The house next door … you know, the one that the home owners son has been renting out for the last year to a series of awful people? Yeah, that one … they put it up for sale about a three weeks ago and amazingly it’s been sold.

I personally thought the price they were asking was too high for the house. It was low for my area … about a hundred thousand dollars lower than what most houses in my area are selling for … but since the house hasn’t ever had any renovations done on it and I think it needs a new furnace, air conditioner and generally a lot of work the price, to me at least, was about 50,000 higher than I thought it should have been.

Of course I have no idea how much it actually sold for. Perhaps they accepted a bid that was a lot lower than the asking price.

I also don’t know who bought the house or when they’ll be moving in. There was a man at the house on Thursday that must have had serious interest in it as I believe he had an inspection done. They were at the house for about three hours … but when the house didn’t have a sold sign up by that evening or even the next day I thought that if he made a bid at all it wasn’t accepted. Who knows … maybe they went back and forth with bids all weekend until they finally came to a deal on Monday (when the sold sign went up).

I’m just hoping that whoever moves in 1. doesn’t turn around and rent the house out to bad people again and 2. turns out to be a decent neighbor. My definition of a decent neighbor is someone who will say hi or at least be polite when you see them outside their house (especially important since we’ll have to take turns using our shared tiny one car driveway) and who is fairly quite (since our houses are so very close together). I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Ok, gotta go and find something to eat that won’t bother my stomach. Geez it’s like I took a handful of the best diet pills on the market! I’m starving yet don’t really feel like eating as I know I’ll be in pain after I eat – thanks to my Crohn’s disease that’s activated again. See the post below for more on that if you’re interested.

So if you’re looking for a mobile home for sale you can take advantage of the credit the federal government offers to would be home buyers like you. But you are required to be certain that you understand all the details of the credit before you apply for it.

First time home buyer tax credit is available only if you buy a mobile home as your principal residence. This means that your mobile home needs to be the home where you plan to reside nearly all of the time. This credit is also available to the principal purchase of a condo, town house houseboat or a separated home as long as it is your main residence. Accordingly, your mobile home must be in the US. Please keep in mind that it is not eligible if you buy your mobile home from your parents, or siblings.

Although mobile homes fall under the category of qualified homes for availing tax credit, there are other requirements you should take into consideration to avoid waste of your time and effort in applying the credit. These are the following qualifications needed for your application:

1. The tax credit is only available to first-time homebuyers. The rules provide that anyone will be a first-time buyer if he or she has not owned a principal residence for three after buying a house. If you owned a vacation house that is not your principal residence, you can apply for the credit. Married couples must fit to the definition. But the rules on married couples are vague because the rules did not provide if the situation occurs where only one is qualified and the other is not.

2. You must have a $75,000 modified gross income, or MAGI, on your federal tax return if you are married head of a household or single. If you are filing a joint tax return in conjunction with your wife, your MAGI must $150,000.

3. If you have more than $75,000 MAGI and if you’re single or married head of household, you may get a partial credit subject as long as it is below $95,000. The same applies for the second category, where your joint tax return indicates a MAGI of more than $150,000 but less than $170,000. MAGI beyond the marked limits will be not qualified for a tax credit.

4. You cannot apply for a first time home buyer credit if you bought your home before April 9 2008. 2009 home buyers are likely to have the tax credit.

To further your knowledge about the first time home buyer credit that is currently being offered by the federal government, you should visit the nearest authorities in your state. You could also learn information related to this in the net. You can benefit much from this opportunity, but you must seek advice and make plans to avoid credit problems in the future.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit if You Buy a Mobile Home

If the property you are selling comes with a garage, you’ll need to go through your garage before you sell your home. The garage is one room in your house that can pile junk without you noticing it happening.  If your garage is messy, you obviously want to clean it up.  Buyers look for homes that are in perfect condition, and anything less than perfect will look ugly in the eyes of the buyers.

Most if not all homes have some truly outstanding features inside.  You should always do your best to highlight these features instead of just hoping that the buyer understands what they are looking at.  Professional agents use proper lightning to highlight these features during an open house, use this technique also.  It does not hurt to talk about the feature slightly with your potential buyer.  Make sure that the best feature stands out by thoroughly cleaning and highlighting it.

When a potential buyer pulls up to your home, the first thing he will see is your lawn.  If your lawn is trimmed and well taken care of, he will get a good impression right off the bat.  In fact, if your lawn is a wreck, he may even pull away without looking back.  To give the best impression to the buyer, you can always plant flowers around the walkway and throughout the yard.  This entices the senses of your potential buyers even more.  And to help you understand the real market value of your home, you should consider using real estate tools like real estate appraisal software.  To help you understand your options better, a Real Estate Analysis software can help you, too.

