
Ace,
It appears to be in a less run-down part of Highview Park. The four THs just up the street recently sold in the mid-$650K, FWIW. I don't mind a few rundown homes, but I do care about crime and safety.
BTW looks to me from the sat photos there's a pool in the backyard.
MM, I hear you - you may want to research the neighborhood a bit if you haven't already.
MJC, glad your timing was good but sorry you still haven't found the right place.
Would someone please re-post the Sex offender website link?
Thanks!
The Virginia sex offender registry:
http://sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor/
Ace,
A SO (Forcible sodomy) lives three houses down in an apt bldg and works at the neighborhood SFWY...
MM,
Those townhouses were for sale forever. I'm surprised they ever sold. The original builder was a local guy who had no idea about building anything, overextended himself $$$ and went bankrupt. The townhouses were almost complete in 2002, then stood with gaping window holes, roof holes, etc for *years* while the properties just sat there. Also repo people walked into the houses and ripped out all the appliances and HVACs, etc. Even some pipes, I heard. I hope whoever bought those places had hard core inspections.
Bloomberg
Housing Tax Credit Probably Won’t Be Extended in U.S., ISI Says
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Alexis Xydias
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress probably won’t extend the tax credit for first-time home buyers, according to a note sent by ISI Group Inc.’s Washington research analysts.
“There could be an agreement reached as early today on the Reid/Baucus amendment that would PHASE OUT (not extend, as we originally understood when the idea was first proposed last week) the home buyer tax credit,” ISI analysts said in the note. “The phase out is worse than a straight extension and probably worse for housing than the consensus.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 26, 2009 12:19 EDT
whatever that means.
"phase out" could be over 1 month or 12,
"worse"? Who knows, worse for whom, worse for what?
"consensus", who's consensus?
anyway, new news will be forthcoming, one would think.
(please let it die, please let it die, please let it die, sooner rather than later). I wouldn't complain about a 1 month phase out through December I guess.
Baucus and Reid made a proposal last week to Senate Republicans that would extend the homebuyer credit through 2010, Lachapelle said. First-time homebuyers who close before April 1 would get the full $8,000, and the credit’s value would be reduced by $2,000 in each successive quarter until expiring at the end of the year.
Link
Thanks Robert, I just read that. I think the key point may be the last line:
"The terms for extending the homebuyer tax credit are still being negotiated, Lachapelle said. "
So, we won't really know until (a) it's passed the Senate and (b) it's passed the House...
Strangely enough this is pretty much the phase-out time-frame I "recommended" months and months ago...
CR seems to think it may have gotten shrunk to phases only two months long and starting in December-January with $8k, but he didn't post a link to that thought.
Cara,
Well, what we have learned is there is a REAL proposal from REAL legislators on the table regarding a phase out of the credit. If there has been something prior to this, I missed it.
Robert,
I'm not disputing that it's news. Just cautioning that the timing of the phase-out in the Bloomberg article was extremely preliminary in form.
The good thing about a phase-out from my perspective is that it makes it more difficult to reinstate it later in full. As I said when I first suggested it, a phase0out would illustrate a level of seriousness in ending the program that had yet to be demonstrated.
MM and Meshell, double yikes. It sounds like that Ed Peete project in Cherrydale. I go past those townhouses from time to time (ok, when I am bad and going to Heidelberg) and wondered what was going on with them.
Cara,
Jeez. I can't agree with your characterization of extremely preliminary in form. Someone with access to the document talked to Bloomberg. Since this is a real piece of paper being pushed around and not speculation on CR and Patrick.net, I would bet you that if there is a phase-out it will be $2k per quarter until it is exhausted.
Cara, I started jumping in my seat out of joy when I saw that on CR. Since I'm cynical, I am totally prepared for them do not let it die, but any good news is welcome, if only for a little while.
Robert
Have you never watched a piece of legistlation from beginning to end before? Do they ever come out the same from first written version to final signed law? Not that I've ever seen, not on something this hotly debated.
Call it whatever you want to. It's a draft. It's the first draft we've heard of. There was nothing in there stating that both the house and the senate had consulted on this.
Drop the word "extremely" if that suites you. You've been reading my writing for a year, you know when typing quickly I never use one adjective when I could add an adverb.
