Ron Gorman presents St. Louis, Mo Real Estate, information about the City of St. Louis, University City Real Estate, Olivette Real Estate, Clayton Real Estate, Ladue Real Estate, Richmond-Heights Real Estate, Maplewood Real Estate, Brentwood Real Estate and surrounding areas.  Contact me today for more information.

Looking for homes could not be easier than by clicking here.  Use the great mapping technique to simplify your search.

Whether you are a first time buyer, previous purchaser,  potential home seller, or an experienced investor here at STLcityhomes.com, you will find useful information about St. Louis, University City, Olivette, Clayton, Ladue, Richmond-Heights, Maplewood, and Brentwood.  Let me help guide you with information on how to choose the "right" property, making an offer, negotiating, financing, mortgage rates, moving, and everything involved in making an informed real estate decision in today's market. You can also search for the current availability of  home or commercial property in St. Louis Real Estate, St. Charles Real Estate and beyond, here at STLcityhomes.com, where you can access the St. Louis MLS and much more.  Ron Gorman, ®Realtor, wants you to make educated decisions so that you will be happy with your real estate purchase.

St. Louis is a city that has a wonderful heritage of neighborhoods such as Lafayette Square, Shaw, Benton Park, Soulard, Fox, Tower Grove, and many others. Check out these historic areas by clicking  on the "Neighborhood" button. There you will see a list of the neighborhoods that you can click on once you see the neighborhoods that you interested in finding more information about. Ron Gorman, ®Realtor, offers this comprehensive online tool to give you direct access to the latest properties for sale in your area. You will also find  extensive community information, lifestyles, school information, information for buyers & sellers, a free home evaluation, answers to commonly asked real estate questions, the lasted information about home improvements and much more. Here at STLcityhomes.com.  You will find everything about real estate within one easy source.  If you need information that you can't find, please contact me or give me a call at 314-570-5125.

	Seller  Information
Home Evaluation	Free Reports
Home Improvement	Seller's Toolkit

	Buyer  Information
First Time Homebuyer Check List	Free Reports
Buyer's Toolkit	Home Search

FIRST TIME HOME BUYER 

If you are a first-time home buyer, I hope that you are aware of the legislation that provided for a tax credit of as much as $8000 depending upon income. This credit is equivalent to 10% of the purchase price of the home but it is capped at $8000.  The tax credit applies only to first-time home buyers and principal residence.  The plus of this change is that unlike the $7500 home buyer tax credit that had to be repaid over 15 years, this one does not have to be repaid as long as you living in the home for at least 3 years.

Key points to be aware of: 

1) First time home buyers is anyone who hasn't owned a primary residence for 3 years before buying a home. 

2) 2009 buyers only is for those who purchase a home on or after January 1 and before December 1, 2009.  If you bought a home last year, you won't be able to take advantage of the new program but you can take advantage of last year's $7500 tax credit that needs to be repaid over 15 years. 

3) To obtain the new tax credit, you must live in that home for at least 3 years.

4) Single buyers need a modified adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less or a married couples with incomes   of $150,000 or less in order to qualify for the full credit.

5) Because the tax credit is refundable, qualified buyers can take advantage of it even if they don't have much tax liability.

Until May 13th, the policy regarding the tax credit indicated that the tax credit could be used for the downpayment.  However, there is now a revision to the policy as Secretary Donovan announced that the $8000 could not used to fund the downpayment.  But, there are allowing bridge loans to be used.  

Fortunately for the potential buyers who live in Missouri, there is a program which provides that bridge loan which is repaid once the federal tax credit is received. The name of the program is TCAL which stands for Tax Cash Assistance Loan and is administered by the Missouri Housing Development Commission.  If the tax refund is not applied to pay off the Missouri program, the bridge loan is converted to a 30 year second mortgage. 

For more information regarding Missouri's TCAL program, click here

Click here for more information about "First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit 

CLICK FOR THE IRS TAX FORM FOR 1ST TIME HOME BUYERS

                      
FEDERAL HOUSING AUTHORITY

As the FHA plays an increasingly important role in the financing of homes,  it is very important that the potential home buyers become more informed of the the tools that the agency offers.  The buyer needs to be aware of the many programs (for example, Hope for Homeowners and/or the 203K) that are available. 

On the sidebar you can click on the FHA button which will take you to the site that has the information that you may need.  

MORTGAGE PROBLEMS

With the mortgage payment problems that so many are facing, it is really important to know potential sources of assistance.  The federal government is making concerted efforts to provide relief.  I just saw a web site that can be of help.  This program that the government has started is called:  Making Homes Affordable.  As I see additional areas, I will provide that information.