Now that you’ve got your buyer’s attention with your well manicured lawn, don’t lose it.  Make sure that your front door is in excellent  shape.  A squeaking door is a turn-off right away – much like a date who doesn’t groom his or her hair.  You can add some indoor plants, paintings, or rugs to ensure that your buyer gets a good impression upon entering.  When the buyer walks through your home’s entry way, make sure that the view he or she takes in is nothing less of delightful.  That is to say a misplaced armoire or an unbalanced furniture should be corrected.  Your biggest goal when showing your home is to ensure that the buyer is pleased in whatever way you can.

Keep in mind that it may take some time to sell your home.  These days, homes can sit on the market for months at a time before they actually sell.  If you are having trouble selling your home, you can always reduce the price or simply go back to the basics. With patience and diligence, you will sell your home sooner than you think.

On the other hand a little one bedroom, one bath shack sitting in the middle of downtown Boston might be worth a small fortune. So you can see that the location is of the utmost importance when you are considering a piece of real estate to invest in.

The same thought process holds true when you are considering investing in Costa Rica. Costa Rica property has been returning at very high levels, since investment first began there.

Like in any other situation, you should ask yourself, “what makes the location of a piece of real estate a must have? The answer is fairly simply really. The value is based on nothing more than the desirability factor. Desirability is individual and is really hard to nail down.

Property that is totally undesirable to one person might be just the next person’s dream-come-true. And this phenomenon is true for real estate investors and for home buyers and for renters. It is true for all aspects of the real estate market.

The main point for any real estate investor to consider first is what their strategy will be for making money from the investment. The profit strategy determines whether the location of the property is good or bad and buying is only half the equation.

For example, prime real estate is the best choice if you are planning to purchase a property with the intention of just waiting for the market to rise. Locations that are near entertainment centers or newly developing areas would be best because the likelihood is pretty good that that the property will increase in value with little other effort.

On the other hand, if you are planning to invest in a property with the intention of renting it and making a monthly income from it, you might be better off to look into urban properties. Urban properties wouldn’t always be considered prime real estate but they are prime rental properties. What these properties may lack in space or amenities, they make up for by being very close to the action.

And we can’t forget the real estate investors who are handy with their hands. These kinds of investors enjoy renovating, and will buy properties below market value. They can make repairs and renovations to rundown properties themselves, sell it for a great deal more than their purchase price and make a very nice profit. Working neighborhoods with mid-priced homes make up the best location for these kinds of investors.

There are many factors that real estate investors consider when they are deciding which property to invest in. Knowing what kind of investor you are, and what your profit strategy is for the investment will help you decide where and how to find the perfect property in the perfect Costa Rican location.

In order to buy a house, you’ll need to start saving money to have enough for the closing costs and a down payment. Your down payment will normally need to be around 15% of the price or the real value of the property – whichever is lower. To be on the safe side, you should always try to have 20% put down. If you aren’t able to put 20% down, you’ll need to buy some private mortgage insurance, which will cost you more in terms of your monthly payment. A good advice is to know the property value before you make any commitment. If you are 100% clueless, think of using a computer solution like a Real estate analysis software to help you understand if the property you are buying is a good investment or not.

The usual closing cost is about 5% to 10% depending on the real estate agent, property, local laws, and county and seller’s conditions. Before you purchase the home, you should always get an estimate. An estimate won’t be the exact price but it will be really close. You should always plan to save up a bit more money than you need, just to be on the safe side. It’s always best to have more than enough than not enough.

You’ll know you’re ready to buy a home when you know exactly how much you can afford and you’re willing to stick with your plan. When you buy a home and get your monthly mortgage payment, it shouldn’t be any more than 25% of your total monthly income. Although there are lenders out there who will say that you can afford to pay more, you should never let them talk you into doing so – stick to your budget instead. Again, if you still feel confuse you can always ask the bank to advice you by using a Mortgage Calculator system , they are practical and they can help you to understand clearly how much you can really pay.

Keep in mind that there is always more money involved with a home other than the mortgage payment. You also have to pay for utilities, homeowners insurance, property taxes, and maintenance. Owning and caring for a home requires a lot of responsibility. If you’ve never owned a home before, it can take a bit of time to get used to.

Before you fill out any applications, you should always look over your credit report and check for any errors. Although you may think you don’t, you can easily get an error on your credit report and not even realize it. If you have an error on your credit report, it can cost you a lot of money in interest rates. An error will decrease your credit score, which will put you in a higher interest bracket and ultimately cost you a lot more money in the end. It pays to check your credit standing before approaching a lender. Don’t forget that this is one of the most important decisions you will take in your lifetime, so be smart, take your time and don’t be too emotional .

Give yourself some time to fix your credit should there be any by checking your credit report beforehand. Rebuilding credit can take time though, sometimes even years. You should always plan ahead,  and give yourself plenty of time to fix your credit.

Remember this: you should always commit yourself to buying a property. You should always strive to get the best possible deals, which means knowing your credit and where you stand. This way, you can get the best interest rates (and trust me, that is pretty important if you consider you will be paying your house for a long time) You don’t want to buy a home with bad credit, simply because you’ll pay a lot more money for the home’s value. If you take the time to fix any credit problems and save up some money – you’ll be able to get a much better home for your money’s worth.