However, if you are looking for homes in Northwest Omaha with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and at least a 1 car garage, on a budget of around $ 150,000, you will have many, many options. Should you see the possibly hundreds of homes that would match your wishes? Probably not. At this point, it is a wise idea to narrow your search further - by choosing your favorite areas or subdivisions, whether or not you'd like a fenced back yard, a whirlpool tub, updated appliances, etc. This will help define your needs and make your search a little less hectic.

Also, don't be afraid to fall in love with the right house! Sometimes you may see a property that fits all of your needs, has been maintained properly and is priced right. Don't ignore the gut feeling that you have found "the one". Ask your Realtor for advice and his or her opinion. They know the marketplace and correct pricing.

If you miss out on the "perfect house" due to multiple offers or simply not offering soon enough, don't be discouraged, you are becoming educated on how much house you can afford  and the market in general. When you see the home that is the right fit for you, don't hesitate - ask your Realtor to write the offer as soon as possible. Most likely if you love the home, so do many other buyers out there.

The number of homes you see before buying is going to vary with each individual. It's an exciting time- you're buying a house!! Enjoy the experience. We always tell our buyers that looking at homes is the easy part. If you are ready to make a move we would love to help - give us a call and let's get started!

Q:  I'm already a homeowner. If I buy another home after Nov. 6, 2009, to use as my principal residence, do I have to sell my home to qualify for the homebuyer tax credit?

A: No. If you meet all of the requirements for the credit, the law does not require you to sell or otherwise dispose of your current principal residence to qualify for a credit of up to $6,500 when you buy a  home to use as your principal residence. The requirements are that you must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, the replacement principal residence after Nov. 6, 2009, and on or before April 30, 2010, and close on the home by June 30, 2010. Additionally, you must have lived in the same principal residence for any five-consecutive-year period during the eight-year period that ended on the date the replacement home is purchased. For example, if you bought a home on Nov. 30, 2009, the eight-year period would run from Dec. 1, 2001, through Nov. 30, 2009. (11/17/09)

This is a great opportunity for those homeowners that otherwise qualify for this credit but want to keep their current personal residence.

To get started on the right path to owning or selling a home (or both!), call The Jansen Team today! Or check out our video blog at www.GoJansenTeam.com.

Full List: America's Fastest-Recovering Cities

Though Omaha, Neb., seems second-rate to some, Warren Buffett may have been on to something when he chose it for the headquarters of his massive holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. According to our research, the city has hit upon a formula to weather the economic downturn better than any other in the country.

While no region has escaped the recession, in Omaha, three Texas metros, a handful of Northeastern manufacturing bases and select southern cities, diversified industry and relatively stable housing fundamentals have provided local residents with comparatively secure standards of living.

Omaha has had a healthy 1.3% gross metropolitan product (GMP) growth in the past year, and a low foreclosure rate (only one in every 3,246 housing units is in foreclosure), but it sails to the top spot on our list because of its unemployment rate: At 5%, the lowest of the metros we surveyed. Omaha's economy is less dependent on manufacturing than other Midwestern cities, and is boosted by a strong agriculture sector and growing biofuels industry. And while the city has a big stake in the financial industry--a factor that nearly spelled ruin for metros like New York--it doesn't specialize in the types of institutions that took big risks and chased exotic financial structures. Instead, it's home to roughly 30 insurance companies and regional banks like Mutual of Omaha.

Lone Star Luck
In No. 2 city San Antonio, home to four military bases, and Austin, our third-ranked city and the state seat of government, municipal jobs supplement Texas' robust energy sector. In Dallas (No. 6), it's a thriving tech industry that buffers it from energy highs and lows. Although Houston (No. 8) is invested mostly in oil, it has diversified its energy industry beyond oil rigs into refining and chemicals manufacturing.

Full List: America's Fastest-Recovering Cities

What's more, the state's housing prices never ascended to the unsustainable levels the rest of the country hit at the peak of the housing bubble. Thus, it didn't crash as hard. These factors have toughened the local economy against a recession that is inextricably tied to real estate.

"Texas didn't have as big of a boom," says James P. Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. "So we're not having anywhere near the kind of bust."

