Happy Holidays from Mynor & Associates!

WE ARE HUMBLED 

 
that our neighbors, clients and friends continue to choose

Mynor & Associates as their preferred real estate team. 

   

THANK YOU

for making 2012 another record year! 

Warmest greetings,

MYNOR & ASSOCIATES
Licensed Realtors® - DC, MD & VA
Top 5%Nationwide

Keller Williams Capital Properties
7801 Woodmont Ave. 2nd Fl.
Bethesda, MD 20814

Mobile: (301) 437-1622
Office:  (240) 383-1350 x 679
e-Fax:  (240) 235-7066

mynor@mynorandassociates.com
www.MynorAndAssociates.com

Maryland Homestead Tax Credit Eligibility application: Deadline is on Dec 31st.

This is an informative article for all the Maryland homeowners who would lie to submit their one-time application to confirm eligibility for the homestead tax credit, deadline is on December 31^st.

These steps will help every residence homeowner to make sure that their property is registered and eligible for the homestead tax credit:

Step 1: CHECK YOUR STATUS

Visit the Maryland State Department of Assessments & Taxation (SDAT) Real Property Data Search page. Select the county and search either by Street Address, Map/Parcel, Property Account Identifier or Property Sales (typically Street Address is the easiest way to search).

Once you have entered the information, the tax record for your property will appear. At the bottom of the record, a separate category appears called Homestead Application Information, and beneath that category is the Homestead Application Status.

There are four status categories: Approved (with date of approval); Application received (but not yet processed); No application; or Application denied.

If your application is listed as approved, you previously filed the homestead and have nothing further to do. If it is "received," you should check back to make sure it is approved. If your status states "no application," continue to Step 2. If the application has been denied and you disagree with the denial, you should contact the Homestead Division to contest the denial:

Homestead Division

Telephone: 410-767-2165

1-866-650-8783

Fax: 410-225-9344

Email:  homestead@dat.state.md.us

Step 2: FILE THE HOMESTEAD ELIGIBILITY APPLICATION

There are three ways to file the Homestead Eligibility Application:

File electronically. To file electronically, you will first have to send an email request to  Hcredit@dat.state.md.us.  In your email, make sure to include the following information: the purpose of the email (to electronically file the Homestead Eligibility Application), your name, property address and county.

You will receive an email response with your real property account number and an access number with a link to file electronically and will need to enter both the account number and the access number in order to use the link. It could take up to a week to receive a response back after you submit your request. Immediately upon filing through the link, you will receive back an automated email confirmation, which you should keep for your records.

File by mail. To file by mail, print and mail the completed application to:

Department of Assessments and Taxation

Homestead Tax Credit Division

301 West Preston Street, 8th Floor

Baltimore, MD 21201

File by fax. You can also print out the application using the above link and fax in the application to 410-225-9344. Make sure you keep a fax confirmation.

Do not print out the application, complete it and email it to SDAT. The only way to file electronically is to follow the above directions – they will not accept a scanned and emailed application.

After submitting your application, keep checking your SDAT records by following Step 1 above to make sure that your application is approved. It can take several weeks from the application submission before the status shows up as approved, so make sure to keep copies of all correspondence.

Source: www.federaltitle.com

Do you want to work with a Realtor who never fails to provide his clients about pertinent Real Estate information, market trends, tips and what-to-dos?  Call me, MynorHerrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.

Tax Break for Struggling Homeowners on a Countdown?

A very informative article about the tax break that saves struggling homeowners from paying thousands of dollars to the IRS set to expire. What does it mean?

If the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not get extended by Congress by the end of the year, homeowners will have to start paying income taxes on the portion of their mortgage that is forgiven in a foreclosure, short sale or principal reduction. 

So if you owe $150,000 on your home and it sells for $100,000 in a foreclosure auction, the IRS could tax you on the remaining $50,000. For someone in the 25% tax bracket, that would mean paying $12,500 in taxes on the foreclosure. Similar taxes would apply for forgiven amounts in short sales and principal reductions.

"People trying to do short sales are freaked out about it," said Elizabeth Weintraub, a real estate agent in Sacramento, Calif. "They're telling me they'll do whatever it takes to close by the end of the year."
Should the tax break expire, a large number of mortgage borrowers could be affected. More than 50,000 homeowners go through foreclosure each month. Meanwhile, the number of short sales has tripled over the past three years to a rate of about half a million a year. And, under the terms of the $25 billion foreclosure abuse settlement, roughly one million borrowers may have their mortgage debt lowered through principal reductions over the next couple of years.

"If there ever was a no-brainer in housing policy, this would be it," said Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst for Guggenheim Securities.

Yet, Seiberg is skeptical the exemption will get extended. Now that the election is over, he thinks Congress will be heading into a "lame duck" session, with very little legislation moving forward through the end of the year.

In addition, the cost of the exemption could make it a point of contention, he said. The office of Sen. Max Baucus, who heads the finance committee, estimated the cost of a one-year extension at $1.3 billion.
Both parties, both houses of Congress agree it's good policy and it needs to get done," said Jamie Gregory, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors, which supports an extension. "The hold up is the process. I'm confident it will get done. I just don't know how."

