Bob's Blog

Read the post on my “Best of Lowry” blog about the continuance of, and changes to the Homebuyer’s tax credit.

Yup, haven’t posted here in a long time. But why? Well, I could be accused of being lazy or apathetic, but I know there’s more to it than that.

I found a Reuters article  today that reinforces my belief. Yeah, I think many of us are bogged down and distracted by just trying to strategize how we’ll get through these tough times.

As a side note, I really identified with the retired teacher from Nashville’s comment about our elected officials interest (or lack thereof) about our input regarding the deficit. This lady is right on. So please keep that in mind as our government inches ever closer to a national health care plan. Overall, I think national health care should be a cornerstone of the greatst and wealthiest nation in the world. However, if our government wants to enact it, then they should do what I do in my real estate business: it’s called “full Disclosure”. We need to know what its reall gonna cost.

At this point, we still don’t know that. But the one thing many of us ARE sure of is that it just doesn’t “feel” right and that taxpayers are going to be holding the bag of goods in the not too distant future.

Honestly, I really do think that I’ve devoted time and energy to that concern that has distracted me over the past few months. How about you?

Check out this cool video. You gotta start somewhere!

Here’s an interesting article from the WSJ concerning the number of prime or conventional mortgages that are past due or in foreclosure. It was only a matter of time until the unemployment numbers started to affect this sector of homeowners. Note the graph at the end: more than 65% of all mortgages are still conventional, fixed rate mortgages. So when this sector is contributing to the foreclosure mess, look out. Now we’re talking about your neighbors. This is not a problem that we will cruise through quickly. This recession is still very much in effect for a lot of people…..

Here’s a link to a 9News article about the FirstTime Home Buyers tax credit program entering into it’s sunset period. Seriously, I have not heard ANY talk in professional real estate circles about Congress extending this program. Stimulus programs up to this point have been highly targeted. There is no expectation at this point that this program will continue after November of this year.

So, if you want your tax credit, you need to be acting NOW! And if you are shopping for pre-foreclosure short sales, you would be well advised to look at traditional sales instead. There is no – repeat NO – guarantee that you could write an offer on a short sale today and have it close by November 30.

Using a professional real estate broker to assist you in the role of a Buyer’s agent is highly advised in this transitional time.

9News article on the $8000 tax credit

What happened at 12:34 today? Check it out here.

Google rolls out Google Voice today which developed out of Google’s 2007 purchase of Grand Central. This will allow you to have one phone number and direct it to ring anywhere – cell, home, work, etc. There is a lot of additional functionality including conference calling and call screening (you can listen  to a voicemail and decide if you want to take the call).

Google Voice is available by invitation only. Get an invite here

Check out this article on my Lowry blog regarding Denver’s Home Renovation Bonanza program.

Well here’s a challenge many of us will have to face; those of us carrying a balance on our credit cards anyway. And I’m guessing that’s a lot of us.

Read this very interesting column from Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Financial writer. I like Liz because she writes very educational articles and really gets down to the nitty gritty about life’s financial challenges in a way most readers can comprehend. And she always offers simple (if not neccesarily easy) steps to take to overcome these challenges. She wants you to keep your money in your pockets.

So read here what she has to say about new credit card rules we can expect shortly….