1) Get professional help. You can miss so many extra deductions just because you didn’t know they existed.

2) Keep your receipts. This is especially useful if you use your home for an office.

3) Keep a lookout for your mortgage interest deductions.

4)The same goes for your state property tax. Who knew you home purchase can be its own tax lottery?

5) Whatever costs you paid for a closing is now a tax deduction. Claim it!

Although 2011 is over, there’s still a whole year ahead for anyone who is interested in the 2012 tax incentives for home ownership. Contact us at Bushari Group Real Estate for more info on loft and home purchasing.

The rest of the article can be found here.

A loan modification works to keep the homeowner in their house. By lowering the interest rates, principle, or both, loan modifications have been the answer for many resident’s needs. However, with this new practice, lenders have taken advantage of their consumers. In a class-action lawsuit, Bank of America was held responsible for using unlawful tactics against their customers.

Hopefully, this will serve  to clear the air and provide better customer service. Coakley pointed out that unless the mortgage issues are sorted out, our economy will be hindered. Much of the issue is attributed to incorrect paperwork and technical glitches. It is important that you keep a copy of your paperwork including mortgage statements. This is the best way to avoid any paperwork confusion between yourself and your lender.

You can read the full Globe article here.

The post also mentions Warren Buffet’s and Ben Bernanke’s comments about the need for change for the housing market. Bernanke even went as so far as to address Congress to create a longer term plan to help the housing market recover. Since the Fed is beginning to address problems with housing and more attention is getting drawn to the topic; legislation may move faster in favor of new and established home owners across the country.

Fortunately, the recent changes will benefit Boston buyers looking to keep the record low interest rates. You can search our listings on lofts and properties on our site. And as always, contact us if you have any questions.

You can find the rest of the Wall Street Journal article here.

However, home buyers need to capitalize on these favorable circumstances in order to jump-start the housing market.  There has never been a better time to buy in Boston. Check out Boston lofts and other buying opportunities in Boston and the surrounding areas on our website.  We have several availabilities in great locations.

The Bay State’s average home-loan balance ranked as the sixth-highest in the United States in May, behind only California ($318,731); Hawaii ($296,857); Maryland ($241,279); New Jersey ($231,021); and Washington ($227,500). The data was included in the most-recent Credit Climate Report issued by Credit Karma Inc., a financial research and credit-services provider.

The state’s average mortgage balance was up slightly from the $219,051 and $220,631 balances posted in May 2010 and April of this year, respectively.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts residents ranked second nationally in outstanding student-loan debt, with an average loan balance of $33,310 among college borrowers. That was slightly back of Maryland, which posted an average student-loan balance of $33,602 as of May 31. The Bay State’s average student loan balance was $32,345 in May 2010.

Nonetheless, the state fared well in other debt-related categories, ranking third nationally with an average credit score of 682 per borrower. The state’s average credit score was 687 in the year-earlier period. The best credit score in the country was found in California, which posted an average of 685. The worst was Mississippi’s score of 634.

Among the report’s other findings:

Massachusetts had one of the lowest auto-loan balances ($13,310 per borrower, 46th overall) among the 50 states. Its average auto-loan balance was $12,868 in May 2010. The highest average auto-loan balance was recorded in Wyoming ($18,575), while the lowest was in Wisconsin ($12,464).
The average credit card balance among Massachusetts residents surveyed was $6,310, 34th overall. New Jersey had the highest credit-card balance in the Credit Karma survey, averaging $7,545 per card customer surveyed. Wisconsin had the lowest balance of $4,637.

Read more: Mass. mortgage balances among highest in U.S. | Boston Business Journal

The legislation would give buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases and qualify for tax credits of up to $8,000.

Under the current terms, buyers had until April 30 to get a signed sales contract and until June 30 to complete the sale.

The bill allows only people who already have signed contracts to finish at the later date.

The National Association of Realtors had estimated this week that about 180,000 home buyers who already signed purchase agreements were likely to miss the Wednesday deadline.

The House approved the measure Tuesday.

Legislation in the Senate, sponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), was approved Wednesday night by unanimous consent.

The popular tax credit has helped to stabilize the nation’s slumping housing market. Nearly three million taxpayers claimed the tax credit through May 22 – claiming more than $21 billion – according to the Treasury Department.

The Realtors group said the tax credit generated 1 million home sales that would not have happened otherwise.

The bill would also make it easier for the Internal Revenue Service and state prison officials to share information about inmates in order to fight fraud.

The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration reported last week that nearly 1,300 prison inmates had improperly received more than $9 million in tax credits for home buyers while they were locked up.

The report said the IRS did not have up-to-date information on inmates.

The tax credit for first-time home buyers was part of Obama’s economic-recovery package enacted last year. In November, Congress extended the credit and expanded it to longtime owners who bought new homes. First-time buyers were eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000. Current owners who bought and moved into another home could qualify for a credit of up to $6,500.

The Realtors group had been pushing hard in Congress for the extension. Mortgage lenders, the trade group said, have been swamped with borrowers trying to get approved by the end of the month.