Even if Congress allowed the exemption to expire, not all borrowers with forgiven mortgage debt will take a tax hit. If the debt is discharged in a bankruptcy, no tax is due. And anyone who is insolvent -- meaning they have more debt than assets -- at the time the debt was forgiven -- would not have to pay the tax.
Also in some states like California, certain borrowers are protected against paying the tax because of the way the state treats foreclosures.

Do you want to work with a Realtor who never fails to provide his clients about pertinent Real Estate information?  Call me, MynorHerrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.

Tips for First-time Home Buyers

You’ve finally decided to make one of the biggest decisions of your life: buy your first home. Then, a million of questions go flying right at you. What’s the first step? You probably have no idea how the overall purchasing process works. And you’ll probably be very surprised to learn how much work it really is just to buy a home. To get you started in the right direction, and this is just a start, here are a few tips that you should consider.

Get lender-qualified and find a good real estate agent

First things first, you have to get qualified by a lender. Once you’re qualified, your price range estimate at hand, you’ll be able to spend your time shopping in neighborhoods that you can afford. NOTE: Just because the bank says you can qualify for a certain amount, that doesn’t mean you should spend that amount. Make sure you can actually afford the monthly payment, along with all your other bills.

Make sure you plan to be a long-term owner

Once you know your price range and have looked at some properties, it’s time to make sure that you believe you can find a property that you will own for a minimum of five years. If your price range doesn’t match where you want to live, you’d be better off staying a renter and saving some additional money until you can afford where you want to live. This is because an owner really doesn’t earn any equity, on average, in a property for at least five years. 

Educate yourself

Buying property is probably the most complex, riskiest and expensive thing you will ever do. Do your homework: Talk to real estate owners, go to first-time buyer seminars, check out online material and read some books to learn what to avoid in the buying process. The more you educate yourself, the better the chances that when things go wrong -- and they will go wrong -- they will only be minor issues, not major headaches.

Find a nice affordable property

The real gems in real estate are the nice, decent shape, moderately priced, boring houses, town homes and condominiums that are within your budget. Most buyers stretch to purchase the most expensive property they can afford. What if you lose your job? How about saving some of your money for retirement? You want your home to be an asset you can afford, not a liability that leaves you with no additional funds over the cost of homeownership. Also, skip the fixers, prize properties or anything that sounds too good to be true: Those always end up having issues, and owners realize, after the fact, that the deal they thought they were getting really was just too good to be true!

Take your time

Realistically it should take you six months or longer to buy a nice quality property that will add to your long-term wealth. Make sure you have a full understanding of what the marketplace has to offer in your price range and that you know what you’re doing.

Source: foxnews.com

Do you want to work with a Realtor who never fails to provide his clients about pertinent Real Estate information, market trends, tips and what-to-dos?  Call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.

Frankenstorm: a real monster for the recovering Real Estate?

It’s been a great year for the US real estate, crawling its way back from the dark slump to finally regaining the strength it once had. But natural calamities seem to be out of everyone’s control and as the biggest tropical gale Hurricane Sandy hit the Atlantic seaboard, the real estate industry is yet to experience a huge setback from property damage and flooding.

The Frankenstorm, a seemingly appropriate moniker since it was expected to hit just after Halloween weekend, affected Eastern coastal states that account for about one out of every five U.S. real estate sales and threatened inland areas with flooding and blackouts.

Bloomberg website news thoroughly showed the statistics on what the US real estate would look like after the hurricane.

PROPERTY DAMAGE

Almost $88 billion of homes in seven states were at risk of damage, according to a report by CoreLogic Inc., a mortgage software and data firm in Irvine, California. New York had $35.1 billion of property in harm’s way, New Jersey had $22.6 billion, Virginia had $11.3 billion, and Massachusetts had $7.8 billion. Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania had a combined $11 billion of property at risk, CoreLogic said.

SALES PRICE

The U.S. median sales prices in September rose to $183,900, up 11 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. Home sales that month reached an annualized pace of 4.75 million, up 11 percent from a year ago. Pending home sales edged up in September for the 17th consecutive month on a year-over-year basis.

The storm’s central barometric pressure was lower than that of the 1938 hurricane that devastated homes in New York and New England. Flooding from Sandy was reported along the coast from Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts through New Jersey. The storm submerged Plymouth Rock, the landmark in Massachusetts traditionally represented as the place where Pilgrims first stepped onshore in the New World in 1620.

FREDDIE MAC & FANNIE MAE

Freddie Mac said today in a statement that it has authorized servicers to suspend foreclosure proceedings for up to 12 months on mortgages it owns or guarantees in states affected by the storm. Also, the McLean, Virginia-based company said it will permit some on-time borrowers to defer mortgage payments for up to a year, will waive the assessment of late fees against borrowers with storm-damaged homes and will not report delinquencies caused by the disaster to credit bureaus.

Washington-based Fannie Mae issued a statement today urging its servicers to grant borrowers affected by the disaster a 90- day period of deferred or reduced mortgage payments under its existing disaster-relief guidelines.

Let’s hope that Frankenstorm stays a fun moniker rather than become our real-life monster. 

Source: bloomberg.com

Do you want to work with a Realtor who constantly keeps his clients informed about the effects of such natural calamities to their homes and community? Call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.