While some of this information is a little out of date – the article was written February 2010 – it still has some good pointers and some reminders like the first time homebuyer’s federal tax credit is still available for current military personnel for several more months.

It’s always best to speak with your tax consultant for specific tax savings but doesn’t hurt to have this information as a way to ask questions.

On 10/10/10 come celebrate Cool Davis  at the Veterans Memorial Center (203 East 14th St, Davis).  This is an event focused on reducing the carbon footprint and reducing green house gases in the environment.  10/10/10  has been designated as a world wide kick off (http://www.1010global.org) to reduce carbon by 10% per year.

Both Lyon Real Estate and the Yolo County Board of Realtors are sponsors of the Cool Davis Festival.  Events will include food demonstrations, music, theater, art, recycled products, advanced technology cars as well as ideas on what individuals can do to reduce waste.  Visit www.cooldavis.org for more information.

On October 9th there will be service projects in different locations around Davis that range from grounds clean-up to restoring native habitats to sewing reusable produce bags and creating songs to help the environment.  Davis through the whole earth festival has had a strong history of helping the environment – get involved to do your part to help meet this worldwide goal of a 10% carbon reduction this year.

Hot topics this month include:

• End of the Federal Tax Credit – buyers must be in contract by April 30th and close escrow by June 30th to qualify for either the first time homebuyer credit or long time owner credit
• California is offering a homebuyer credit both for new homes and existing homes to certain qualified buyers – however, that money is only expected to last a couple of weeks as there is a cap on the amount of tax credit money allocated for this credit.
• FHA continues to be a popular funding source for many buyers – even though the program guidelines have tightened some this year
• Wondering what an appraiser looks for in a house for an FHA loan – here’s a good post by Ryan Lunquist, a local appraiser
• The market in Davis has had a strong start of this year, likely helped by the Federal Tax Credit
• Market in greater Sacramento region ranks 3rd in the nation for the highest percentage of distressed sales.
• While the region has high percentage of distressed sales, home sales have been strong with homes priced regionally under $300,000 selling quickly many times with multiple offers.

Not all neighborhoods fit nicely into categories, let me know if you have questions about any aspect of the real estate market, I’m happy to provide you with any information you need.

Sean O’Toole from ForeclosureRadar.com gives a monthly update on foreclosure related activity around California for March, 2010.

Some key points:

• The foreclosure process from notice of default to the filing of notice of trustee filing continues to increase and that it is now taking nearly 6 months for this process.
• Often the opening bid at the trustee sale is set at 33% above market value to discourage investors from purchasing homes directly at the court house steps.
• Foreclosure sales are up 92% over last year however, much of that is due to moratoriums put in place last year that prevented a lot of banks from proceeding with foreclosures.

While this report is focused on California in general, these trends can be found throughout the greater Sacramento region.  While Davis still finds itself in a fairly secure bubble, foreclosures and short sales are creeping into the Davis market.

The Federal tax credit for both first time homebuyers and qualified long-time existing home owner/buyers on April 30th.  To qualify for the credit, buyers must be in contract before that April deadline and close escrow prior to June 30th.  The extension of the tax credit has motivated a lot of buyers to act while the government is giving away free money.

Starting May 1st, California will have a $10,000 tax credit to qualified first time homebuyers however, the difference will be that it is not an automatic credit, home buyers will have to apply and reserve the credit and it will not be paid back in one lump sum but over a three year period.

The California credit is an expansion of a program last year that was only for first time homebuyers of newly constructed homes, this year there is $100 million in tax credits set aside for new and another $100 million for existing homes.  The program ran out of money within a few months last year so while this credit runs until December, 2010 it is likely to run out of funds before the deadline.

Your personal tax accountant is the best source of information to see if you qualify for either the Federal or State Tax credits.

Pardon our dust as we are in the middle of an unexpected upgrade. Expect to see new features added on a regular basis. One big goal for this upgrade is for YOU to be able to create and modify robust saved searches on homes that interest you.

The look of the site will go through some dramatic changes in the next couple of months. The current design was not made for this website but I hope that all of the new functionality in the home search will make up for any confusion created by this dramatic change.

Feel free to contact me with any feedback, let me know if there is anything you would like to see on the site.