Sunday, March 11, 2007

New Tax Benefit Proposal for Homebuyers


They say that the best thing about getting hit in the head with a hammer, is that it feels so good when it stops. In creating this Blog, I made a promise to myself that I would refrain from Postings that simply reference Real Estate News or information that is readily available elsewhere on the web. Well, so much for that promise. New Policy: I will reference and comment on Real Estate stories which are of the Good News Variety.
Among another spate of recent disturbing real estate news (sales down, foreclosures up, avg. price down), was this article in today's Ann Arbor News which introduces a new and innovative way to help turn the real estate ship around.


In essence, typically when a homebuyer buys a home, the buyer must pay a property tax based on the purchase price. Under this plan, the buyer would get the opportunity (for a while anyway) to pay the tax rate paid buy the seller. This could be quite a significant savings, depending on the length of time that the seller owned the home. I'm not sure how big of an impact this plan will have in sparking the real estate market, but it is an encouraging sign.

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