San Jose Real Estate * Santa Clara County * Richard Gonzalez * Real Estate Silicon Valley Broker Blog – News, Views, and Opinions

Incredible as it may seem the $8,000 Federal tax credit can be combined in April 2010 for a credit up to $1,800 as a result of the recent California legislation.

Window of opportunity

• Open to home buyers in the state of California.
• Must be in contract before May 1st 2010
• Must close between May 1st and June 30th 2010
• Non-First time home buyers will still be eligible to receive up to $16,500

“The new California law applies to certain purchases that close escrow on or after May 1, 2010 (see Cal. Rev. & Tax Code section 17059.1(a)(4)).  California law generally allows buyers of never-occupied properties to reserve their credits before closing escrow, but buyers seeking to combine the federal and state tax credits will not be able to satisfy the timing requirements for such reservations (see Cal. Rev. & Tax Code section 17059.1(c)(1)(A)).  Other terms and restrictions apply to both tax credits.”

~ California Association of REALTORS Legal Department

Even though you may have already submitted your taxes for 2009 you may be able to save even more on your California state taxes if you received a 1099 as a result of a Short Sale.

Yet another positive effort by California legislators to help the housing market with this new bill. The Sacramento Bee reports on this effort to get this bill into law before April 15th deadline.

“The bill being considered this week, Senate Bill 401, would cancel state tax obligations for forgiven mortgage debt through the 2012 tax year. The Assembly planned Monday to rewrite SB 401 from a bill regarding tax shelters to one that aligns much of California’s tax law with that of the IRS. That includes canceling taxes on forgiven mortgage debt and on recipients of federal renewable energy grants.”

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/06/2657410/california-expected-to-cancel.html#ixzz0kMw5Xs6U

Today the banks who signed on for HAMP in 2009 have agreed to increase their participation in HAFA(Housing Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) an extension of HAMP that provides incentives for banks and servicers to streamline the Short Sale process.

Banks and HAFA

Bank of America for instance partnered with equator.com in November  to decrease the short sale approval timelines from 6 months to 45 days  to conform to the HAFA guidelines. Other lenders Like Wells Fargo are able to approve  23% of the Short Sales they service in 10 days.

What is HAFA?

HAFA will continue to evolve as banks and servicers adopt and implement HAFA rules and guidelines. In the mean time home owners can visit www.whatishafa.org to determine if they qualify for HAFA.

Just when most buyers face the end of the $8,000 tax credit Governor Schwarzenegger has revealed a new incentive planned for May 1st that would give buyers up to $10,000.

The day after the federal government credit expires this new state credit would pick up where the federal one left off.
Details of the credit qualifications have not been finalized but the funding is coming from a $100 million dollar program crafted last year as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Read article here

I uploaded the latest sales data to youtube. Please take a moment to watch this three minute video.

January 2010 sales data for Santa Clara County.