North Idaho Janna

They've AGREED to it, but it still needs to pass a vote and get the President's signature...

USAToday is reporting that Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers.  Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time home buyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers.  The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new home sales fell 3.6% in September, and some industry representatives blamed uncertainty about the tax credit. The tax credits would be available to home buyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April.

House leaders have also said they support extending the tax credit for home buyers. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been negotiating for several weeks with Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to craft an extended tax credit for homebuyers that would pass the Senate. Lawmakers didn't release a cost estimate for extending the tax credit, though similar proposals were projected to cost about $10 billion.

Industry representatives said uncertainty about the tax credit is hurting new home sales. September's decline was the first since March. It takes 45 days to 60 days to close on a house, making it unlikely a sale made today would be consummated by the end of November, said Lucien Salvant, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. "Buyers right now have an incentive to hold off, not knowing whether the credit will be extended," Salvant said. About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit.

Do you know your neighbors?  I mean REALLY know your neighbors?

I'm blessed to live in a wonderful community that is postcard pretty, peaceful and relatively safe.  That being said, there are criminals amongst us, no matter where we live.  People who have, and would, do harm to us and ours.  Are you safe?  You have a right to know.

Life would be good if the dangerous and unsavory characters were readily apparent, if something about them made it obvious to us that danger was present so we would know to keep our distance and keep our guard up.

That is not the reality, but there is a site we can go to that will pull up a map of our neighborhood with homes of felons flagged.  It's felonspy.com.  Just enter your address and up pops your neighborhood map flagged with names, age of the felons and crimes committed.  I pulled up my own rural neighborhood and was surprised by the close proximity of 5 men from 22 to 45 who had been convicted of: attempted rape, 1st degree unlawful imprisonment, attempted sexual conduct with a child, and two convicted of aggravated sexual abuse.

Take a minute to check out your neighborhood, and then pass the link on to the people you love and care about.  

Today is a GOOD DAY! 

Back in June I received an email from a woman who had stumbled in cyberspace upon a story I had just posted to my blog.  It was about REALLY BAD photos I had just come across when doing a search of high end homes.  Those awful photos are a pet peeve of mine, they leave me scratching my head in amazement.  From time to time I post them on my blog so you can be amazed and astonished, too!   

In her email, Jennifer asked me if I could recommend a good real estate agent to sell her LOW end home, since I prefer HIGH end homes.  Holy Moses!  I quickly convinced her that I love to market homes of ANY price that are well cared for and priced correctly!  (ESPECIALLY in a market where 68% of homes sold last month were under $200K, and just 12% were above $300K...)

We set out on June 9 to get her cute-as-a-button 728 sq. ft. vintage home sold in time for her wedding in September.  Jen works from home and needs high speed internet.  Her fiance had a house and a job in the Silver Valley, without access to high speed internet.  Hmmm.  Each home was perfect for them as individuals, neither would work well for them as a couple. 

As cute as it is, and well maintained, Jen's house proved a challenge because it was so petite! As time passed and her Hawaiian wedding approached, Jen resigned herself to Plan B.  As it turned out, the day that Jen and John were saying their wedding vows beside the ocean, the offer came in.  I got to call her on the morning of her first day of married life to present the offer.  She countered via the fax machine at the library near the beach on Kauai.

This morning, I was privileged to witness Jen get her happy ending to homeownership as a single woman.  It's a new beginning for her and John as they begin their search for the perfect house for their life together.  Working with Jen has been the absolute bright spot in a long season full of distressed sellers and difficult transactions.  May she and John live happily ever after!

THIS is the best part of my job!

Today dawned in the pouring rain, a busy day and lots to do.  Tying up the last loose ends for a closing tomorrow, my buyer client asked me a question about the legal description.  Within the legal description for the home they are buying is this bracketed bit: [IN GOVT LT3]

She asked me what that meant, and I had no idea.  I made a call to my helpful friends at Pioneer Title for the answer.  When a section in a Land Survey System legal description (as in Section,Township, Range) isn't a full section for some reason, it is called a Government Lot for legal description purposes.  In our case, they are buying a home on the water, and the lake takes a bite out of a full section of land.  Therefore, it's not in Section 3, but rather in Government Lot 3. 

