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Uncle Sam is giving more homebuyers a tax break. An $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which was due to end on November 30, has been extended by the federal government until June 2010. The IRS estimated than 1.4 million people have taken advantage of the tax credit thus far and the extension will undoubtedly attract more first-timers to buy homes.

In more good news, the tax credit also extends it to those who already own a home. A new $6,500 tax credit is being made to attract repeat homebuyers to trade up and purchase their next home.

All real estate transactions must close by June 30, 2010 in order to reap the tax credit. In addition, buyers must meet certain income limits. Single buyers who make up to $125,000 will qualify, as do married couples with a combined income of $225,000 or less.

Click here to visit a section of the IRS website that provides additional information about the tax credit and specific tax forms that a homebuyer will need to get the tax credit.

With the spring home selling season quickly approaching, we want to educate home sellers of what they should be doing in the weeks and months ahead of putting their home on the market. A big mistake too many sellers make is not giving themselves enough time to get everything in order before that “For Sale” sign goes in the front yard.

But if you follow ForSaleByOwner.com’s list of “Five Things to Do Before Putting a Home on the Market,” you’ll be putting yourself in a position to be a successful home seller.

1. Decide On a Home Selling Strategy: Sellers can either hire a real estate agent or decide to sell their home “by owner.” Agents do offer some convenience but their commission rates, which average close to 6%, make them expensive for too many sellers. It has become easier to become a “by owner” seller because the Internet offers the same types of advertising, marketing and pricing tools used by agents. The National Association of Realtors found that, on average, a “by owner” seller actually sells quicker and for closer to asking price than an agent-represented seller.
2. Start Researching Your Local Home Market: Any home seller can use Internet-based resources to compare their home to recently sold homes and homes that are currently on the market. This research will be invaluable to help a seller correctly price their home. ForSaleByOwner.com also offers an online appraisal service that provides a suggested listing price range.
3. Schedule a Home Inspection: A professional home inspection will provide a seller with a comprehensive report on the home’s condition. Not only will the report serve as a guide to help the seller determine what repairs to make, but prospective buyers will have more confidence making an offer because the report will tell them the condition of the house.
4. Get Your Home Ready: Now is the time to paint rooms in the house that need a fresh coat of paint and replace worn out carpets to give the home a fresh look. Sellers should also replace old or dated light fixtures and bathroom faucets, as well as rid the home of clutter to make it appear more spacious. Doing all of these things will help sellers get a jump on staging their home once it goes on the market.
5. Consult a Real Estate Lawyer: Real estate agents don’t handle the legal paperwork, only a real estate attorney or title company can. Consulting a real estate lawyer now will help “by owner” sellers navigate through any state or local real estate laws. ForSaleByOwner.com also offers state-specific real estate legal forms.

Here are 10 easy ways that you can save money and help the planet by decreasing your carbon footprint at home.

1. Turn off the lights in unoccupied rooms
2. Shut off computers, TV sets and other electronics when not in use.
3. Swap your incandescent light bulbs for CFLs and/or LEDs, which last longer and use a quarter of the electricity of regular bulbs.
4. Hold off the wash until you have enough for a full load and use cold water when ever possible.
5. Dry only full loads of clothes in your dryer and “hang dry” as much as possible.
6. Hold off running the dishwasher until it is full and consider using air drying instead of the machine’s “drying cycle.”
7. Turn down the thermostat, especially at night. You can save up to 3% of your heating or air conditioning bill with every 1 degree you give up.
8. If you have a fireplace, keep the damper closed when you do not have a fire burning.
9. Lower the temperature of your hot water heater and cover it with an “insulation blanket.”
10. Cut the time you spend in the shower. Even  a few minutes a day less can make a big difference.

We have just in the last year had the largest annual fall in real estate prices, hit the highest number of delinquent mortgages measured, witnessed a record 918,000 homes taken in foreclosure, and 11.3 million home owners now own negative-equity.

Case Shiller prices fell a record 19.1 percent versus the previous year in Q1 2009. Mortgage delinquencies are at a record high 15.02 percent (Q4 2009) according to the Mortgage Bankers Association — meaning an estimated 8.4 million families do not pay their most important bill. RealtyTrac reported a record of over 900,000 foreclosure repossessions in 2009, and estimates a record 3 million homes will experience a foreclosure event this year. First American counts 11.3 million homes with negative equity, and sees an additional 2.3 million homeowners on the edge of going overboard and under water.

Every element — falling prices, mortgage delinquencies, repossessed homes, negative equity — they all hit records in 2009.

Now look at the other side of the story and the radical opposite reaction in our real estate war-of-the-worlds.

Mortgages rates hit a record low in 2009 on Freddie’s index for a 30-year fixed rate and the average 4.9% in Q4 2009 is outstanding for affordability (please see the chart above). The Fed won with low rates what Robert Shiller called in the Wall Street Journal “the most dramatic turnaround” he has seen in home-prices since starting to watch them in continue reading…

Mortgage refinance or walk away?

We’ve all heard about the people who overextended themselves financially when buying a house and can’t make the payments on the mortgage loan. And we have heard the horror stories of many of those people who turn the house over to the bank or other financial institution that holds the mortgage.

But now, instead of a mortgage refinance, there is another group of people handing the mortgage lenders the keys to their houses who CAN afford to pay their mortgages.

Strategic or voluntary defaults are starting to become more popular. As the value of some houses drop significantly below the mortgage balance, a growing number of owners, who can afford the mortgage payments, are walking away from the home.

There are roughly 16 million homeowners who owe more to lenders that continue reading…