At the start of the talk, the original tax credit was going to be $15,000, however, after all the negotiating the tax credit is $8,000, which is still a good amount to help you purchase that new Las Vegas home.

Eligibility for the $8,000 Tax Credit

In order to receive the $8,000 tax credit you must be a first time buyer. The law explains a first time homebuyer is one that has not purchased a home three years prior to the purchase of the new home. If a couple is purchasing the home, the records of both spouses will be used to determine if they are first time buyers.

You must purchase the new home on or after January 1, 2009 and prior to December 1, 2009. The purchase date is defined as the date of the closing when the homeowners receive title to the property. The property purchased can be a new home or a resale home. The home must be the principal residence, meaning the homeowner must live in the home, it cannot be a vacation home, a rental property, or for resale purposes.

Type of Las Vegas Homes that qualify for the $8,000 tax credit

Any home that will be the principal residence of the homeowner including single family detached homes, attached homes such as condos or townhouses, manufactured homes, and houseboats.

Determining the Amount of the Tax Credit

The tax credit is determined by calculating 10% of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000.

Income Limits

The income limits are determined by a person or persons modified adjusted gross income. The MAGI is the total income for the year minus specific deductions prior to the figure you receive after the itemized deduction on personal exemptions or Schedule A. If you look at your Forms 1040 and 1040A, the adjusted gross income is the last figure you find on page 1 and 1st figure on page of the form. Take this figure and add such things as foreign income, foreign-housing deductions, student-loan deductions, IRA-contribution deductions and deductions for higher-education costs, this will be your MAGI.

The tax credit is reduced for homebuyer that has a MAGI of over $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for married filing a joint return. The tax credit is reduced to zero for those that have a MAGI of over $95,000 for singles or $170,000 for married. The rest of the individuals that fall somewhere in between will be reduced accordingly.

In some cases, if you are over the MAGI limit you may still qualify for a partial tax credit.

The Difference between the new $8,000 Tax Credit & the Tax Credit enacted in July of 2008

The major difference is that Obama Administration tax credit does not have to be repaid, as does the July 2008 tax credit, which is really an interest free loan.

If you need a further explanation of the Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers program please contact the Realty ONE Group professionals at (702) 612-7679 for assistance.

Many realtors become unsure and troubled when working with a buyer who is determined to work with multiple practitioners to find a home. The first thing you need to know is how to handle the situation the right way so you don’t end up wasting your time.

Many buyers fancy themselves as players and want to maintain and try to control as much of the home buying process as possible.

You must understand that behind all of this is possibly two motivations, and unfortunately neither are good for you. The first scenario is that they buyers are probably terrified.

Terrified of what you ask?

They are terrified of being committed. They are terrified of making a mistake or being made a fool. They are going to be a lot more trouble than the average buyer to bring to the closing table.

The other scenario is that they have no intention of being loyal to you and they don’t feel guilty because they warned you in the beginning. If only you had read the signs.

These two scenarios could be avoided if you remain attentive and professional. Stay on guard and you can avoid being duped and avoid wasting your time.

While the market started to settle down and mortgage interest rates dropped making things a little more affordable. This may not be news to you, however, because of these events your chances to purchase a Las Vegas home has increased.

There have been an increasing number of foreclosures this year. With the many Las Vegas homes being overpriced, now is the perfect time to buy a foreclosed Las Vegas home below market value.

During the month of November at the JW Marriot in Las Vegas, Hudson & Marshall auctioned off 9 Las Vegas homes which valued from $275,000 to $460,000. The Dallas based Hudson & Marshall don’t just host homes in the Las Vegas area.

They host from the east to west coast. This year alone there will be more than 100 homes on the block in the foreclosure-plauged states of Colorado and Nevada.

Home buyers looking to invest or looking for a quick flip should act now while mortgage interest rates are low and prices for Las Vegas homes are through the roof.

However, some analysts are saying that the median price is a very inaccurate measure of value. Many say that this is true because there is a huge variation between homes.

Andrew Pugh of SellFastLV.com says that while median home prices are up, the volume of Las Vegas homes being sold have dropped off. According to Pugh the stats are set up to fail.

Pugh says, "If only three houses sell in October for $321,000, $320,000 and $55,000 will the (Review Journal) report that home values are rising since the new median $320,000? Perhaps using price per square foot or another measure that gives price in relative terms would be more meaningful".

Pugh also claims that homes that sold as new last year were being sold as resales. This leads one to believe that if the new home median is roughly 10-15 percent higher than the resale median, you could expect the resale prices to increase even if the existing home prices remained the same.

This is not sitting well with those looking to purchase new Las Vegas homes because homeowners know that they will owe more on mortgages than homes are worth.

Looking at stats it is no secret that many homeowners are upside down on their home mortgages. This happens more often than not because lenders know they can rely on inexperienced appraisers who predicated their business on speed and fees the past few years.

According to Ronald James, principal of James & Associates and president of the Las Vegas chapter of the Appraisal Institute, they are seeing assignments where the home is not worth what was paid within the past two years.

This causes a problem because then equity can not be created.

At last count there were over 80 new Las Vegas high rise preconstruction condo projects in the planning stages for the downtown Las Vegas strip. Most of these condo projects will feature fabulous amenities like state of the art conference centers, workout facilities and spas.

The targeted marketing area is the first time home buyers who are struggling to find affordable home ownership and are seeking a lower cost alternative to single family homes with new luxury condos.

The 2006 market offers stark comparisons. The market for Las Vegas condos, homes and rentals feels distinctly different thanks to skyrocketing inventory. SalesTraq showed that there were almost 3,000 resold homes listed in Vegas in April of 2004. That number jumped 250 percent in ’05 and looked to cash in on big appreciation increases.

In April of 2006 there was another inventory raise, this time of 63 percent. That puts the number of available new homes at over 17,000. The numbers are staggering and analysts are saying that consumers are not going through are tough period, they are just seeing the market level itself out.

Las Vegas home buyers are only pay a little more on fixed-rate mortgages than they were a year ago. This number is considerably lower than the 7 and 8 percent they were paying in the mid to late 90′s. These low rates are a huge part in the healing process of the Las Vegas real estate market we are experiencing now.

When you look at it, Las Vegas consumers are paying just a point more than they were in the summer of 2003, when rates had bottomed out at 5.20 percent. That was the lowest average rate since 1985.

Las Vegas developers who were buying homes when the market was soft; hoping for a quick flip are now feeling the pressure as many struggle to break even.

Las Vegas condo buyers have seen the market fluctuate and people who were buying condos to flip them for a profit are worried. As well they should be. The market has moved to a buyer’s market and this is not good for those who were riding the wave of outrageous prices for homes and condos the past couple of years.