Fast forward to my soggy afternoon overseeing the lender ordered septic inspection for an out of state seller who had never lived in her house which was purchased as an investment.  Let me just interject here that I am a city girl, and until 14 months ago I practiced real estate in a city where we didn't use sections, townships and ranges in legal descriptions and septic tanks were few and far between.

I learned how to find a septic tank when no one knows where it is!  The friendly but wet and frustrated septic guy was finding it impossible to find the septic tank and I drove out to assist.  He needed access to the vacant house to flush a transmitter.  Huh?  He explained that he was going to flush a transmitter that would travel through the system and into the septic tank.  We then proceeded to wander through soggy hip-high weeds in the pouring rain with his big wand thing that reminded me of a metal detector.  He said it would signal when it was over the transmitter that he had just flushed.  He muttered something about hoping it wasn't under the big deck, and I said that would be a really stupid spot for someone to have put a septic tank, literally right outside the kitchen door. Well you guessed it.  He picked up his signal under the deck, directly beneath where the hot tub is sitting.

We didn't get the septic tank pumped and inspected today, but I learned a couple of random things in the rain that I never knew I didn't know! 

If you have a real estate related question, I would love to research the answer for you.  The only dumb question is one that's never asked! 

The tax credit deadline for first time homebuyers is rapidly approaching.  Although November 30 is the deadline to have closed on your home, it will take your lender at approximately 30 days to close your new mortgage.  Although it might be possible to find one that can close in less time, it's not likely.  Many lenders have announced that October 30 is their deadline to accept new loan applications to close in time for that November 30 deadline.

That means this last week of October is the last remaining narrow window of time to find your home, negotiate a purchase offer and start moving towards a closing! 

If you have been sitting on the fence, it's time to hop off and get moving! Give me a call and I will help you write your own success story to add to thousands of others who have made their dream of homeownership a reality with the help of Uncle Sam and his $8000 incentive!

News articles all over the web this past week have been illuminating a massive amount of fraud being committed in connection with the $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit that is scheduled to expire on November 30th.  I wonder how much effect this latest report by the treasury tax-oversight office will have on the intense lobbying efforts to have the tax credit extended.

According to Treasury oversight officials, in addition to those 19,000 filers, who have already received the $8000, there are an additional 74,000 tax-credit claims, valued at $500 million, where evidence of previous home ownership could make their claims invalid. 

The tax credit has no minimum age requirement, and more than 500 people under the age of 18, including a 4-year-old, had their names on applications for the credit.  Most of these claims were made by parents of the children who weren't qualified because their incomes were too high.

Johnny Isakson (R, Ga.) is leading the charge for congressional approval to extend the credit.  He is hopeful that an extension can move in the Senate next week.  "Just because someone used fraud doesn't mean the credit is a bad idea, it means there are some bad folks running around." he said.

Today's  Coeur d'Alene Press had a very nice write up about Courtyard Construction's achievement of building the county's first NAHB-certified Green home.

The home at 15156 Pristine Circle in Rathdrum's Radiant Lake Subdivision is Kootenai County's first home certified by the National Association of Home Builders' Green Building Program.  It will be open today from 11:00 to 3:00.  Give me a call if you'd like to see it at another time.

The 1.446 sq. ft. Green home is appropriately painted green and is on the market for $209,000.  The heating bill for the home is expected to be about 1/3 that of a traditionally built home.  County building code requires an 80% efficient furnace, but the Green home has a furnace with 95% efficiency.  There is a long list of other features and construction practices that are required in order to obtain certification.  It is not an easy, or inexpensive endeavor.  Third party verificaton is required for Green certification.  Utility company rebates and other incentives help mitigate the upfront costs. 

Aside from being a highly efficient home, it is also built with practices that make for healthier living.  One example is that there are no pink or yellow dyes in the fiberglass insulation which would be contributing to volatile organic compounds in the air. 

"This isn't the best time to be putting up a model home, but we thought it was appropriate," Washington said.  "Rather than just talk about it, we wanted to stand behind waht we believe in."  Washington is the co-chairman of the green building committee of the North Idaho Building Contractor's Association.

