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First time Homebuyers and Repeat Buyers now qualify for a tax credit if they purchase a home through April of 2010!  The Tax Credit has been Revised and Extended thus reinforcing that NOW is By Far the Best Time to Purchase a Home!!!

Here are the details:

$8,000 First - time Home Buyer

*The $8,000 tax credit is for first time home buyers only.  For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three year period prior to the purchase.

*The tax credit does not have to be repaid.

*The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

*The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010.  However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30,2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

*For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

*For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit. 

The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat

Home Buyer

*To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.

*The tax credit does not have to be repaid.

*The tax credit is equal to 10% of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.

*The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

*The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.

*Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

There are great Q&A and detailed resources at www.IRA.gov 

Please feel free to give me a call either at  my office (512)328-5151 or on my Cell (512)751-2931 or you can visit my website www.HeatherBrown.com

Buying or Selling a Home?

I Want to Help!!!

Heather Brown

RE/MAX Austin Skyline

512-751-2931

www.HeatherBrown.com

Austin Area Home Sales Up 5% in January

Austin Home Sales in January 2010 were at 884 up 5% from the same month in 2009, according to the Multiple Listing Service report by the Austin Board of Realtors.

The Median Price remained stable in the same period, up 1% to $179,250.

John Horton, Chairman of ABOR said "At this point, we can look back and see that January 2009 was the low point of this cycle.  With steady improvement throughout 2009 that continued in January 2010, we can see that we're one year into the recovery in Austin"

Throughout 2009, the volume of single family home sales in Austin improved steadily.  In the first half of the year, the gap in year over year sales volume closed consistently, reaching levels similar to 2008 during the summer peak, with the exception of a dip in August.

In fall 2009, sales volume began outperforming 2008 and surged in October and November, spurred by the original deadline for the first time home buyer tax credit.  In December 2009, sales volume returned to a modest increase of 5 percent compared with December 2008, a growth rate that was maintained in January 2010.

*Low Interest Rates,

*An Extremely Wide Selection of Homes to Choose From

*Low Down Payments

*Really Good Buys in the Market Place

*The Opportunity to Take advantage of the Revised Federal Tax Credit

All of these, make this, with out a Doubt, the BEST TIME to Buy a Home!!!

Please feel free to give me a call either at  my office (512)328-5151 or on my Cell (512)751-2931 or you can visit my website www.HeatherBrown.com

Buying or Selling a Home?

I Want to Help!!!

Heather Brown

RE/MAX Austin Skyline

512-751-2931

www.HeatherBrown.com

St. Davis's HeatlhCare is Buying Heart Hospital for $83 Million!

St. David's HealthCare Partnership signed an agreement on Tuesday to buy Heart Hospital of Austin less than two months after acquiring a related doctor's group.

St. David's signed a definitive agreement to take over Heart Hospital assets after it absorbed affiliated physician group Austin Heart Jan. 1st.  Details on both transactions were not disclosed, but the sale is reportedly worth about $83.6 Million.  Officials said the recent deal will be finalized during Heart's third fiscal quarter.

Austin Heart is a separate entity from the hospital, but the practice's providers own part of the hospital and perform most procedures there.

Heart Hospital CEO and President David Laird said this morning the change will be relatively transparent to patients.  Heart staff and management will stay on through the deal and signage is not expected to change.

MedCath Corp. based in North Carolina, opened the 58 bed Heart Hospital in 1998 during a time of a massive health care consolidation in the region.  But the specialty cardiac hospital since has proved viable competition to the city's dominant health care providers - St. David's HealthCare Partnership and Seton Healthcare Network.

Austin-based St. David's operates 24 care center in Central Texas and is one of the largest health care systems in the State.

Remember......

Buying or Selling a Home?

I Want to Help!!!

Heather Brown

RE/MAX Austin Skyline

512-751-2931

www.HeatherBrown.com