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SUNDAY MARCH 22, 1-4PM
 4485A BEACON GROVE CIR, FAIRFAX, VA 22033

Listing ID: FX8577130

Price: $374,900

Shows like a model! Immaculate end unit townhouse/condo overlooking courtyard w/garage, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms & a light filled open floor plan. Plantation shutters throughout, living room opens to bay window dining area. Kitchen w/breakfast bar, granite counters, stainless steel appliances. Master bedroom suite has balcony, walk-in closet & luxurious master bathroom w/jetted tub & separate shower. Bedroom level laundry! Easy commuter access, walk to Whole Foods & all Fair Lakes has to offer!

See more details about this amazing Fairfax property at: http://homes.searchfornorthernvirginiahomes.com/idx/details/listing/a004/FX8577130/4485A-BEACON-GROVE-CIR-FAIRFAX-VA-22033-FX8577130#sthash.ELfpVUJT.dpuf

If you are looking to buy or sell in the Northern Virginia area, this is a great time! Please give our team a call! We would love to help you find your dream home!

Jennifer Young Homes

Keller Williams Realty

703-400-6757

The post Open House Sunday, March 22, 1-4PM for JUST LISTED Home in East Market! appeared first on JenniferYoungHomes.com.

The program, which was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week as one way to address the housing crisis, would sell foreclosed homes now owned by Fannie Mae (FNMA, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FMCC, Fortune 500) to investors in bulk. The properties would then be converted into rentals.

The initiative began back in August, when the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced they were seeking suggestions on ways to dispose of repossessed homes now owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

In addition to getting the properties off the government’s books, officials are hoping putting the homes back into productive use will stabilize neighborhoods and housing values. Also, it is looking to expand the supply of rentals, which are increasingly in demand.

The agency is not releasing details on how the rental program would work, instead saying it is “proceeding prudently but with a sense of urgency to lay the groundwork for the development of good initial transactions in early 2012.”

Administration officials said they are continuing to work with the agency to develop the program.

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Many condo communities in the state have lost their FHA certification, something buyers and sellers don’t realize until a contract is blocked. So if you have clients that are in any way connected with condo or townhouse communities — owners, managers, potential buyers — they need to be aware of this: FHA revoked its certification of every condo earlier this year. If the management hasn’t reapplied, units can’t be purchased with an FHA loan.

Check your zip code before making an offer or accepting one. Go to VARealtor.com/condocheck. Enter a ZIP Code or just the city and state and you’ll get a listing of every condo association there. If the rightmost column says “expired,” it’s not FHA certified. Then it’s time to get in touch with any affected clients, as well as the condo board or association. There’s a good chance they’re not even aware of the issue.

Here’s the full article: http://www.varealtor.com/news/2011/11/fha-buyers-blocked-from-condos

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Listing Price $89,900

Bedrooms   3   Baths    1 Full

Sq Ft             1,322

Year Built 1941          757-263-4206

Beautiful 3 bedroom 1 bath cape cod with a large backyard. Large kitchen with lots and lots of cabinets and counter space. Don’t miss this one…Call for showing today! Flier for this home Brighton Flier 7.27.11

The post New Listing in Portsmouth, VA by Portsmouth City Park & I-264 appeared first on JenniferYoungHomes.com.

http://jenniferyounghomes.housingtrendsenewsletter.com/show-local-market-data.cfm?pid=147&loadid=59&id=3249

The post First Quarter 2011 Housing Sales Stats Show Improvements in Virginia Beach/Norfolk Areas! appeared first on JenniferYoungHomes.com.

In today’s down market, many homeowners are reluctant to pour more money into their homes. Before deciding whether to replace a roof or merely patch it, homeowner’s should consider the tax implications.

Home improvements — a new bathroom or kitchen, for example — can increase the value of a home and reduce any taxes due on the profit earned from its sale.

Home repairs provide no immediate tax benefits to a homeowner. They are not tax deductible and they are not added to the home’s basis (cost), for tax purposes. As far as taxes go, they are a nonevent. Thus, a homeowner who patches a leaky roof gets not tax benefits.

Home improvements are very different, though. The cost of an improvement is not deductible, but it is added to the home’s basis for tax purposes. For example, the cost of adding a new roof to a home is added to its tax basis. This reduces any taxable gain when the home is sold.

Of course, a substantial amount of gain is usually tax free, anyway, under the home sale tax exclusion: $250,000 for single homeowners and $500,000 for married owners filing jointly. But homeowners with substantial equity can still benefit from an increased tax basis in their homes.

For example, if Joe and Jane purchased their home in 1990 for $250,000 and it is now worthy $1 million, they will have a $750,000 gain. A full $500,000 of this amount is tax-free because Joe and Jane are a married couple and qualify for the tax exclusion.

But this leaves $250,000 subject to taxation. If Joe and Jan had spent $250,000 adding improvements to their home, they would have no taxable gain. This is because the $250,000 is added to the home’s original $250,000 basis, providing an adjusted tax basis of $500,000.

As a result, their gain on the sale would only be $500,000, not $750,000; and this entire gain would be tax-free because of the $500,000 exclusion.