Courtyard Construction should be commended for leading the way in Green building in Kootenai County.  I spent several years repesenting a custom home builder and can tell you that all builders are NOT the same!  If you are thinking of having your next home built, give me a call and I will provide you with the information you need to select the best local builder for your individual needs.

A little article buried in this morning's Coeur d'Alene Press caught my attention.  A Kootenai County resident, Dennis Slavick, will be stating his case to the Idaho board of Tax Appeals at 10:30 a.m Monday morning, at the Ameritel Inn in Coeur d'Alene.

It seems Mr. Slavick has done a lot of research on the way Kootenai County assesses property.  He thinks that instead of using sales spanning the previous year, the county should base them on the market value of the year they are levied.  Sounds reasonable to me.

As a Realtor, I have to admit that I have found Kootenai County's system to be very interesting as well as confusing for most people when prorations are calculated at closings.  Having sold real estate in Colorado before moving back home to Coeur d'Alene last year, I am still trying to understand why we do it here the way we do. 

Next week, when my client closes on her cute little vintage home, she is going to have to credit her buyer with the property taxes that have acrued from January 1 of 2009 to October 27.  The problem is those taxes haven't been assessed yet, and won't be until December.  So no one REALLY knows how much she is going to owe to credit the buyer, who will then have to pay the seller's portion of the year's taxes when they come due.  The amount my seller will credit the buyer will be based on last year's tax amount.  The buyer will receive the estimated tax money from the seller at closing and will be responsible to pay the tax bill when it comes.  If the bill is higher, the buyer will have to cough it up.  If it's less, the buyer will have a surplus. 

Now contrast that to my previous county, were values are assessed on January 1st for the current year.  An actual, true proration can occur.  Let's say the annual tax bill was $365.  That averages a dollar a day.  My seller will have owned the house for exactly 229 days of 2009.  At her closing next week she would credit the buyer with $229 to pay the tax bill when it comes due at the end of the year.  Pretty simple. 

Mr. Slavic says, "I've done a lot of research on this, all the way back from 1914 to what they have done presently on market values.  They are either erroneous or they're ignoring it or they're just flat breaking the law."   There wasn't enough information in the story to understand entirely what his complaint is, but I agree with him that there is room for improvement.

The state board will likely make a decision on the appeal next summer. 

Here are updated links to every river and lake home for sale in Coeur d'Alene, Hayden Lake, Post Falls and surrounding areas:

Coeur d'Alene Lake
Hayden Lake
Spokane River
Avondale Lake
Spirit Lake
Twin Lakes
Bayview

The great thing about these reports is that they will be automatically updated daily with new listings and status changes.  Be sure to check back daily to see anything new just as soon as it hits the market.  These links will remain active until November 23.  After that, find updated links at my website, www.JannaScharf.com.

Inventory on Coeur d'Alene area waterfront homes is at an all time high, making this a rare buyer's market for these premier homes.  Give me a call if you would like to take this opportunity to gain a great value in a lakefront property in the Coeur d'Alene area.

I have a client who is currently searching for a home in the Lakeland Joint School District 272.  It's a very well respected and desired school district with an Excellent report card from the State Board of Education.  Most people would give it a definite A+.

I thought I would share the link to the list I generated for her with details and photos of all 481 homes currently for sale in the Lakeland Joint School District #272.  You can click through them to see photos, tax information and any documents that the listing agent may have uploaded.

Enjoy your search.  This link will be active for 30 days, and will update daily with new listings and status changes as soon as they are entered into the MLS.

If you would like more information on these or any other homes, don't hesitate to give me a call.  I would love to help you find the home of your dreams!

My new Facebook friend Janet posted a link to a blog by Bake Me a Wish! that tells of a lady who saved her home from foreclosure by baking 4000 Apple Cakes!

Now that's clever! This past summer, 56 year old Angela Logan was facing the foreclosure of her home of 20 years.  She decided to bake and sell her much-loved apple cake recipe, an endeavor that struck a cord with people all over the world.  When she had more orders than she could manage, New York based Bake Me a Wish! came to her rescue.  She has since trademarked her signature cake, now known as the Mortgage Apple Cake. Her motto: Stopping Foreclosure One Cake at a Time!

She has emerged from foreclosure and is now paying it forward.  Says Logan, "People really rallied behind me and helped me when I needed it most, so I really want to pay it forward and let my cakes help others. The big lesson I learned through my ordeal is that there is no shame admitting there is a problem and then asking for help. Help is truly out there."

Angela is paying it forward with a new association with GreenPath Debt Solutions, a nationwide nonprofit consumer credit counseling service

"When we learned of what Angela had gone through, what she did to save her home and how her story resonated with others, we were happy to learn she wanted to help GreenPath in its mission..." said Jane McNamara, President and CEO of GreenPath.

If you are facing foresclosure in Coeur d'Alene or the surrounding area, give me a call to talk about alternatives that may be available to you to save your home.  As Angela said, there is no shame in asking for help.

Now if you're hungry for Apple Cake after reading this, like I am, here is a recipe that looks fabulous.  I found it at Diana's Desserts and I'm going to make one of these as soon as I get home! 

An interesting article in this morning's Coeur d'Alene Press points out a safety precaution I hadn't ever considered.

A woman reported the theft of a new big screen TV from her home the other night.  It was stolen during the night while her teenage son slept on a couch just 10 feet from the TV! 

The interesting thing to note was that she admitted that the box the new TV had come in was sitting on the porch right outside the door she thinks may have been unlocked.

It stands to reason that an empty big screen TV box outside your door is communicating to everyone who passes by - HEY! THERE IS A BRAND NEW BIG SCREEN TV AT MY HOUSE! Now if one of those passersby is a thief it shouldn't come as a surprise that your new TV turns up missing!

Another article today tells the story of a woman who left her keys in her car outside her apartment to run in the use the restroom.  When she came out, it was gone!  It later turned up in a neighboring state, totaled, in a ditch full of water, with a gun inside and a bullet hole in the door.  Seems she just missed a close encounter with an alleged killer arrested for a double homicide in Spokane on September 26th. 

We live in a small town in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.  These stories in today's paper are a good reminder that we just can't be too careful.  At the very least we should exercise common sense and basic safety precautions as we go about our daily activities. 

I love cooking for a crowd, and this past weekend I gathered the troops for my son's 16th birthday celebration.  My talented sister Kerri snapped photos of the food I prepared, which inspired me to share the recipes.  

A variation of this beautiful salad anchors the meal at just about every family function.  There are a few non-negotiable ingredients, but they vary with the season and what's in the refrigerator. For us, the non-negotiables are mandarin oranges, grapefruit, sliced red onion, avocado and some kind of berry.  You can see from the picture, there are no strawberries here, in spite of the name - Strawberry Salad!  The key is the dressing which is whipped up in the blender.  It's sweet, but as you can see, the salad is more fruit than vegetable.  The dressing has a SECRET INGREDIENT - red onion.  It gives the dressing a pretty pink color that people guess is from berries!

STRAWBERRY SALAD

To a bowl of romaine lettuce mixed with baby spinach leaves add any or all of the following: grapefruit, mandarin oranges, pomegranate, sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, tomatoe, mushrooms, red onion, diced apple, grated cheese, sugared nuts. 

Dressing (makes 3 cups): 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp dry mustard, 2/3 C cidar vinegar, 3 TBS chopped onion, (I use about a half cup of red onion) 1 1/2 C sugar, 1 1/2 C light olive oil, 2 TBS poppy seeds.  Blend everything except the oil and poppy seeds until liquified.  Gradually add the olive oil until blended.  Stir in the poppy seeds.  Enjoy!

If you are looking to cook up a real estate deal in Coeur d'Alene Idaho or surrounding area, give me a call today!

We gathered on the occassion of Derek's 16th birthday for a big family dinner.  My sister Kerri is a professional photographer.  As a result, she is never without her camera.   Our family benefits from having her snapping fabulous photos as a routine course of action.  Whenever she's over, she loves to capture photos of the food I cook for her file of stock photos.  Who knows where they might appear someday!  When I saw this one posted on Facebook with the birthday album, it inspired me to share the recipe.  This was what Derek requested I cook for him, and it was enjoyed by all. 

