8K Tax Credit

Call me crazy, but we're in the year 2009.

Hard to say, but be aware that it phases out for taxpayers whose AGI exceeds $75k ($150k jointly) and is eliminated entirely at $90k ($170k jointly). If you can afford Manhattan, you're probably above this threshold.

mda, i`m an idiot... meant 2010.

St Louis Blues Fan,

1. I'm not above the threshold, but can still afford a decent enough UES apartment in the $400-$450K range.

2. Blues suck! Go Devils!

werd.. income cap sucks. it should be adjusted for cost of living in NYC.

I thought it was 250k jointly

No, phaseout begins at 75/150 and the credit is eliminated at 90/170.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5405.pdf

reddog doesn't seem to know too much about interest rates as he is trying to time the bottom. I have been watching this foolishness on the part of buyers for over 17 years and guess what, they are all still renters paying into someone else's equity position. The only difference now is they have families and as a result many of them will be renters forever here in NYC or they will simply have to move on. If you want to stay in NYC and you have the down stroke, the job and the credit score, GET IN THE GAME! As the run up in prices was unsustainable, so too is the interest rate environment we are in right now. Can anyone say inflation?

or i`m still saving up for the down payment... either way

weboughthere, insane. i pay far less to rent. i also own elsewhere. i've owned three apartments. you're out of your ... mind if you're calling for buying now. inflation, yes. inflation how and what asset classes, who knows. inflation when, probably not for a couple of years at the earliest.

the fed and the treasury are still busy filling gaping holes. that's why this month's CPI was deflationary, despite an increase in gas prices.

also, something to remember, we can only control the US banks. there are counterparties involved in the European banks as well, and it looks as though some serious shit may be coming down shortly, vis a vis the Eastern Europeans. That may be enough to tank this tenuous rally.

A couple of friends I know had been dating for 5 years and got married last weekend, mainly to get the 8K!

geniuses.

"A couple of friends I know had been dating for 5 years and got married last weekend, mainly to get the 8K!"

that's true love, princess bride style...

weboughthere, once again, the smart homebuyer with more cash than the usual 5%-10% downpayment should wait till interest rates go UP to buy, locking in a lower principal on the mortgage. remember that when mortgage rates go up, prices adjust downward. if rates weren't pushed down by the government right now, the current drop in prices would have been much more steep (what a homebuyer would prefer). but the huge drop is going to happen anyway, the gov is just slowing it down by pushing rates lower.

there's no reason for a homebuyer to put up with that wealth transfer voluntarily. rates are going to go up pretty soon as demand for an increasing supply of gov paper drops. waiting for that to happen is a no brainer!

admin you wrote:

once again, the smart homebuyer with more cash than the usual 5%-10% downpayment should wait till interest rates go UP to buy, locking in a lower principal on the mortgage. remember that when mortgage rates go up, prices adjust downward.

Just not true. There is surprisingly little, if any, historical correlation between interest rates and housing prices. Rates don't move in a vacuum - they (usually) move up when the economy is strong, and that means an increase in demand for housing which (more than) offsets the monthly increase when rates go up. Take a look at this analysis, which is specifically about the Manhattan market.

http://www.quadlet.com/RE/REReport4.html

And should the massive gov't intervention of the past 18 months result in rates going up for inflationary, not cyclical, reasons, remember that Manhattan housing prices rose sharply in the mid/late 70s stagflation.

I found all of this surprising when I investigated it - I would intuitively think that with so much of manhattan's financial well being directly or indirectly tied to wall street, that house prices here would have a strong correlation to interest rates given that rising rates are almost always bad for investment and commercial banks earnings, in addition to the obvious impact of higher rates on the monthly cost to own, but its just hasn't proven to be the case

printer, I think you need to add an affordability quotient. when property is not affordable, interest rates will have a fairly large effect. the real question is where you think you'll be on the income scale when you decide to buy, how much unemployment you foresee among the potential buyers in your targeted market, and how much cash you can devote.

apartments should become more affordable, but that will obviously be tempered by income loss, which will moderate the increased affordability of lower prices. i'm not sure that historical comparisons are that valuable this time around, there are very few examples, and they are not analogous. this seems uncharted to me.

this is what i love about the bears, and why i started posting a couple of weeks ago after having been an occasional browser of this site. on the way up i would also occasionally browse sites like this, and everything was 'its different this time', 'you can't use historical comparisons', 'buy now or be priced out forever', etc... anyone who wasn't a bull got personally attacked.

and i saw that now the bears are EXACTLY the same, with 'buy now or be priced out forever' replaced by 'why would ANYONE buy now when prices are ABSOLUTELY going down from here' - the certainty of mkt direction, behavior towards those who don't believe in your view, and the mantra of 'it's different this time'

what the hell are you ranting about? we've had a handful of recessions, nothing of this sort post-WWII, the situation is probably closest to the GD. if you wanted to use that for comparison, i'd still say that this time is different. because it is. the magnitude of both the underlying cause of the dislocation and the monetary/policy responses are different than all other recessions, and the responses are different than the GD.

i was on here saying it's different this time a year and a half ago. i'm still saying it's different. at least i'm consistent. i do my best not to personally attack anyone, having been on the very harsh receiving end of such behavior (hi Spunky!!!). even when they tell me to get over myself.