Zillow Survey: Homeowners pessimistic about home values

About two-thirds of homeowners in the West told a survey that their home has decreased in value in the past year, and more than a quarter expect their home’s value to decrease in the next six months.

According to a new survey by Seattle-based online real estate company Zillow.com, nationally, about one in every three homeowners say house values in their market haven’t reached bottom. Zillow divided the country into four areas, and 65 percent of homeowners in the West said their home has decreased in value in the past year while only 20 percent said their home’s value increased.

Also in the West, 26 percent expect homes in their area to decrease in value, and 38 percent said they expect values to rise.

Here’s a link to Zillow’s release on the Homeowner Confidence survey.

Read more: Homeowners pessimistic about home values: Survey - Portland Business Journal 

Oregon USDA Financing fully funded again! Great news.

All USDA Rural Development Loan Programs are Now Fully Funded

USDA 502 guaranteed and Direct Loan programs are fully funded and ready to serve your buyers

This year USDA has invested over $370,000,000 in Oregon’s rural housing communities. The demand for the program has never been greater. USDA is excited to announce that all of its single family housing programs are fully funded and ready to serve you and your clients. The 502 Direct Loan is an incredible program that targets low and very low income borrowers. USDA is offering 100% financing, 1% interest rates, 38 year loan terms, no mortgage insurance and no minimum credit score. To learn more about USDA's other housing products such as Guaranteed loans offered through approved banks and mortgage brokers, and 504 Repair Grants and loans, please view this downloadable flyer. 

What this means:  USDA 100% financing was so popular that it ran out of funds early in 2010.  Now that those funds have been replaced, the buyer community will now have a viable option for purchasing rural land, homes in smaller communities (like Sherwood, Newberg, Cornelius, etc).  This also applies to manufactured housing and new construction with allowances for seller contributions making buying a home with no money down possible.

Letter to the Editor: Does the new Healthcare Bill require 3.8% tax on ALL real estate?

Recently a neighbor of mine, Barry, told me that life must be hard with the new tax that was being instituted under the Obama health care reform bill.  Puzzled, I asked him what he was referring to.  He said, to pay for the health care, the government would be instituting a 3.8% tax on all real estate.  Thinking that this sounded out of the norm, I popped over the snopes and to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) website and here's what I found:

iii. The Medicare Tax on Unearned Income

An article has been circulating around the internet claiming the recently passed health care legislation imposes a 3.8% tax on homes sales. The article fundamentally mis-characterizes and overstates what is actually contained in the legislation. The $250,000/$500,000 exclusion for the sale of a principal residence remains unchanged. Some individuals and families may be subject to a 3.8% tax on a portion of their unearned income. Unearned income includes interest, dividends, capital gains and net rents. The new tax will apply ONLY to for single filers with more than $200,000 of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and joint filers with more than AGI of $250,000.

The new Medicare tax would apply only to any gain realized that is more than the $250K/$500K existing primary home exclusion, and only if the seller has AGI above the $200K/$250K AGI thresholds. So, for example, if the taxable portion of a gain was $30,000 and a married couple had AGI (which would include the taxable gain) of $180,000, the 3.8% tax would not apply because AGI is less than $250,000. If that same couple had AGI of $290,000, then the application of the 3.8% tax would be subject to the same formula described above. The $30,000 gain on the sale would be less than the $40,000 excess above $250,000 AGI, so the $30,000 gain would be subject to the new 3.8% tax.

So, not too scary for most home owners.  However, just another reason for sellers in this situation to not transact real estate.  Elections are coming this November...have you registered to vote?  Visit ROCK THE VOTE now to get details.

Bills come in, do you actually READ them? Well, this month yes and especially NW Natural

Having time at the first of the month to pay bills is normally a lackluster experience (I'm sure you can relate).  Well, this month I actually read some of the superfluous material in my bills that I usually recycle.  Good thing too, as I read the NW Natural "Comfort Zone" newsletter.  In these economic times, NW Natural is doing a great job of offering great deals that can save you money and the usage dollars monthly.  I went to their special website NW NATURAL OFFERS and found this:

• up to $2,240 in credits for a Rinnai tankless water heater (exp 8/31/2010)
• up to $2,050 in credits for new gas customers to install gas furnace and A/C 
• launch offer--since they just launched this website, they are allowing visitors to enter for a drawing for either season tickets for Ducks or Beavers, OR $1000 off participating dealer install brand.

In other NW Natural news, NW Natural is promoting EnergyTrust EPS (Energy Performance Score) for new construction, their sponsorship of the Street of Dreams off Skyline Rd with a $3 off coupon (coupon code NW NATURAL) and $20 off A/C and furnace tune-ups.  It's a great time to take a look at a way to save some money, so visit and enter to win at the same time.  I'm more than happy to take the Beaver season tickets off your hands if you end up winning!  Have a great weekend.