Balsamic Chicken 

1 tsp olive oil
3/4 C coarsely chopped onion
4 garlic cloves sliced
4 4oz chicken breast halves
1 C sliced bell pepper
1/4 C sliced mushrooms
1/2 C Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion & garlic and saute for 3 minutes.  Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.  Add bell pepper and next 4 ingredients.  Reduce heat to medium and cook 20 minutes or until chicken is done.  Serve over rice or pasta.

Now, if cooking up a real estate deal is on your menu, just give me a call and let's get started! 

If you have followed my blog for the past 14 months, you will know that I relocated from Colorado to Idaho in August of 2008.  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is where I was raised, married, bought my first home and had my first three children.  But my little family moved away in 1981 and we are just now returning to settle in for the long haul.

We spent 17 years in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado.  We built a nice life there, raised five children, added a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters, and made many wonderful friendships that will last a lifetime.  We came back to Idaho with just our "baby" as he started high school.  Life is different now.  Quiet.  What has been hardest getting used to is having a quiet house, mostly empty.  My son, husband and I pass each other coming and going for the most part. 

I miss a lot of things, but mostly having my house full of people, hustling and bustling, active and alive! 

Last night, we hosted my son's Coeur d'Alene High School Vikings cross country team for their weekly team dinner.  It was fun to have my house full for the first time in a long time.  At one point I walked past the entry and did a double take.  There was an old familiar sight, one I hadn't seen for as long as I can remember.  SHOES!  Lots and lots of shoes! 

That funny, wonderful sight touched my heart.  That was the moment that the house I live in finally felt like home!

On ongoing controversy in our beautiful Lake City of Coeur d'Alene Idaho is the operations of the Lake City Development Corporation (LCDC).  What has many area residents up in arms is the manner in which LCDC uses tax increment funding in accordance with Chapter 29, Title 50, Local Economic Development Act of 1988.

As our city council elections approach, a new controversy has arisin and reached hysterical proportions.  It is the firing of Jim Brannon, the executive director of our local Habitat for Humanity organization.  Minutes before the televised taping of his live debate with council incumbent  Mike Kennedy who is charged with overseeing LCDC, Brannon, who is an outspoken opponent of LCDC, was fired. 

I have watched the histrionics on both sides of the LCDC fence for over a year as I have tried to understand the issue and take a position.

I see value for Coeur d'Alene in the beautiful projects that have been developed through Lake City Development Corporation. Coeur d'Alene is a beautiful town and tourist destination.  Tourists bring big bucks to our economy, as well as fuel sales of vacation homes.  Many of those tourists eventually relocate, and feed sales of homes in the area. 

But with the way it is structured, I also see the potential for corruption, and the power of special interests, in the way LCDC operates and the unfair shifting of the tax burden for services onto taxpayers OUTSIDE the 729-acre Lake District and 363-acre River District.  It just doesn't seem fair. 

I've received good news this week, and I've received some disappointments.  I have decided that bad news is so much easier taken when it is accompanied by some good stuff.  Something like "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down..." 

The good stuff this week, for which I am full of gratitude -

• I have taxes due today and a payday yesterday with which to pay them!
• My baby turned 16, and in order to post his birthday photo album to Facebook I spent a chunk of time walking down memory lane as I dug through old photos.  I LOVE MY FAMILY!
• My college sophomore daughter called excitedly to announce she was unexpectedly accepted into her desired major, the very competitive advertising program in the Department of Communications.
• A client of mine prevailed in a court battle with a con artist after he put her through many months of unbelievable anguish.

 God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say "thank you?
William Arthur Ward

An extension, which applies to military personnel who spent at least 90 days of the current calendar year oversees, was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives.  The extension also was approved for foreign service and intelligence officers.  HR 3590 extends the existing tax credit to this group until November 30th, 2010. 

The bill now goes to the Senate, and is expected to pass with the same ease.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) because it was thought that military personnel serving oversees this year did not have the same opportunity to take advantage of the tax credit. 

Still waiting for word on whether the $8,000 tax credit will be extended for all eligible borrowers.