Home Sweet Home, Insider-Tips on Minnesota real estate.

Cities where the recession is easing

 The top 10 include:

1. Washington, D.C
2. Austin, Texas
3. Dallas,
4. Houston (Tie) Minneapolis
5. Denver
6.  San Antonio 
7. Boston
8. Los Angeles
9. Kansas City

Must-have features in today's new homes

Americans want smaller houses and they are willing to strip some of yesterday's most popular rooms -- such as home theaters -- from them in order to accommodate changing lifestyles, consumer experts told audiences at the International Builders Show here this week.

Buyers today want cost-effective architecture, plans that focus on spaces and not rooms and homes that are designed 'green' from the outset," she said. The key for home builders is "finding the balance between what buyers want and the price point."

 10 "must" features in new homes:

Large kitchens, with an island. "If you're going to spend design dollars, spend them where people want them -- spend them in the kitchen," McCune said. Granite countertops are a must for move-up buyers and buyers of custom homes, but for others "they are on the bubble," Cardis 

the 10 must have features are listed in  MarketWatch

Homebuyers tax credit

Tax credit to $8,000, from $7,500, and drops the repayment feature for buyers who hold on to their property for at least three years.
 
The legislation also extends the effective date of the credit to December 1 from June 30, and extends eligibility to borrowers who buy their home with the help of state or local financial assistance that comes from the proceeds of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds.  The credit remains open only to first-time buyers (those who haven't owned in at least three years) and some income eligibility restrictions apply, but those are unchanged from the existing program.
 
Other provisions reportedly in the bill that could help housing markets and communities include:
 
* FHA and conforming loan limits. Specifics have not been released but reports indicate that the 2008 limits have been reinstated for 2009 except in those communities where the 2009 limits are higher. Additional increases in individual communities may also be available at the discretion of the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
 
* Foreclosure mitigation and neighborhood stabilization. Funding for states and localities to be used for neighborhood stabilization activities for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes are authorized. Some news reports put the funding level at $2 billion.
 
* Rental assistance. Up to $1.5 billion to provide short-term rental assistance and other aid for families during the economic crisis.
 
* Low-income housing grants. Allow states to trade in a portion of their 2009 low-income housing tax credits for Treasury grants to finance the construction or acquisition and rehabilitation of low-income housing, including those with or without tax credit allocations
 
* Tax-exempt housing bonds. Tax-exempt interest earned on specified state and local bonds issued during 2009 and 2010 will not be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). In addition, financial institutions will have greater capacity to purchase tax-exempt state and local bonds
 

Energy efficient housing. Grants for energy retrofits for federally assisted housing (Section 8), funding for energy efficiency and conservation block grants to states, and increases in the residential tax credit through 2010 for certain energy efficient upgrades.

 

Source: NAR, AP, Washington Post, New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal