The government has made an exception for certain military personnel and other people stationed away from home. Those individuals have an extra year to file for and receive a first time or repeat home buyer tax credit.

The people who have an extra year to receive a credit are members of the uniformed services, Foreign Services or are employees of the intelligence community and were on qualified extended duty for at least 90 days during the period beginning after Dec. 31, 2008 and ending before May 1, 2010. According to the instructions to IRS Form 5405 – the document that must be filed by anyone wanting to receive a tax credit – qualified individuals who purchase a home before May 1, 2011 can claim the credit.

Confusing? Perhaps. However, the aforementioned Form 5405 does clear up things a bit. People in the military who were on qualified extended duty 50 at least miles from his or her main home, or was living in government quarters under government orders may qualify for an additional year.

It’s not just military personnel who might take advantage of the additional year to receive the credit. People who served in the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Public Health Service may also qualify. Foreign Service members and intelligence community employees also get an additional year to apply for the credit.

Again, the exact requirements for people qualified for the additional year to file the credit are located in the instructions of the aforementioned Form 5405. That form can easily be found on the Internet through your favorite search engine or visiting with an account, real estate agent, banker or someone else who deals regularly with helping people figure out if they qualify for a home buyer tax credit.

The reason we at the Arkansas Realtors Association (ARA) are mentioning this extension is that we’ve learned that some people simply don’t know about it. In our view, anyone who has served this nation – and there are a lot of them here in Arkansas – deserves to know about the extension so that they might take advantage of it.

While there’s no doubt the home buyer tax credits that have been in place in one form or another since 2008 have boosted sales, it’s also true that a lot of buyers have benefited from receiving some cash back from the government after purchasing homes.

We at the ARA want to make sure that everyone who can benefit from the credit does so, and that’s doubly true when it comes to individuals who have served their country and have earned some more time to claim the credit.

We’re particularly determined to inform those individuals they may have more time to file for a credit around the Fourth of July. That just seems appropriate.

House to House is written by ARA Director of Media Relations Ethan C. Nobles and is distributed weekly to publications in the Natural State by the Arkansas Realtors® Association. Want a copy of the original column? Just click here for the Microsoft Word version.

Tax credit isn’t over for everyone is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

To that end, the latest average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors® Association is ready for your downloading pleasure. Click here for the Excel version of the report, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

As we expected, inventory levels dropped off a bit this week — that’s typical at the first of every month. Why? Listings typically expire at the end of a month and some people elect to take their houses off the market rather than listing them again.

Still inventories are still a bit high — that, too, was expected. People wanting to take advantage of the home buyer tax credits had to get houses under contract before May 1. Realtors® around the state have reported fewer buyers coming into their offices since the beginning of May.

Every week the Arkansas Realtors® Association collects and distributes the average and median list prices and the number of homes in inventory (homes for sale) for single family, new and existing houses in four markets. Those markets are Benton and Washington counties in northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas (Crawford and Sebastian counties) in west Arkansas, the Jonesboro area (Craighead County) in northeast Arkansas and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties) in central Arkansas. While those four markets don’t tell the whole story, looking at them together gives us a pretty good idea about developing trends in markets throughout the state.

Average/median list prices, inventories for July 5 is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

The question, of course, was whether President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law. The IRS has confirmed that Obama did, indeed,  sign the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010 into law on Friday. For more details, just click the aforementioned link — you’ll find plenty of advice that will help purchasers wanting to claim their credit expedite their refunds.

A lot of Realtors in Arkansas have asked about legislation that will provide more funding for the United States Department of Agriculture’s loan guarantee program. Although there is still money available for people borrowing directly from Rural Development, most Arkansans buying homes through the program do so through a private mortgage backed by the USDA.

That guarantee program ran out of funding in April and, at this point, couldn’t possibly receive more money until the new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1 (and even that’s not a certainty). Of course, Congress could pass a bill to provide more money prior to the new fiscal year.

The Senate did pass a bill in May, just like Arkansas’ two senators — Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor — predicted. However, the measure has been hung up in the House since then.

Stay tuned…

It’s official — home buyer tax credit closing deadline extended is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

The Arkansas Realtors® Association’s monthly report counts how many homes were closed in a given month rather than how many were put under contract. Under the terms of the tax credit for first-time and repeat home buyers, people were required to get a home under contract before May 1 and close on it before July 1.

