• Eligible households include people buying their first home and people who have not owned a home in the past three years.
• To receive the full credit, single homebuyers can earn no more than $75,000 per year and married homebuyers filing jointly can earn no more than $150,000. A partial credit is available to certain homebuyers earning above these ceilings.
• New provisions under the Recovery Act allow homebuyers who have purchased their home through TDHCA’s First Time Homebuyer and Mortgage Credit Certificate Programs, and similar programs administered by other housing finance agencies, to receive the credits.

Rockwall is the smallest county in the state of Texas, yet it’s the 2nd wealthiest for median income! With a population of approximately 29,500 people in a 22.6 square mile radius, Rockwall has emerged from obscurity to be recognized as one of the best places to live according to Family Circle Magazine.

The Mayor of Rockwall is Bill Cecil and his commitment to Rockwall has been unprecedented. He takes pride in the people and the community that’s made Rockwall “the best city with a small town feel.” Cecil was elected mayor of Rockwall 5 years ago after serving on the City council. He’s originally from Norfolk, Virginia, retired from the Air Force Reserves after 39 years of service and the Department of Defense at Bell Helicopter. He accepted a position with E-Systems (now L3) in Greenville and moved his family to Rockwall based on the advice of a friend.

Since his move to Rockwall many years ago, Mayor Cecil has been an advocate for improving the quality of life in Rockwall. He serves on a number of subcommittees such as Chair of the Harbor Tax Incentive Board, Chair of the Rockwall County Emergency Services and Certification, involvement in the Women’s League, and the Arts and Preservation of Historic Downtown Rockwall.

In addition, Mayor Cecil has been focused on community improvement. He shared with me some exciting news about a new project called “Hill Above the Harbor”. This 65 acre mixed use development will be the “Entryway to Rockwall” with class “A” offices, single family condo’s, restaurants, and unique shopping (you can get more information regarding this planned development by contacting the City of Rockwall). The Mayor has been successful in securing transportation and road improvement dollars. As a result, new construction of John King Blvd. as an option for Hwy. 205 will begin March 2010 and will provide easy access for North and South Rockwall.

The benefits of living and working in Rockwall are many. Rockwall is known for luxury lakefront living, but it also has various economic levels of housing, a wide variety of restaurants, shopping, a winery, three state-of-the-art hospitals and one of the best school districts in the state. Mayor Cecil has accomplished many things during his term as Mayor and believes we all have a responsibility to give back to the community and improving the quality of life for everyone.

There’s little doubt that 2009 was a brutal year for many in real estate while  for others it was a buying opportunity. Foreclosure filings reported by RealtyTrac topped  300,000 per month for much of the year while the National  Association of Realtors says that a typical existing home sold for $173,100  in October, down 7.1 percent from a year earlier.

There’s also been good news. Interest rates fell below 5 percent and NAR reports  that home prices actually rose in 30 metro areas during the third quarter.  Home prices also fell in 123 areas, but a recovery — if there’s to be  a recovery — has to start somewhere.

What about 2010? Where are we headed? Here are the views of one observer — someone who admittedly is not a trained economist, Nobel laureate, high-ranking government  official, soothsayer or seer.

Foreclosures  & Modifications
Since it first began tracking foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac says  no month was worse than July 2009 when foreclosure filings topped 360,000.  Happily, the monthly numbers then retreated for the rest of the year.

Fewer foreclosure filings sure seems like good news, but lender actions against  borrowers have stalled, not ended. Foreclosure activity is being delayed, deferred and put on hold with foreclosure moratoriums, legal challenges and loan modification  efforts.

The biggest loan modification project is the federal government’s Making    Home Affordable program. If a borrower passes a three-month test period then the trial loan terms are converted into permanent financing. At the    end of November just 31,382 mortgages nationwide had been transformed into permanent status under the program — that’s out of 3,299,780 loans    which were at least 60 days late.

“Borrowers in the government’s Making Home Affordable program are in  a kind of financial neutral zone,” says Jim Saccacio, Chairman and CEO  at RealtyTrac.com, the leading online  marketplace for foreclosure properties and data. “Owners will not be  foreclosed, and lender books will not show additional lost properties while  properties are in the program. The result is that foreclosure stats after July  started to contract at precisely the moment when three-month trial periods  began to get underway in serious numbers.”