Behind the Numbers
To form our list, we ranked the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas--geographic entities that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines and uses in collecting statistics--in five categories: unemployment rate, GMP (a measure of the size of a city's economy), foreclosures, home prices and sales rates.

We ranked September unemployment rates (the most recent available by metro) using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; the percentage of a metro's homes in foreclosure with September data provided by RealtyTrac; and the change in GMP between the first and second quarter of 2009 from the Brookings Institution's MetroMonitor. We also included the second-quarter 2009 year-over-year change in Freddie Mac's ( FRE - news - people ) Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index--a measure of housing price inflation--and the average days on the market for properties currently on sale (to measure sales rates), using data from Zillow.com. We then averaged the scores for each measure to arrive at an overall ranking.

While there is no foolproof method for resisting recession, a common thread in thriving cities is an economy fed by multiple industries. Former Northeastern industrial hubs like Pittsburgh, and Rochester, N.Y., while they may not seem the likeliest models of economic health, have been able to supplement industrial sector decline with a boost from public-sector jobs that have pumped up the economy even as the private sector declined. They land in the fourth and seventh spot on our list, respectively.

But Rolf Pendall, associate professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University, warns that for upstate New York, this promising news may be temporary.

"We've had government spending plugging the gap," he says. "But it's hard to say what's going to happen in the next two years if government spending has to get withdrawn a lot, as it might."

Pittsburgh's GMP grew .8% between the second quarter of 2008 and 2009, consistent with the .8% national average. Home prices there remained relatively stable while those in other cities plummeted because the area's prospects still seemed dim during the housing bubble and speculators looked elsewhere.

"These metros have been so troubled for so long," says Pendall, "that people didn't develop irrational exuberance about the prospects in their housing markets."

Cities where home prices that don't fluctuate wildly are particularly well-positioned to ride out this recession, because they were spared the domino effect of foreclosures, lost jobs and lost productivity. In San Antonio and Austin, quick sales rates (homes in these cities spend 54 and 73 days on the market respectively compared to a 100-day national median) and home prices that fall above the national average--Austin's median home price in September, for example, is a healthy $240,000, 7% higher than the average for the top 100 metros, according to data from Zillow.com--indicate that they escaped the perilous zeal for building, and lending, that swept the rest of the country between 2001 and 2007.

There's a lesson to be learned from these cities, some of which aren't economically thriving, but all of which are well-equipped to emerge from the recession in a similar position to where they started. Rather than chasing rising home prices or apparently plentiful jobs in one-industry towns, families looking for long-term economic stability should seek spots where industry is diverse and housing price shifts are benign.

Full List: America's Fastest-Recovering Cities 

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/19/cities-recovery-unemployment-lifestyle-real-estate-top-ten.html

As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed new legislation that:

• Extends the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010.
• Expands the credit to grant a $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010.

Here is more information about how the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.

Latest news:
Tax Credit Extension a Positive Step Toward Real Estate Recovery (Nov.5)
President's Podcast: Tax Credit Extended (Nov. 5) 

Who Qualifies for the Extended Credit?

• First-time home buyers who purchase homes between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
• Current home owners purchasing a home between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight.

To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.

If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and the date the bill is signed by President Obama, please see: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Which Properties Are Eligible?

The Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit may be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

How Much Is Available?

The maximum allowable credit for first-time home buyers is $8,000.

The maximum allowable credit for current homeowners is $6,500.

How is a Buyer's Credit Amount Determined?

Each home buyer’s tax credit is determined by tow additional factors:

1. The price of the home.
2. The buyer's income.

Price

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, credit may only be awarded on homes purchased for $800,000 or less.

Buyer Income

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, which is effective on November 6, 2009,  single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000—may receive the maximum tax credit.

These income limits have changed from the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit limits. If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and November 5, 2009, please see 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

If the Buyer(s)’ Income Exceeds These Limits, Can He/She Still Get a Credit?

Yes, some buyers may still be eligible for the credit.

The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000 for single buyers and between $225,000 and $245,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Home buyers earning more than the maximum qualifying income—over $145,000 for singles and over $245,000 for couples are not eligible for the credit.

Can a Buyer Still Qualify If He/She Closes After April 30, 2010?

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, as long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, 2010, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

Will the Tax Credit Need to Be Repaid?

