Just as federal officials seek to wind down many bailout programs, the Obama administration has announced yet another initiative to prop up the housing market.

Administration officials unveiled a plan to aid state and local housing finance agencies, which provide mortgages to first-time and lower-income homebuyers and enable the development or rehabilitation of rental properties. Officials declined to put a pricetag on the program, but said there would be no cost to taxpayers.

The measure will enable housing agencies to lend to hundreds of thousands of families and enable the development or rehabilitation of tens of thousands of rental units. The agencies operate in all 50 states and in many cities.

Congress is considering extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, which ends November 30th.

The credit will have been used by 1.8 million homebuyers, at least 355,000 of whom would not have bought a house without the tax break, by the end of November, according to estimates by the National Association of Realtors.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com

The first-time home buyer tax credit ends November 30th, 2009. Sounds like you still have some time right? Not really. In fact, you need to start looking for a house NOW just to ensure you won’t miss the deadline and pay $8,000 more, and even starting to look right now doesn’t mean you will absolutely beat the deadline, and here’s why:

In the days you have left between today and November 30th, take out Veteran’s Day and Columbus Day, because many businesses are closed (or at the very least, the government is).

In the days you have left, take out 3 more days for Thanksgiving. People take half a day off before and usually that Friday after is taken off too for shopping, either way, many people take off these days and doing business during this time is nearly impossible.

So in the days you have left, you need to find a realtor, find homes, go to showings, begin bidding on the home you’ve chosen, get inspections, get pre-approved, get financing, begin the paperwork, and close the loan all before November 30th. This is assuming all parties are working all of the days between now and November 30th, and that your realtor never has a time conflict.

So don’t make the mistake by not starting now. Also, if you’re looking at foreclosures or short sales, the process may take even longer so you really have to find a house by next week at the latest. Keep in mind, setting up showings usually takes 24 hours, so if you find a house you’d like to see, it’s a 24-48 hour delay. Also, bidding on HUD homes take 3-5 days to find out if you got it or not.

Moral of the story, when you need to work with multiple parties on a deal, it takes time. Relying on your realtor, the selling party, and the bank becomes a lot more stressful if you don’t have enough time, because there are many aspects you don’t have time control over in buying a home.

So stop procrastinating and hesitating, and start the process today!

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com

Low interest rates and a depressed real estate market have some affluent parents asking financial advisers if buying their children a house could accomplish a one-two punch of moving assets out of their estate while grabbing a good deal on property.

The answer is, not exactly.

While parents may get a bargain on real estate, purchasing a home for children may not get them the best bang for their estate-planning buck, particularly if that estate is sizable and includes income-producing assets like securities or a private business interest.

As the federal tax law currently stands, a married couple can give, during their lifetimes or leave to their heirs at death, $2 million before any tax is owed. “A home isn’t an income-producing asset, so it makes more sense to save the $2 million lifetime gift exclusion for other estate-planning techniques which can generate a lot more upside in the future,” said Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst with Wolters Kluwer, a business that provides tax and legal information.

Instead, advisers say parents intent on helping their children become homeowners consider a cash gift instead.

Individuals are allowed to gift up to $13,000 per person in a given year without dipping into their lifetime gift tax exclusion. That means a couple could give their daughter and her husband $52,000 a year to go toward mortgage payments or the down payment, while removing some assets out of their estate each year. In this situation, the kids would have to buy the home, but would get another break this year: Qualified first-time home buyers who purchase a home before Dec. 1st are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit. This may apply for parents and children who buy the house jointly, although the credit begins phasing out at a modified adjusted gross income of $150,000 when married and filing jointly.

There are other options, like making the kids a loan.

The government sets minimum rates for loans, among family members and others, to not be considered gifts. Those rates now are historically low, ranging from less than 1% to about 4 1/2% depending on the loan term. This method doesn’t actually move money out of the estate, thus freeing up the $2 million exclusion to pass on other assets that are more likely to appreciate over time. Children can use income generated from the appreciated assets to pay off the loan. Parents could use the $52,000 annual gift exclusion for their daughter and husband to forgive both the interest and principal of the debt if they choose.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com

According to survey results from a poll conducted for one of the large real estate franchise companies, potential first-time U.S. buyers said they are likely to buy a home in the next two years.

Record low mortgage rates and a new first-time homebuyer tax credit are large incentives, despite obstacles that include greater difficulty getting loans approved.

All of the 1,000 potential U.S. homebuyers surveyed in an online survey said they were likely to buy a house for the first time in the next two years.

More than three-quarters of those polled said this is a good time to buy a home, and almost 70 percent said now is a better time than six months ago, and more than three-quarters of those polled said the $8,000 federal tax credit makes them more likely to buy a house in the next six months.

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Best Buyer’s Broker Realty is an Exclusive Buyer Agent specializing in Long Island real estate (Nassau and Suffolk properties) and neighboring Queens County properties.

We don’t take any seller listings (yet we have more homes for you to see than most agents) and never have any potential conflict of interest like other agents who also represent sellers. We represent buyers only, 100% of the time. We can show you more homes for sale because we have access to MLS, FSBOs, Exclusives (homes that agents try to keep secret), foreclosures and homes not on the market that may be of interest to you.

We are not your traditional real estate agent. Our goal is to advise and protect home buyers and help them obtain the lowest price and best terms on their dream home. Call us at 516-887-6901 to see how we can help you save time and money. Or visit our sites at www.bestbuyerbroker.com or www.bestbuyersbroker.com