Delays with mortgage lending and appraisal companies have meant that home sales are taking far longer to complete this year.

There have been particularly long delays for buyers of so-called short sales, in which banks agree to accept less than the total mortgage amount. In Las Vegas, for example, short sales made up nearly a third of all sales last month.

FHA loans have surged in popularity. In 2005, government-backed FHA loans represented about 2.8% of total loans originated. Today, the number is closer to 30%. Over the past couple of years, as credit standards tightened, FHA loans have become the loan of choice for many homebuyers.

Contributing to the popularity of FHA loans is that the maximum loan amount limit has increased from $417,000 to as much as $729,750, depending on the county in which the home is located. Also, if you qualify for a loan, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratios are potentially higher than those for conventional mortgage loans. With FHA loans, a buyer can borrow up to 96.5% of the value of a home. The potential for a higher LTV also makes FHA loans an attractive option for homeowners wanting to refinance. And FHA loans come with fixed mortgage rates providing stable payments over the life of the loan. Also, FHA closing costs can be financed into the total amount of the mortgage.

Traditionally, FHA mortgages were used to assist first-time homebuyers who may not have otherwise qualified for a loan. But FHA loans are no longer just for first-time homebuyers. They are increasingly used by move-up buyers. The only restriction is that a purchaser may have only one FHA loan at a time.

“This is a great opportunity for buyers to procure conventional financing, which is much more favorable than a portfolio loan since it provides the lowest cost to borrow in the lending marketplace” says Bank of America mortgage banker, Ricardo Brasil.

FP3 sets a new standard in elegance and Boston loft living. A stone’s throw from Downtown, FP3 lofts features 97 stunning homes in an eight-story oasis. Seventeen of the units offer expansive terraces, some overlooking the sparkling Boston skyline. FP3 also has 76 sleek lofts with over-sized windows and lots of character. The building’s two upper floors house four stunning duplex penthouses with large terraces and dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Live in luxury in the heart of it all at the new FP3.

Remaining lofts at FP3 are:

FP3 unit 204 – $339,000

FP3 unit 511 – $469,000

FP3 unit 301 – $599,000

FP3 unit 315 – $739,000

FP3 unit 401 – $1,200,000

John and Eleanor Yeatman (The Buyers) agreed to purchase a home from D.R. Horton, Inc. (The Developer). The Buyers financed their purchase through an affiliate of the Developer, DHI Mortgage Co., Ltd. (The Lender). The purchase agreement stated that the Developer would pay some of the Buyers closing costs if the Buyers chose the Lender to finance the purchase.

The Buyers filed a lawsuit seeking class action status, claiming that the Developer had violated RESPA. The Developer and the Lender filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the Buyers were not required to use the Lender to finance the purchase and the purchase agreement only gave the Buyers the option to choose to use the Lender’s services. The trial court agreed, and dismissed the lawsuit. The Buyers appealed.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the trial court. Congress intended RESPA to provide consumers with improved disclosures of settlement costs and to reduce the costs of closing through the elimination of referral fees and kickback. The Buyers argued that “tying” the discount to use of the Lender essentially required the Buyers to use the Lender’s services.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) has stated that RESPA is only violated if a purchaser is required to use a service provider; HUD allows the use of discounts by settlement providers to encourage use by consumers of affiliated settlement service providers. The only practice HUD prohibits is the required use of a service provider or if the purchase price is set artificially high so that the offered “discounts” simply lower the price to the actual value.

The court found that the purchase agreement gave the Buyers the option of using the Lender; it did not require that they use the Lender. Therefore, the court affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the Developer and the Lender.

Many Boston Developments, such as The W, The Clarendon and Battery Wharf have their own preferred lenders, mostly to assure financing of a new construction development with less than 50% sold or under agreement condos. The buyer always get to choose who the lender will be and the developer may ask, just in case that the buyer’s lender cannot obtain the loan, to apply with the developer’s preferred lender. In my opinion, it is a win-win situation for both the buyer and the developer; the buyer gets the unit he wants (and sometime a discount) and the developer gets a peace of mind knowing that financing will go through with no problems.

What savvy Massachusetts and Boston real estate buyers should consider is whether this stabilization is entirely or at least heavily due to government incentives, or if this is truly a sign that the economy is ready to stand on its own.

Personally, I am somewhat on the fence. The homebuyer tax credit of 2009 had a huge impact on home sales in the third and fourth quarters. Historically low interest rates influenced by the Federal Reserve and increased FHA loans have also propped-up the Massachusetts and Boston real estate markets. The federal tax credit, which was expanded and extended last year, is scheduled to expire this spring, and the Federal Reserve plans to stop buying mortgage-backed securities by the end of the first quarter. The major question in my mind is: Is the real estate market strong enough to be sustainable without government capital?

It looks like we will know the answer to that question in the third quarter. It will depend on job security and the ability of reasonable financing options. Don’t forget, if rates increase by even 1 percent, a buyer’s capability to purchase may drop by $10,000 or more.