Obama, Here are your housing goals for 2009!

President Elect Obama,

If you want housing to stabilize and the economy to strengthen, here are your economic goals for 2009!

1. Get interest rates on mortgages at or below 4.0% for all of 2009.

2. Convince banks to refinance homes with little or no (and even negative) equity. It’s better to refi homeowners at current interest rates than to foreclose on them, or worse yet…bail them out by eating hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity! There are many homeowners who want to refinance, but banks are telling them “No!” due to their lack of an equity position on their mortgage. These are people who actually want to stay in their home even thought they have no equity. As long as they qualify on income and credit scores, why not refinance the loan? If these homeowners were able to refinance it would reduce foreclosures and lessen the flood of distressed homes on the market.

3. Stimulate home buying by offering up to $20,000 for new home buyers in 2009 and possibly in to 2010. The current $7,500 tax credit is not even really a tax credit. It is an interest free loan from the governement It has to be paid back over 15 years. Offer a REAL tax credit!

4. Waive the future tax on capital gains from the gain on sale of investment property purchased in 2009. This will spur more investors to buy property NOW rather than wait.

Obama, if you get these passed in the first quarter of 2009 and you will see that the 2^nd quarter of 2009 will be the bottom of the current real estate market. If you don’t, then watch out!…..this housing slump could extend into 2010 and beyond!!!