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Bonnie Fagoh
February 2008
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Home Selling Tips ForSpring Buyer's Market If you're planning to put your home on the market in time for spring, now's the time to get it ready to show. But wait, it's still a buyer's market. What can you do to catch the buyer's eye and get them to make an offer? It's going to take more than a fresh coat of paint and a new welcome mat. A buyer's market raises the stakes, and you'll find you need to do a lot more work on your home than you think, if you want to get the highest price possible. You've heard that you should clean, paint and repair, but that may not be enough. If your home is cluttered and in disrepair, buyers won't pay top dollar.
Mortgage Rates U.S. averages as of January 31, 2008:30 yr. fixed: 5.68%15 yr. fixed: 5.17%1 yr. adj: 5.05%30 yr. jumbo: 6.98%-->
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Knowing how buyers reason should help you pick which updates are most likely to help you sell your home. Let's take the most basic selling suggestions and explore why these are such important mantras.
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Wondering What Your Home Is Worth?Let me show you.
Are You Leaving a Tax Deduction on the Table? If you refinanced your home recently, you're not alone. According to Plunkett Research, approximately $1.1 trillion dollars in mortgage loans was refinanced in the United States in 2006. But did you remember to take an increased mortgage interest deduction on your tax return if you were entitled to one? Here's how it works. You are allowed to take a deduction on your personal tax return for mortgage interest you pay on a loan that is secured by either your principal residence or a second home, up to one million dollars in acquisition indebtedness. That means mortgages, lines of credit and home equity loans all qualify, as long as they are secured by your home, and you are the primary borrower, and legally obligated to repay that loan. What you call your first and second homes can be pretty open to interpretation. Pretty much anything will qualify if it has sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities.
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Five Reasons HousesBeat Stocks Despite what Wall Street wants you to believe, owning a home isn't the same kind of investment as stocks or bonds. What you get is a USE asset that depreciates over time, while it grows in market value. All you have to do is keep the home in good repair to max out your take. Here are five reasons why you get more for your money with a house than a worthless sock puppet. Leverage: with stocks, you put in all your money for a little piece of a company. With a house, you put in a little money to get all of the house. Tax benefits: Uncle Sam knows that owning a home is a pain in the neck, that's why you get subsidies. These are basically government bribes to get you to buy. What other investment can you put in 5 percent of the cost of the asset, reap all the appreciation and pay no capital gains? That's right: live in your home two years, rent it for three, sell it, and pay no tax on capital gains up to 250,000 for singles, $500,000 for married couples. And you're worried about paying too much? And that's not all - think about the benefits of fixed-rate mortgages, property tax write-offs, interest rate deductions, depreciation. Is this a great country or what?
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Life Expectancy of Home Components One way to prepare for the costs of owning a home beyond the mortgage payment, insurance and taxes, is to know the expected life expectancy of your home's components. Such knowledge doesn't supersede the use of a home inspector when buying a home, new or old, but it can help you develop a savings plan so you are prepared for the inevitable. Sooner or later you'll have to repair or replace many of your home's parts -- inside and out. Knowledge of components' life expectancies is what homeowner associations use, in part, to build a reserve fund designed to spread, over time, the cost of the inevitable.
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Daily News and Advice -->Read about the events shaping the Real Estate market today, find current interest rates, or browse the extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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Bonnie Fagoh E-mail: bonniefagoh@century21beggins.comWeb: www.TampaCoastalRealEstate.com
s Enterprises813-390-7606 U. S. Hwy. 41 N.Apollo Beach, FL 33572
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