We will know the actual answer in a few days, maybe a tad longer. Why argue about it, now?
CR is not Patrick. They do not belong in the same sentence. And neither of them nor Bloomberg is Thomas.
http://www.cnbc.co/id/33450502
Based on this article on cnbc.com, it looks like there are two specific possibilities: 1. the Dodd-Isakson plan which extends the 8k to everyone without an income cap with a March 30 deadline; or, 2., the more politically feasible Senate Finance Committee Plan which will phase it out in this manner: "The credit would stay exactly as it is through March 31st, then it would go to $6000 from 3/31 through 6/30 and then it would go to $4000 until 9/30 and then peter out somehow around $2000."
If either plan passes, I guess I can't look forward to any dramatic December price drops. A seasonal dip may be there, but I might not find the holiday bargain I was hoping for.
REdealSeeker,
there's a follow up in there that has a little more substance and detail
cnbc
Published: Monday, 26 Oct 2009 | 2:11 PM ET Text Size By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
More confusion today about what's up with the first time home buyer tax credit extension.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) made a comment as he boarded AF1 today that "We should be able to extend that later this week."
He's a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is working on the phase-out plan I reported Friday.
Then supposedly the market gets spooked because Bloomberg reports a story that ISI Group says the tax credit would not be extended even though it then goes on to explain it would be phased out.
Anyway, here's the most likely scenario, I believe, and I've been told by my sources, from Concept Capital's Washington Research Group:
Legislative Course
The key vote will be Tuesday – as we discuss in today’s calendar note – as Senators need to approve a motion to proceed to the Unemployment Insurance bill. We believe there are enough votes to pass the motion, which means the Senate will then start considering amendments. Sens. Isakson and Dodd will then offer their amendment to extend the tax credit and open it to all buyers and to raise the income cap to $300,000 adjusted gross income for joint filers from the $150,000 AGI cap now in effect.
That bill would cost nearly $17 billion, which is why we expect the amendment to be defeated.
Then Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus will offer the amendment to extend the homebuyer tax credit through 2010, though it would phase out starting April 1 by $2,000 per quarter. This also would include a modified expansion of net operating loss carrybacks and be paid for with a delay in the worldwide interest allocation rules. Senators will offer many other unrelated amendments. We would expect those to be defeated.
The goal is then to pass this bill in the Senate on Wednesday so the House may approve it Thursday.
Will This Happen
This is certainly a chaotic process but our conversations continue to lead us to believe that there is a window for success this week. Our view remains unchanged since Thursday that the Reid phase-out plan is the one that will be adopted. If it cannot get done this week, we expect lawmakers to return to it in November.
Does this mean the extention of the current for the deployed military would remain at 8,000 while it dropped for everyone else? Just curious how that would work. I know there are plenty of buyers that aren't real happy that they bought with a 7500 credit that has to be paid back while others got 8,000 and now it looks like a segment still gets preferential treatment of tax dollars. I don't have a dawg in this fight since I'm not eligble and never could be unless they went with the higher cap. I think they ought to kill it or open it up to those that are educated, have saved a down payment and earn enough to actually pay for these houses that are being bought. I would hope they would make people who have filed a foreclosure within the last 5 years INELIGBLE.
Arkey,
I believe the service member provision is entirely separate and already passed????
It's open to me. And we've both got post-bachelor degrees, have saved up a hefty sum, and are buying well within our means. Though we do have to max out our retirement contributions to be eligible for the full amount... (doing that anyway).
:)
It's actually people like us that are part of the reason it's a waste of money. Better us than fraudsters though.
Cara,
Not trying to pick a fight with you, but just sayin' we're late in the game on this legislation. There isn't going to be a lot of time to debate various phase-out scenarios. It will look like the Reid-Baucus proposal or nothing at all. IMHO.
Thats my point Cara, I much prefer someone like yourself getting the incentive because I'm more comfortable that you will NOT BE a future foreclosure. I know you are well educated and I also know your goal is not making the most bang for the buck for that education, yours is more service oriented. But those that have an expensive pedigree to pay for and tons of ambition are paid more than 75,000 a year.
Robert,
It may well be. And I think the details added in the CNBC blog back up that scenario given that they even have a specfic timeline for when the amendments will be voted on.
