How Cap And Trade Will Destroy The Housing Market.

The proposed Cap and Trade, or Cap and Tax, will mandate that any home you sell must meet certain energy standards. Before selling your home, you will be required to wait in line for a Federal Inspector to come out and give your home an energy rating. If the home does not meet the federally mandated energy standards, you will be required to finance the repairs to make it compliant. If you're selling your house because you're broke, I'm not sure what you do then, but I'm sure Nancy Pelosi and company will think of something. This will create higher prices in building new homes and add more red tape to an already delicate process. This proposed legislation also features increased energy efficiency demands in subsequent years so it will only get more expensive and burdensome. These same standards will also apply to commercial buildings as well.

Also, experts maintain that the bill will hit poor families the hardest as increased prices on electricity will take a bigger chunk of their disposable income. A gallon of gas is estimated to go up to at least $4. Any business that uses a lot of energy will feel more of the burden while China and other countries pollute the world as they wish. It's sort of like our EPA which is so worried about pesticides and insecticides used by American farmers, yet they are clueless about what is on the foods and fruits we import from Mexico.

Hey Washington, don't know if you've noticed but higher taxes and costs for homeowners may not be such a good idea right now. I'm amazed that our Ivy League educated politicians could be so dumb.

Texas Representatives that voted to TAKE MONEY OUT OF YOUR POCKET via Cap and Trade include -
Silvestre Reyes, Democrat
Eddie Johnson, Democrat
Sheila Jackson-Lee, Democrat
Rubén Hinojosa, Democrat
Raymond Green, Democrat
Charles Gonzalez, Democrat
Lloyd Doggett, Democrat
Henry Cuellar, Democrat

View how the entire house voted here.

More Foreclosure Bargains Coming - Faber Report: Jumbo Pain - CNBC.com

Senators Now Considering A $15,000 Tax Credit For ALL Home Buyers

Senators are now considering increasing the $8,000 home buyer tax credit up to $15,000.

Also, they are considering eliminating previous restrictions so that singles earning over $75K and couples earning over $150K would be eligible under the new plan. And unlike the current $8,000 home buyer tax credit plan, those who have bought a home during the last 3 years would also be eligible.

The new $15,000 home buyer tax credit plan would apply to primary residences and could also include multifamily properties that are bought as primary residences. This would be an awesome incentive and would make home ownership and fixer-uppers more affordable, especially when used in conjunction with the FHA 203K rehab loan program.

The 203K allows home buyers to use a government loan to both buy a home and pay for the rehab, meaning you could only be required to use 3.5% of your own cold, hard cash on a home that requires tens of thousands in rehab.

The $15,000 home buyer tax credit was first floated by Republican law makers a few months ago but was killed by the Democrats. I think the increased home buyer tax credit has a much better chance to pass now since other so called stimulus spending hasn't made much of an impact. Perhaps, they've decided that spending tax payer money to save minnows in California isn't doing much to help the average hard working American trying to support his family.

$8,000 Tax Incentive Now Available To Use At Closing

Consumers across the country can now take advantage of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program to allow qualified home buyers to apply the $8,000 tax credit at closing when purchasing a home. FHA will now permit its lenders to provide a short-term bridge loan that will let qualified home buyers use the tax credit to either make a larger down-payment above the FHA required 3.5 percent, cover closing costs, or buy down their interest rate. For further detailed information and a comprehensive Q&A click here.

Dallas Homes Median Sales Prices Through April (non foreclosures)

Dallas Homes Median Sales Prices Through April - 08 versus 09 (non foreclosures)

• Addison, Tx Homes $245,000 $246,250 +0.5%

• Allen, Tx Homes $202,000 $203,900 +0.9%

• Carrollton, Tx Homes $165,000 $171,690 +4.1%

• Coppell, Tx Homes $258,000 $171,690 +5.8%

• Dallas, Tx Homes NE $195,000 $215,250 +10.4%

• Dallas, Tx Homes North $505,365 $486,500 -3.7%

• White Rock Homes $230,500 $240,000 +4.1%

• Uptown Homes $228,000 $247,706 +4.1%

• McKinney, Tx Homes $187,000 $185,590 -0.8%

• Mesquite, Tx Homes $110,000 $108,500 -1.4%

• Park Cities, Tx Homes $799,750 $836,115 +4.5%

• Plano, Tx Homes $222,000 $223,000 +0.5%

• Richardson, Tx Homes $159,000 $165,000 +3.8%

• Rockwall, Tx Homes $182,950 $185,000 +1.1%

• Rowlett, Tx Homes $182,950 $185,000 +1.1%

• Wylie, Tx Homes $166,500 $165,000 -0.9%

Dallas County Tax Appraisals Don't Mean Squat!

The Dallas appraisal district just sent out their 2009 Dallas tax assessments based on their most recent appraisals. How they come up with the appraised values is beyond me, but it's often not very accurate when compared to actual market data (known as comparable sales, or comps). I know that it's human nature to put credence in tax appraisals but don't be alarmed if they reduced the value of your home. Instead, enjoy the reduced taxes while you can, because it doesn't appear that Uncle Sam will be lowering ANYBODY'S taxes anytime soon the way they're blowing through taxpayer cash and newly printed money.

So don't sweat a low-ball tax assessment if you're selling, and don't put much value in a tax assessment of a home you're considering to purchase. Accurate market data will compare the red apples to actual red apples - not the sorta reddish apples, the yellow apples or the green ones.

Also, if you're curious about a tax assessment for a particular property, just visit http://dcad.org/

OpenHomez Web Site Lists Open Houses For The Public

I came across an interesting web site, openhomez.com which lists various open houses for the general public. I am not sure about it's market penetration to date, but I would imagine that it would continue to expand it's reach moving forward. Anyway, just an idea for those who would like to preview Dallas open houses online - before driving the streets looking for open houses in Dallas and the surrounding DFW metro-plex. Link, http://www.openhomez.com/index.php