It is from The Oatmeal if you want to visit the original link.

Source:   http://failblog.org/2009/10/07/house-fail/

So I wonder what the listing description would be if this was for sale?

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This summer, interest rates are low, and housing prices are down. But since the credit crisis, potential homebuyers are choosing from a smaller pool of financers. And the mortgage products these lenders are still offering often come with tighter guidelines that can change at a moment’s notice….

Bellingham, Whatcom County Business | Bellingham Herald and Whatcom Business Magazine

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New appraisal rules roil Whatcom County real estate market

By JOHN STARK

Closing the sale on a home is getting more expensive and time-consuming thanks to new nationwide rules that took effect May 1. Many local real estate agents, appraisers and mortgage brokers are hoping those rules can be rolled back. Tom Follis, who has been appraising Whatcom County real estate for 40 years, says he understands the reasoning behind the rules.  Read More…

“Radical cheap: $1,000 homes

In places like Detroit and Cleveland, banks are unloading rundown homes for next to nothing. And they’re tremendous bargains, even after factoring in renovation costs. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The real estate market is so awful that buyers are now scooping up homes for as little as $1,000.

There are 18 listings in Flint, Mich., for under $3,000, according to Realtor.com. There are 22 in Indianapolis, 46 in Cleveland and a whopping 709 in Detroit. All of these communities have been hit hard by foreclosures, and most of these homes are being sold by the lenders that repossessed them.. . “   

click the link below to keep reading

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/08/real_estate/thousand_dollar_homes/

Picard watching the neighborhood, probably a good idea in some of the neighborhoods in the article I found in the New York Times below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/garden/18houses.html

Although it is tough times for Real Estate there also many positives. Houses are slightly more reasonably priced offering more opportunity to the savvy investor or first time home buyer. One of the best things about being a first time home buyer is the tax credit that is being offered on homes purchased in 2009.

Some useful info can be found at the following link: www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com

quoting from this site:

“Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

·   The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only.

·   The tax credit does not have to be repaid.

·   The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.

·   The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

·   Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit. “

If you buy a home for 250,000 you will get a nice credit. Not a bad perk just for being a first time home buyer. A couple of other things to be aware of: if you owned a home but then sold it more then 3 years ago you will qualify. If you sell the home before living in it 3 years you do have to pay the government back.

So just a couple of things to keep on keeping on for 2009!

Written by Bliss for Tom Gurney

Last night Tom and I went to a Biznik event: http://biznik.com/events/help-your-business-thrive-in-a-down-economy-food-bank-donation

This event was a good reminder that it is very important to keep a positive attitude ESPECIALLY in those times that it might be a little harder.  This event could have also been titled “Donations and Donuts”. I like to think that the donations we brought in for the foodbank were a reminder that there are those that are even less fortunate then us and to not forget to give even when times are rough. The donuts were a sweet treat to helps us remember to be sweet (positive) to our clients even if they are feeling negative. Tshombe http://biznik.com/members/tshombe-brown and Lori http://biznik.com/members/tshombe-brown did a well organized presentation and the handouts will be helpful to refer back to later when this class is a distant memory, the economy is booming and everyone can buy a house. (one can dream…) bliss and tom

A reminder to keep helping others even in hard times.

Tshombe and Lori enlightening the masses...well mass of 10.

yummmm donuts, sweet little morsels of joy