The May housing market report, then, reflects a good number of closings generated by people wanting to claim a tax credit. The same will be true of the June report. The reports for July, August and September will also reflect a few of those closings, provided a closing date deadline extension approved by Congress this week is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

To download a copy of the latest report, click here for the Excel file, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

Jonathan Duran at the Arkansas Geographic Information Office has done his typical great job of putting together a slew of maps for us. Here’s what’s available:

* Average sales prices through May 2010
* Average sales prices through May 2009
* Percent change map comparing sales through May 2010 and 2009
* Units sold through May 2010
* Units sold through May 2009
* Percent change map comparing units sold through May 2010 and 2009
* Values of homes sold through May 2010
* Values of homes sold through May 2009
* Percent change map comparing values through May 2010 and 2009

Throughout Arkansas, there were 2,524 single-family homes sold by Realtors® through multiple listings services in the Natural State in May — up 14.16 percent over 2,211 sales in May 2009. The average sales price in May was $149,382 — down slightly from $149,454 a year ago.

The question, of course, is what happens now that the tax credit is gone? The extension, after all, only impacts those buyers who entered contracts to purchase homes before May 1 so we can’t count on tax credits to boost sales.

According to the National Association of Realtors®, we can expect to see a lull in sales for a few months. That makes sense, really, when you consider that we’ve had tax credits for buyers in place — in one form or another — since 2008.

However, it’s well worth mentioning that mortgage interest rates are at 50-year lows, there are a lot of homes to choose from and list prices have declined throughout the state. In other words, people who are in a position can buy can get a great deal. Hopefully, those factors will motivate buyers in the months to come.

Strong sales reported in May is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that the Senate passed a measure already approved by the House to extend the closing deadline from June 30 to Sept. 30. The legislation has been sent to President Barack Obama — unless he decides to veto the measure, the new law will come as a relief to the 180,000 home buyers (National Association of Realtors® (NAR) estimate) struggling with meeting the closing deadline.

The NAR has also estimated that 2,090 of those people in danger missing the deadline and losing the credit are Arkansans.

Bear in mind that the extension, if passed, will not impact any buyers who purchased homes after April 30. Under the original terms of the credit, eligible first time and repeat buyers were required to enter into a sales contract prior to May 1 and then close on their homes before July 1.

Due to a large number of mortgage applications, short sales offers, etc. that were generated by people wanting the tax credit, banks were struggling with meeting the July 1 deadline. The legislation, if approved, would extend that deadline to Sept. 30.

Should Obama approve (or veto) this measure, this article will be amended.

Congress extends home buyer tax credit deadline is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

To download a copy of the latest report, click here for the Excel file and here for the PDF. A copy of the above graphic is here.

While we’d love to report that something very novel is happening in the market, that’s not the case. As anyone following housing markets in Arkansas might suspect, the absence of tax credits for new and repeat home buyers has influenced current markets greatly.

That credit expired after April 30, meaning the number of homes in inventory started to rise. The National Association of Realtors® predicted that the absence of the credits would cause a lull in the market for at least a couple of months, and it appears that forecast was correct.

Fewer people are buying homes right now, meaning more homes are for sale than in the recent past and sellers are generally listing them for less money in hopes of enticing buyers.

The good news in all of this is that buyers are in a great position. Interest rates are hovering around 4.5 percent for 30-year, fixed rate mortgages, there are a lot of homes to choose from and sellers typically want less money for them. If you’re in a position to buy a house, this is a very favorable market.

Every week the Arkansas Realtors® Association collects and distributes the average and median list prices and the number of homes in inventory (homes for sale) for single family, new and existing houses in four markets. Those markets are Benton and Washington counties in northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas (Crawford and Sebastian counties) in west Arkansas, the Jonesboro area (Craighead County) in northeast Arkansas and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties) in central Arkansas. While those four markets don’t tell the whole story, looking at them together gives us a pretty good idea about developing trends in markets throughout the state.

Average/median list prices, inventories for June 28 is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

That’s not a surprise, really — since the tax credits for first-time and repeat home buyers expired at the end of April, Realtors® throughout the Natural State have reported a decline in traffic. Those reports are right in line with what the National Association of Realtors® told us to expect.

To download the latest Average/median list prices and inventories report from the Arkansas Realtors Association (ARA), click here for the Excel version, here for the PDF and here for a copy of the above graphic.

By the way, that’s not a typo in the report — the last report was released a few days earlier due to a set of ARA meetings out-of-town last week.