So how do you tell the difference between an improvement and a repair? Here’s the basic rule provided by the Internal Revenue Service: A repair keeps a homeowner’s property in good operating condition but it does not:

-Materially add to the value of the property
-Substantially prolong its useful life, or
-Make it more useful (see: Treasury Regulations, Subchapter A, Section 1.162-4).

In contrast, an improvement adds to the value of a homeowner’s property, prolongs its life, or adapts it to new uses.

The problem with this definition is that virtually all repairs increase both the value and useful life of the property being repaired. The key difference between a repair and an improvement is that a repair merely returns property to more-or-less the state it was in before it stopped working properly. The property is not substantially more valuable, long-lived, or useful than it was before the need for the repair arose.

In contrast, an improvement makes property substantially more valuable and/or long-lived or useful than it was before the improvement.

You need to compare the situation before and after you made the expenditure involved. Have you just returned your property to the state it was in before the need for the repair arose? Or, have you made it much better?

If the answer to the first question is “yes,” you’ve repaired the home. If the answer to the second question is “yes,” it’s a home improvement.

Good examples of repairs include repainting a home, fixing gutters or floors, fixing leaks, plastering, and replacing broken windows. Examples of improvements include adding a deck to a home, a new bathroom, installing a new heating system, or putting on a new roof.

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Washington, DC, April 28, 2011

March saw another increase in pending home sales, with contract activity rising unevenly in six of the past nine months, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 5.1 percent to 94.1 in March from a downwardly revised 89.5 in February. The index is 11.4 percent below 106.2 in March 2010; however, activity was at elevated levels in March and April of 2010 to meet the contract deadline for the home buyer tax credit.

The data reflects contracts but not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said home sales activity has shown an uneven but notable improvement. “Since reaching a cyclical bottom last June, pending home sales have posted an overall gain of 24 percent and demonstrate the market is recovering on its own,” he said. “The index means modest near-term gains in existing-home sales are likely, which would be even stronger if tight mortgage lending criteria returned to normal, safe standards.”

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Among expenses to factor into a home-buying decision:

-Utilities: Heat, electricity, water and sewer, telephone, cable television, Internet and cell phones. You also may have to pay a fee for trash collection and recycling.

-Condo/HOA fees

-Food/entertainment: Dining in and out, movies, hobbies.

-Children: Day care, tuition, lunch money, supplies, clothing, sports gear.

-Health costs: Braces, eyeglasses, medicine.

-Debt: Credit-card payments, car/student loans.

-Maintenance/repairs/decor: Furnishings and appliances, landscaping, snow removal.

-Job expenses: Transportation (gasoline or transit costs), auto maintenance.

For more information on applying for a loan to buy your next home, feel free to reach out to one of our preferred lenders:

Michael Farrell

Bank of America Home Loans

Vice President

Mid-Atlantic Division

Platinum Club

michael2.farrell@bankofamerica.com

Ph – 571-399-5363

Fax – 866-409-3138

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It is important to note that taxpayer returns claiming a home purchase in 2010 are not affected, and those returns are being processed as are the vast majority of other homebuyer returns.

Here’s an update on the source of the processing issues:

1. Married Filing Joint taxpayers who received the FTHB credit on a 2008 purchase

There seems to be an identified processing issue primarily impacting refunds for married couples filing joint returns this year who received the First Time Homebuyer credit on their 2008 tax return. This credit was an interest-free loan, and must be paid back beginning this year under the provisions of the law.

This issue, related to Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit, primarily impacts Married Filing Jointly taxpayers who filed their tax returns this year before Feb. 22. The IRS is working aggressively to manually process tax returns for this group of taxpayers. It expects most, if not all, of these refunds to be available by April 5, and others the following week. (The date assumes that there are no other issues with their return, and that their refunds are not subject to any offsets for unpaid federal taxes or other debts.)

2. Taxpayers who received the FTHB credit and are now reporting the sale or disposition of their home

3. Taxpayers who received the FTHB credit and are attempting to pay back more than the amount required (typically $500)

These two issues require changes to IRS’ core tax processing systems. The IRS is actively working on the development and testing of the required changes that will allow these impacted tax returns to be processed and appropriate refunds issued. The IRS does not currently have a definitive date for when these changes will be complete, although it will be in April.

What should taxpayers do?

The IRS understands that taxpayers affected by this issue are anxious to get the status of their refund. For those who have already filed, no action is necessary. They can check “Where’s My Refund” at www.IRS.gov for updates. Because the IRS is already aware of this issue and is taking corrective action, there is no need to call.

For those who have not yet filed and are making a repayment of a First Time Homebuyer Credit this year, there is a simple step taxpayers can take to help speed processing. Couples filing a joint return for tax year 2010 who received the credit on their jointly filed 2008 tax return should file two 5405 forms, one for each taxpayer. For couples filing a joint return for 2010 but who had a different filing status in 2008 and only one spouse received the credit, the IRS recommends filing one Form 5405 for the taxpayer who received the credit.

For more information visit www.IRS.gov.

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