Real Estate Information

Two new restaurants opened in East Towne Tosa recently and both delighted me on my first visit. The Daymaker Cafe opened this fall at 7225 W. North Avenue, the former site of the East Towne Cafe. On the recommendation of my waitress, I ordered the homemade corned beef hash. Real corned beef and yummy fried potatoes. True comfort food and great on a cold winter's day! The prices are also reasonable, staying in the $5.95 to 11.95 range for breakfast and lunch, with some dinner selections going a little higher.

Cosmos Cafe, located just a half block down the street at 7203 W. North Avenue, opened in November. I love Greek food and am excited to have a local place to get it. Mark and I both ordered gyros and split the Greek Village salad. The lamb on the gyros was very light and flavorful, perfectly done. Portions were generous and prices very reasonable; almost everything on the menu is $6 or under. I will be back to try the Spanakopita and their Friday fish fry.

We are extremely fortunate to have so many fabulous restaurants on North Avenue, from Juniper 61 to Ted's to Cranky Al's to Il Mito and now 2 more gems have been added to the line up!

There is a lot of uncertainty and misinformation circulating about the newly extended and expanded home buyer tax credit. I will try to end some of the confusion here, by highlighting the main criteria and answering some frequently asked questions.

First of all, who is eligible? You qualify for up to an $8,000 tax credit if you have not owned a principal residence for the last 3 years (the IRS uses this definition of a "first time buyer").

You qualify for up to a $6,500 tax credit if you have owned a principal residence for five consecutive years, out of the last eight years, and now purchase a "replacement" principal residence.

I say up to because the credit is 10% of the purchase price, with a maximum of $8,000 for "first time" buyers and a maximum of $6,500 for "replacement" buyers.

There are also income requirements that all buyers must meet. A single buyer can make no more than $125,000 in "modified adjusted gross income" and those filing jointly cannot exceed $225,000. There may be a portion of the credit available to those singles filers who make between $125,000 and $145,000 and joint filers with income between $225,000 and $245,000; check with your accountant for exact amounts, if your income is within that range.

There are also a few new rules. First, the new home cannot cost more than $800,000. Also, you must be at least 18 to be eligible and lastly, anyone who is counted as a dependent on another's tax return is not eligible for the credit.

All buyers must have a written accepted offer by April 30, 2010 and must close on that transaction no later than June 30, 2010.

Once you have closed on the new home, use IRS revised Form 5405 (will be downloadable from their web site www.IRS.gov late 2009) to claim the credit.

Please feel free to contact me with specific questions. This is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of the current market! 

HO, HO, HO! Don't miss Santa! He will be in the village, at Root Common Park (located at the intersection of Wauwatosa & Harwood Avenue) for the annual tree lighting this Saturday, December 5th at 5 pm. You'll also enjoy carols by the McKinley School children's choir. Don't forget to bring a nonperishable food item for the Tosa food pantry also. For more details on all the holiday festivities, visit http://www.villageofwauwatosa.com/

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.