No. The buyer does not need to repay the tax credit, if he/she occupies the home for three years or more. However, if the property is sold during this three-year period, the full amount credit will be recouped on the sale.

http://www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/2009_first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit

For the first time, the legislation that was recently cleared makes move-up buyers as well as first-time buyers eligible for a credit. The $8,000 maximum first-timer credit will continue and will now be available to couples with income up to $225,000, a nearly $55,000 increase above the level in existing law. A new $6,500 maximum credit would also be available to move-up homeowners who have lived in their current residence for five of the prior eight years. For homebuyers across the country, the expanded tax credit would allow more people to qualify for the credit. While two-thirds of American families own their own home, and most earn less than the income limits that have been established within the extension, more buyers may be eligible. Move-up buyers don't have to sell their current home to qualify for the new credit, but the money cannot be used to buy a vacation home. "It's only for a primary residence," said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Redi (D-Nev.), who helped engineer the deal. "In expanding the tax credit, we are helping first-time home buyers, as well as homeowners looking to move up to a new home, but we would exclude from the credit speculators who may have recently purchased a home intending to flip it for a fast profit," said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee.

The tax credit has fired-up the housing market, driving existing home sales to the highest level in over two years. The National Association Realtors reported sales jumped 9.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in September and are 9.2% higher than the 5.10 million-unit pace in September 2008. The legislation included provisions added to address complaints of fraud as well. The Internal Revenue Service is given greater authority to oversee the process to root out fraud, and provisions are added in response to past abuses of false sales or underage buyers. An investigation by the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration found that more than 580 children, some as young as four years old, had received $627,000 in first-time homebuyer credits. The IRS has identified 167 suspected criminal schemes and opened nearly 107,000 examinations of potential civil violations of the first-time homebuyer tax credit

Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-11-04/senate-clears-homebuyer-tax-credit-extension-may-pass-as-early-as-this-week

10 housing markets likely to rebound soon                                                                                                                                                          9-16-2009

Real estate forecasting service Local Market Monitor, which predicts housing market trends for investors and banks, forecasts that housing prices will decline an average of 5% through 2010. This prediction includes double-digit decreases in Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas.  But then the worst could be over, says CEO Ingo Winzer. As the recession eases, "We'll see good price increases in many markets," he reports.  In the following markets, home values are expected to remain level this year but increase in value next year:
 
    * Baton Rouge, La.
    * Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.
    * Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas
    * Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
    * Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
    * Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark.
    * Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa
    * Pittsburgh, Pa.
    * San Antonio, Texas
    * Syracuse, N.Y.

If you live in Omaha you should consider yourself a lucky person. We live in one of the top five happy states economically. That is a wonderful thing in today's financial world. For more information go to the attached link. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7264863&page=1

Donations needed include canned or non-perishable food items, toiletries, coffee,  and baby items (bottle, blankets, diapers). If you are unable to drop off a donation, please call us at 330-5954 and we will be happy to pick it up. Please donate by May 15th. We are anxious to assist those in need. Any donation, large or small, is greatly appreciated.

Let's make a difference!!

The Jansen Team

• A "First-Time Homebuyer" is defined as a person who has not owned a home for the past three years.
• The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to $8,000.
• The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1 and before December 1, 2009.
• Homebuyers may purchase any new or existing single dwelling home including condos and townhomes.
• The tax credit does not have to be repaid if the home isn’t sold within three years of purchase.
• The tax credit is "refundable" or claimable for the year of purchase regardless of the homebuyer’s tax liability.
• Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
• The homebuyers may participate in a mortgage revenue bond program such as NIFA and still be eligible for the tax credit.
  
  First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit FAQs
  First-Time Homebuyers Guide
  Mortgage Pre-Qualification
  First-Time Homebuyers Information Request
  

A couple with joint income less than $150,000 annually.

The couple purchase a house for more than $80,000 on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. The couple qualifies for the full $8,000 tax credit.

Assume their 2009 federal tax liability is $12,000 without the tax credit, the $8,000 tax credit would lower their federal tax liability to only $4,000.

If the couple’s 2009 federal withholdings was exactly $12,000, they would have received no refund without the tax credit because their federal income taxes equal their federal withholdings exactly.

With the first-time homebuyer tax credit, the couple will get a tax refund of $8,000.

First-time homebuyers should consult their tax advisor for more information.