Every week the Arkansas Realtors® Association collects and distributes the average and median list prices and the number of homes in inventory (homes for sale) for single family, new and existing houses in four markets. Those markets are Benton and Washington counties in northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas (Crawford and Sebastian counties) in west Arkansas, the Jonesboro area (Craighead County) in northeast Arkansas and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties) in central Arkansas. While those four markets don’t tell the whole story, looking at them together gives us a pretty good idea about developing trends in markets throughout the state.

Average/median list prices, inventories for June 21 is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

Click here for a copy of the report in Microsoft Excel format, here for the PDF file and here for a copy of the above graphic.

It seems the trend of rising inventories and falling list prices has held up over the past week. No surprise there.

Every week the Arkansas Realtors® Association collects and distributes the average and median list prices and the number of homes in inventory (homes for sale) for single family, new and existing houses in four markets. Those markets are Benton and Washington counties in northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas (Crawford and Sebastian counties) in west Arkansas, the Jonesboro area (Craighead County) in northeast Arkansas and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties) in central Arkansas. While those four markets don’t tell the whole story, looking at them together gives us a pretty good idea about developing trends in markets throughout the state.

Average/median list prices, inventories for June 11 is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

Click here for the latest copy of the report in Excel and here for a PDF copy. Click here for a copy of the above graphic.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has told us to expect some unpredictable markets in the wake of the expiration of the first-time and repeat home buyer tax credits and we believe it. The numbers of homes for are down (in two markets) whereas average prices are also down (again, in two markets).

Typically, you see a bit more consistency in that prices tend to go up when inventories are down and vice-versa. That’s not what we see going on this week at all, leading one to believe that the NAR’s prediction of somewhat eccentric markets is playing out here in Arkansas.

We at the Arkansas Realtors® Association do hope to see inventory levels drop consistently as buyers take advantage of mortgage rates that are close to historic lows (4.63 percent on average for a 30-year, fixed interest rate according to Zillow) and continued downward pressure on list prices.

Every week the Arkansas Realtors® Association collects and distributes the average and median list prices and the number of homes in inventory (homes for sale) for single family, new and existing houses in four markets. Those markets are Benton and Washington counties in northwest Arkansas, the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas (Crawford and Sebastian counties) in west Arkansas, the Jonesboro area (Craighead County) in northeast Arkansas and the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties) in central Arkansas. While those four markets don’t tell the whole story, looking at them together gives us a pretty good idea about developing trends in markets throughout the state.

Average/median list prices, inventories for June 7 is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.

The study’s results are representative of the nation’s 1.1 million Realtors®, who account for 60 percent of the 1.85 million active real estate licensees in the U.S. The typical NAR member has 10 years of experience, and many have increased their training, Web presence and use of social media over the past year. More than half use social networking sites, up from 35 percent in 2009.

Analysis of data from the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials shows the number of active real estate licensees in the U.S. fell 7.5 percent last year from 2.0 million in 2008. The number of licensees who are not Realtors® was 750,000 in 2009, down 14.8 percent from 880,000 in 2008. At the same time, NAR membership fell only 0.7 percent.

NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz., said these comparisons mark a sharp contrast.

“Realtors® are much more likely to remain active in the business than real estate agents or brokers who are not NAR members. Realtors® are helped by the support and benefits they receive from NAR, as well as their local and state Realtor® associations. Many members take advantage of down time to improve their skills and training to better serve future clients, but there also are intangible benefits that come from networking and membership in the nation’s largest trade association,” she said.

“In addition, many are diversified in their business practices – they don’t put all their eggs in the residential sales basket,” Golder said. “While eight in 10 members specialize in residential sales, almost all Realtors® also have secondary areas of focus – only 3 percent don’t.”

Realtors® in the business for two years or less earned a median of $8,800, while those in the business for 16 years or more earned $52,300. “The longer you’re in the real estate business, the more you make based on growth in referrals and repeat clients from serving their long-term interests,” Golder said. “Real estate is constantly changing, which is why continuing education is so important.”

A median of 20 percent of all NAR members’ business is from referrals from past clients, ranging from 2 percent for newcomers in the business for two years or less, to 23 percent for respondents with at least 16 years of experience.

The study can be ordered by calling (800)874-6500 or through the NAR’s site at www.realtor.com. The profile is free for NAR members but costs $125 for nonmembers.

NAR says Realtors® still optimistic is a post from: The Arkansas REALTOR®

©2010 The Arkansas REALTOR®. All Rights Reserved.