Waiting for Godot

Have you ever seen the play, “Waiting for Godot?” It’s a very long play that goes on and on and on waiting for Godot to arrive. As I recall, it’s been a long time since I saw the play, Godot never comes.

Waiting for congress to decide whether to extend the Tax Credit feels a little like Waiting for Godot. Every day we receive snippets of information about whether congress will approve the extension and, indeed, perhaps even expand it. The most common wisdom right now seems to be that the First-Time Homebuyer Credit will be extended to April 30, 2010. That’s good but, unfortunately, it’s during the winter months when sales are typically slower anyway. It would be nice to have it extended through the summer selling season. Who knows, when we get there if the economy has not improved maybe they will extend it again. Let’s take what we can get when it’s available.

Another encouraging possibility is that a new provision will be added which will give up to a $6,500 tax credit to homeowner’s who have lived in their house for at least five years. If this is you and you’ve been thinking about moving, this might be the time to get into the market and take advantage of these great house prices and loan rates. Of course, you still have to sell your house but the combination first-time homebuyer credit and move-up buyer credit might just be what you need to make the change.

I do see some encouraging signs in our market. My previous post discusses the Bellevue, Washington statistics for October 2009. It’s a year-over-year comparison of sales activity and when you look at what is happening over the past year the charts are moving in the right direction.

If you are thinking about putting your house on the market I think this is a good time. We know that the market slows down during the holidays, however, a lot of people have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what is going to happen. They are starting to look and, more importantly, buy. So, get your house in good condition and price it right.

If you are a buyer start your process by talking to a lender to get pre-approved and start looking at houses in your price range to become informed about the market. By the time you’ve done these things we will know what is going to happen with the tax credit.