Rate: 5.15 percent (30-year fixed) Average Points: 0.44

Mortgage rates did not budge this week.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at 5.15 percent for the second straight week, and third week in the past four. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Meanwhile, this week’s average 15-year fixed-rate — a popular option for refinancing — dropped 3 basis points, to 4.52 percent.

The average jumbo 30-year fixed fell 5 basis points, to 5.95 percent.

Adjustable-rate mortgages split this week. The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage dropped 3 basis points, to 4.89 percent. Meanwhile, the popular 5/1 ARM remained unchanged at 4.56 percent.

Mortgage applications fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent when compared to a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. For the week ending Feb. 5, refinancing activity increased 1.4 percent, while applications for new purchase sank 7 percent.

In other mortgage-related news, some housing markets are showing early signs of a double-dip in price declines, according to the real estate Web site Zillow.com.

First American CoreLogic estimates that about 0.9 percent of Dallas-area homes with mortgages were in foreclosure in December. That’s up from 0.8 percent in December 2007.

During 2008 more than 50,000 North Texas homes were posted for foreclosure — a new record and 17 percent more than in 2007.

The highest rates of foreclosure are in southern Dallas County.

Although rates are up in Dallas, they are still dramatically below the 1.7 percent of U.S. mortgages in foreclosure at the end of December.

There are a few very important factors to consider before deciding to short sale your property….

#1.) Once the property is sold as a short sale, the IRS could consider the debt foregiveness as income.

#2.)  The lender who accepts the short sale may pursue the borrower for the difference between the amount owed and the amount the property was sold for ( you should consult a real estate attorney to determine if your loan qualifies for a deficiency judgement). 

 #3.) The equity or lack of equity will be determined by the lender from an appraisal or Broker Price Opinion (BPO).  Any equity available will be forefeited and absorbed by the lender.

Currently there’s an unprecedented amount of short sales and foreclosures that mortgage lenders have encountered due to the current housing crisis. Therefore, most lenders and banks are willing to accept short sales like never before. Its important to know that  short sales are a type of settlement and will have a negative affect on a person’s credit report.  However, after a short sale a  person has the opportunity of possibly obtaining another mortgage within 1-3 years.

For more information regarding short sales see the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.

Almost 5,900 homes are scheduled for foreclosure next month in the four-county area, according to Foreclosure Listing Service (FLS). That’s a 45 percent jump in foreclosure filings from January 2009.

But as in previous months, a big part of the current filings — probably more than 40 percent — are not new postings but houses that have previously been scheduled for forced sale, FLS president George Roddy said.

“This month was a whopper,” Roddy said. “It’s partially due to the fact these loan modifications are piling up.”

Lenders typically delay home foreclosures while negotiating with borrowers. That can result in the same property being scheduled for auction over and over for months.

The biggest jump in foreclosure postings for January was in Collin County, where filings rose 77 percent from a year earlier. Foreclosure postings rose 39 percent in Dallas County and 38 percent in Tarrant County.

January’s 5,894 foreclosure filings for DFW were still below the record 6,072 postings in July.

In 2009, Foreclosure Listing Service recorded a record 61,676 DFW foreclosure filings — up 23 percent from 2008. But not counting the repeat filings, foreclosure notices fell 12 percent in the area.

Dallas-Fort Worth will start the new year with a surge in home foreclosure postings.

Almost 5,900 homes are scheduled for foreclosure next month in the four-county area, according to Foreclosure Listing Service (FLS). That’s a 45 percent jump in foreclosure filings from January 2009.

But as in previous months, a big part of the current filings — probably more than 40 percent — are not new postings but houses that have previously been scheduled for forced sale, FLS president George Roddy said.

“This month was a whopper,” Roddy said. “It’s partially due to the fact these loan modifications are piling up.”

Lenders typically delay home foreclosures while negotiating with borrowers. That can result in the same property being scheduled for auction over and over for months.

The biggest jump in foreclosure postings for January was in Collin County, where filings rose 77 percent from a year earlier. Foreclosure postings rose 39 percent in Dallas County and 38 percent in Tarrant County.

January’s 5,894 foreclosure filings for DFW were still below the record 6,072 postings in July.

In 2009, Foreclosure Listing Service recorded a record 61,676 DFW foreclosure filings — up 23 percent from 2008. But not counting the repeat filings, foreclosure notices fell 12 percent in the area.