It'll be very interesting to see what the House does with this though. Because last year the $8k started in the Senate (as $15k) and was greatly reduced and curtailed in the House.
Arkey,
well and our pedigree's were for free. If you have to foot your own bill in the sciences in grad school, they don't really think you'll be able to hack it.
And I believe you can put up to $15k towards retirement and still have that be pre-tax such that your "taxable income" (which is what matters) stays under $75k with a true income of $90k each.
And I think a lot of people have a more unequal household income distribution than we do...
Reid is on TV right now. Not sure if he'll take questions on the tax credit.
I seem to remember a while back someone posted this McLean REO on here. Just saw it closed for $526,000 on 9/30/09.
One block over, this REO sold for $470,400 in June.
Just thought some might be interested...
MM-
Based on the price paid vs. list price my guess is the bank never got rid of the mold, but instead just lowered the price.
I also think that that the 526K house had some charm and could be appealing to many people particularly, because you could probably rent out the basement for ~$1,500 a month once the mold was dealt with.
I should say that obviously being right on 123 would be an issue for a lot of people.
Cara, someone should do a study as to whether the $8K has had a positive impact on retirement savings (inducing people to save more than they otherwise would have), which never occurred to me until your post above. That would be a good outcome of the credit.
Is there an inflation adjusted CS national index that has been created in the last couple of months? The most recent link I could find is from December 2008.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/12/classic-case-shiller-hosuing-price-chart-updated/
If the $8k credit phases out at incomes of 75k/150k for singles/couples.
and
If conservative lending ratios of 2.5 to 3 times income are used by buyers not over extending themselves - then
Does anyone else see the $8k tax credit as a non issue for the $450k and up housing markets?
I just see it as a bit of a non factor in the more expensive communities.
My $0.02
mytwocents
I think that's the consensus.
There it's the 5% interest rates, and the insane FHA limits that are now well into that 400-700k range that are having an effect.
But, I think at current interest rates and 36% DTI, it may be more like 4x income (I haven't checked recently enough to recall correctly), but in any case, there is definitely a phasing out of importance with house price, to the point where it's negligible.
But in the higher price ranges the threat of the effect of rising interest rates is even scarier. (not percentage-wise but in absolute terms).
I have trouble believing that the 8K has much importance to the 400K+ group of buyers (expect, perhaps, the FHA buyer). If the phase-out starts April 1st, I'd expect a very busy next few months for the low end.
Inventory seems very thin at that price level.
Well, it doesn't make a difference on whther you buy or not thats for sure but I don't think anyone sneezes or fluffs off 8,000. I wouldn't turn it down. Cara is absolutely right about the interest rate, tho. That's a significant factor. I'm having a hard time finding property in Ar that isn't listed 130,000 to 150,000 over their current appraisals and those are fixers..yep, rent there is dirt cheap to boot so those greedy damn sellers are in every nook and cranny.
MM Do not know that part of the rental market but house looks like it needs much work to make it a good rental. I rent newer condos and flip duplexes. Most of the duplexes have been in Westmont off Columbia Pike and Glebe and Longbranch Park off S. Glebe Rd. behind the Giant/Gold's Gym shopping center. Trying to buy some around the Stanley Martin townhouse development on Four Mile Run in Arlington but owners are waiting for Martin to assemble another parcel and buy them out. There are some duplexes at the edge of Ashton Heights, near the FDIC building in Ballston and behind the soccer park at Wilson Blvd and George Mason Dr. which would be good. But most of them go for higher prices to owner occupants who are willing to do the work because of proximity to Metro. Good luck.
This bank owned house in Springfield with dirty carpets and interesting marble is now back on the market for the 3rd time since March. Maybe the 3rd time will be the charm, but maybe the water damage is very extensive. Psst, HSBC if someone offers you 350k you better run with it!
FX7008173
2009 Assessment 465k
Mar 17, 2009 Listed $469,900
Apr 17, 2009 Price Changed $429,000
Apr 25, 2009 Delisted
Jun 02, 2009 Relisted
Jun 09, 2009 Price Changed $410,000
Jul 15, 2009 Price Changed $389,900
Sep 10, 2009 Delisted
Oct 26, 2009 Relisted
anielarke,
thanks much for the tips!
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