Sean Cutright's Blog

If you're considering getting more involved in Twitter and other Social Networking sites to improve your online real estate marketing potential, what are you waiting for?

A new report shows that 11 percent of online Americans are now using Twitter. The study, conducted by Pew Internet&American Life Project, shows that the percentage of online Americans using Twitter has increased from 9 percent in December and 6 percent in May. Odds are, it will continue to increase.

Though 20 percent of online Americans age 18-to-24 use Twitter, the median age of Twitter users is 31. That's above the median age of 27 for MySpace users and 26 for Facebook users, but below the median age of 40 for LinkedIn users.

I'll soon be releasing more about the top Social Networking tools and how members of the real estate industry are using them to improve their online business and marketing, and increase traffic to their real estate website and lead management systems.

In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/seancutright. See my website at www.seancutright.com or click to view/friend/follow my accounts at the following Social Networking sites: Facebook, Trulia, ActiveRain and LinkedIn.

From Sean Cutright's blog on real estate news and technology:

It appears the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit wasn't the only housing proposal that Congress recently shot down. They also nixed Amendment 353, a Senate plan that would have encouraged banks to lower mortgage rates to 4-4.5 percent.

A Los Angeles Times story on the amendment's vote states:
"A plan by Republicans in the Senate aimed at pushing mortgage rates lower has gone down to defeat at the hands of Democrats.

The plan by Nevada Republican John Ensign would have encouraged banks to issue mortgages with interest rates of 4 to 4.5 percent. The government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have bought the mortgages on the secondary market. Jumbo loans would have been ineligible.

Democrats killed the idea Thursday night by a 62-35 vote.

The plan also contained an assortment of expensive tax cuts such as cutting the bottom 10 percent income tax rate in half for two years.

New York Democrat Charles Schumer said the plan was too expensive and would provide a windfall to banks charging fees to refinance mortgages."

Will Congress re-work the amendment? It's tough to say now, as it seems to have been over-looked by the homebuyer tax credit proposed as part of the economic stimulus bill. The homebuyer tax credit was initially proposed at $15,000, then was said to have been "wiped out" of the bill, only to resurface at $8,000. Details are still being worked out on the tax credit, including an update that the credit will only be good for homes purchased through the end of August.

I will keep you posted with any new updates on these topics and other real estate news.

-Sean Cutright

From Sean Cutright's blog:
In digging through the scattered details of the homebuyer tax credit of the economic stimulus bill, I have occasionally found a new update here and there.

The latest? That the now-$8,000 homebuyer tax credit is only good for homes purchased by the end of August.

The article, which can be found here, states:

"A $15,000 tax credit for anybody buying a home over the next year was dropped; instead, first-time homebuyers could claim an $8,000 credit for homes bought by the end of August. Car buyers could deduct the sales tax they paid on a new car but not the interest on their car loans."

I'm not sure why the credit is only good for homes purchased within the next seven months, but I'll be looking to find out.

-Sean Cutright

From Sean Cutright's blog:

In an interesting turn of events, a Bloomberg.com article is reporting that the homebuyer tax credit was not removed from the economic stimulus package, but was reduced from $15,000 to $8,000 max.

The article, which was updated just after 7pm Eastern on Wednesday, stated:

"Negotiators all but eliminated the biggest tax cut for businesses, a provision that would let companies convert losses into tax refunds, Baucus said. He said the provision, which would have let companies claim an estimated $67.5 billion in tax refunds this year and next, was sacrificed to help keep the final package under $800 billion. A proposed $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers was reduced to $8,000, Baucus said."

So we've gone from a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, to a possible reduction of the credit, to a rumor of the credit being removed entirely, back to the credit having been reduced to $8,000, and all in a span of eight hours.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are more twists to this story by the time the bill makes it to President Obama's desk, IF it makes it to his desk. If so, I promise to keep you updated.

Questions or comments? Contact Sean Cutright at scutright@deltagroup.com.

A new update from the Associated Press suggests that the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit may have been taken out of the economic stimulus package entirely.

The AP story with this update is the same as one I linked to here, but the wording in the story has been changed. The new story states:

"Working to accommodate the new, lower overall limit of the bill, negotiators effectively wiped out a Senate-passed provision for a new $15,000 tax credit to defray the cost of buying a home, these officials said. The agreement would allow taxpayers to deduct the sales tax paid on new car purchases, but not the interest on loans for the same vehicles."

The previous article stated:

"[Max] Baucus had said earlier that $35.5 billion to provide a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, approved in the Senate last week, would be cut back. There was also pressure to reduce a Senate-passed tax break for new car buyers, according to Democratic officials."

How quickly things can change in Congress.

Without the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, will the bill revert back to the $7,500 tax credit? The updated verbiage of this story opens a lot of new and discomforting questions. Contact Sean Cutright at scutright@deltagroup.com if you have any.

Will the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit be scaled back in the final versions of the recently-approved economic stimulus package?

Reports say so, as can be seen in the eighth paragraph of this Yahoo! story. According to the article:

"Baucus had said earlier that $35.5 billion to provide a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, approved in the Senate last week, would be cut back. There was also pressure to reduce a Senate-passed tax break for new car buyers, according to Democratic officials."

"Baucus" refers to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana. So far, Baucus is the only member of the committee to reportedly make such a statement publicly.

I promised to deliver the most up to date news on this topic, and will continue to do so as updates come. Contact Sean Cutright with questions and comments at scutright@deltagroup.com.

To read previous and future updates on the homebuyer tax credit, visit Sean Cutright's blog at www.dripmarketingblog.com.

I kept an updated record on my blog of the homebuyer tax credit as details were released yesterday of the Senate's passing of the economic stimulus package. Below is one of those entries.


Inman News has just posted the most thorough breakdown I've come across of the economic stimulus package and how the $15,000 homebuyer tax credit relates to the real estate industry.

Click here to read the article

The Inman News article states that "the National Association of Home Builders welcomed the Senate's move, saying a $15,000 tax break for all home buyers could generate nearly 500,000 home sales and create more than 255,000 jobs."

The Inman article also noted:

"The Senate today approved an $838 billion economic stimulus bill that includes a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, just hours after President Barack Obama's new Treasury secretary unveiled a multitrillion-dollar financial stability plan that includes $50 billion for foreclosure prevention programs.

"The financial stability plan may also lead to an expansion of existing efforts by the Federal Reserve to drive down mortgage interest rates by buying mortgage-backed securities and debt issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae."

I will post more information as it is released. If you have comments, questions, or more helpful materials to share, please contact Sean Cutright at scutright@deltagroup.com.