Updated Nov. 17, 2009, to add more information on the new legislation

New Legislation

New legislation, the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which was signed into law on Nov. 6, 2009, extends and expands the first-time homebuyer credit allowed by previous Acts. The new law:

• Extends deadlines for purchasing and closing on a home.
• Authorizes the credit for long-time homeowners buying a replacement principal residence.
• Raises the income limitations for homeowners claiming the credit.  

Under the new law, an eligible taxpayer must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, a principal residence on or before April 30, 2010 and close on the home by June ...

Buyers are jumping off the fence and getting the BEST deals on real estate in years! Interest rates remain at record lows and although the market has been steadily gaining momentum, at least right now there is still enough inventory to make incredible deals.

If the market continues to gain momentum inventory will continue to decrease and the deals we're seeing right now will disappear. It is time to get moving and make sure you get your piece of the real estate pie! This is the time to buy. Get the best agents in the business to work for you and contact the NewCon Group today. Don't wait any longer or you might be too late.

It is our please to work for you!

It is time to call upon the experts at www.NewConGroup.com to fulfill your real estate dreams! This is an incredible market where the deals are getting more unbelievable everyday. If you have never looked into buying or selling a home, DO IT NOW! You will be blown away by the incentives, low interest rates and amazing concessions that are available to you now with the NewCon Group working for you. With the knowledge and experience of the agent specialists at NewCon Group you will get the BEST deals at the BEST prices in the business.

Contact us now before someone else buys that house you've always wanted. It doesn't cost you anything to talk to one of our specialists and learn about your...

I’ve worked in the real estate biz for 6 years now. I came in when the market was peaking and I’ve stayed through the market slump. Everyone knows markets rise and fall in a cyclical pattern through time. Everything has its season, a time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to rise and a time to fall. When the market falls there is only a matter of time until it makes its grand rise again.

The upside to this slump in the real estate market is that it has brought about two very positive factors. One is that prices of homes have become much more affordable. Two, it has driven down mortgage rate percentages to historical lows. If you can do so now is the time to purchase real estate!

There ...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)

Mortgage rates fell slightly this week and appear to be settling into a range near historically low levels, according to a national survey released Thursday. Bankrate.com, an online aggregator of various types of interest rates, said 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 5.18% this week, down from 5.2% the week before. Rates on 15-year fixed mortgages fell to 4.72% from 4.75%. The average jumbo 30-year fixed rate fell to 6.69%.

Adjustable rate mortgages were mixed. The average 1-year ARM rose to 5.28%, while 5/1 ARMs sank to 5.12%. Mortgage rates remain at historic lows. In the nearly 24-year history of Bankrate's weekly rate survey, the 30-year fixed has been lowe...

Opportunities for Some

There's an upside to the nation's housing glut, fed by the crush of foreclosures: Housing gets more affordable.

More than 2.3 million homes went into foreclosure last year. There were 290,000 filings in February alone, up 6% from January.

The number of homes for sale in 2007 soared to 10 million but inched back to 9.4 million in 2008, as construction of new homes slowed and prices sank, Lucy says. That's still almost 40% higher than 10 years earlier, when fewer than 7 million homes were for sale.

Sales of existing homes rose 5.1% to 4.72 million from January to February - the largest sales jump since July 2003, the National Association of Realtors reports.

The ...

House not selling? Give it a shout out here! Want to purchase and need some local info? Well...ask the locals here! Anything goes (except profanity and vulgar comments). Tired of hearing about a bad economy? Make up something great to tell everyone here (lol)! Whatever you're thinking about, chances are there's someone who's thinking the same thing, OR someone who's very interested. BLOG IT OUT! Tell us your experiences, ask your questions, reveal your darkest secrets, lol. Have fun with it! 

You'll feel so much better after you BLOG IT OUT. Get it off your chest, out of your head and off the tip of your tongue onto our BLOG.

Hopes are rising that the housing market has finally hit bottom. In addition to better-than-expected home sales reports, many homebuilder stocks are surging.

By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Has the housing market finally hit bottom? It's probably too soon to say -- but Wall Street sure seems to think so.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new-home sales rose almost 5% last month after hitting their lowest point ever in January. Economists were expecting a decline of about 3%

This comes on the heels of two reports showing a better-than-expected gain in existing-home sales and the first increase in construction of new homes sinc...

We've all heard so much bad economic news, many folks are afraid to buy homes. But those in the real estate industry say, this could actually be a great time to buy. 8 thousand dollars. That's how much the feds are waving in the faces of first time homebuyers. It's part of an incentive to encourage home buying and stimulate the economy.

Real estate broker Bob Kopec says he thinks he knows why he's having trouble selling this Larksville ranch. I'm going to blame it on the news media. They're scaring the buyers." Kopec says news video of mass foreclosures in other states is frightening local folks away from buying. Now is a perfect time to buy. He says because much of our region didn't exper...

 $8,000 Tax Credit For Home Buyers

The $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers should entice some first-time home buyers to “jump-in” and buy a home, but it may prove to do little in increasing overall demand as first-time home buyers represent a small percentage of the entire market. Only time will tell if the tax credit is effective.

• Available only to first-time home buyers
• The tax credit is not a loan and does not require repayment (If the home is sold within 3-years, the $8,000 tax credit must be re-paid)
• The tax credit reduces the home buyer’s tax liability; if the buyer’s liability is less than $8,000, the remaining credit will be issued as a check
• Home purchase must b...

Where In The U.S. Homes Are Most Affordable

Matt Woolsey, 02.19.09, 04:00 PM EST

Getting Housing Back on Track

Though many are focused on sheer price measures, it's affordability--prices that are in line with income levels--that's key to enticing new buyers and strengthening the housing market. Based on historical trends, housing hasn't been this affordable since 2003, according to the NAHB, thanks in large part to the deterioration of housing prices to that year's levels.

Also expected to help: 50-year-low mortgage rates and the $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time home buyers. Even so, with national prices down 12.5% last year (according to the NAR), a difficult credit market ...

Ten advantages of buying a newly constructed home Why New Homes Are Better Than Existing Homes:

1. Pride inherent in being the first owner of a home that is an expression of your decisions on options, decorating and landscaping.
2. You don't have to worry about replacing avocado carpeting and puce countertops as well as aging appliances and roofs. You select the colors of the paint, wallpaper, appliances, flooring, etc.
3. A new home is configured to suit your needs and features numerous conveniences such as built-in appliances and walk in closets. They are also being wired to take full advantage of today's communication and entertainment technologies.
4. New homes carry better warranties, a...

From The New York Times written by Catherine Rampell 

One of the upsides of a crashing-and-burning housing market, as Edward Glaeser noted back in October, is that buying a home becomes more affordable.

And indeed, according to an index released by the National Association of Realtors, housing affordability was at an all-time high in December.

The Housing Affordability Index composite level for December was 158.8. A composite H.A.I. value of 158.8 means that a family earning the median income has 158.8 percent of the income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. (In other words, a higher index number means housing is more affordable; a lower index number means housin...