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Written by Patrick Powers, Cook and Zook Marketing Team
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009 |
 The tax credit for first-time home buyers is sneaking up to the November 30th deadline. There are only eleven weeks left to search for a home, sign a ratified contract, perform necessary inspections and settle on your new home. Typically, a normal transaction takes 30-40 days (the majority being the loan process). With this in mind, you want to have a ratified contract by November 1st if you want to claim your $8,000 check. Never has the government given such a great incentive to buy your first home. Tie this in with the historically low interest rates and depressed housing prices, you'll be hard pressed to see an opportunity like this again.
Within the past month, the National Association of Realtors® along with Congressmen and other associations have pushed to extend the $8,000 tax credit for an extra 6 to 12 months. Click here to watch a NAR Government Policy News Brief video urging the tax credit extension. While these proposals are gaining a little steam, no final decision is clear. Analysts think it could help anywhere from 1.1 million to 1.4 million people next year. Many people believe the housing market is on the rebound and there is no need for an extension while others feel the extension will only fuel a faster real estate recovery. Ultimately, the government needs to weigh its options to ensure that spending more money is a sound investment in the real estate market.
If you want to be certain to take advantage of the tax credit, start by getting pre-approved by one of our preferred lenders and give us a call. We look forward to helping you invest in your future!
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Written by Patrick Powers, Cook and Zook Marketing Team
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Monday, 21 September 2009 |
The construction continues on the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension Project that stretches from Falls Church to Tyson's Corner to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. To keep the residents of Northern Virginia informed with the latest construction and traffic details, the Metrorail Project Team distributes a monthly newsletter. Click on the picture below to get the full PDF file with the latest updates.
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Written by Patrick Powers, Cook and Zook Marketing Team
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Wednesday, 09 September 2009 |
 The 2009-2010 College Destinations Index was released earlier this month identifies the top 75 locations in America for college study based on academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunities. The report ranked the Washington Metropolitan Area as the 4th best location in the United States, behind New York, San Francisco and Boston. With at least 140,000 college students, the college population accounts for one student for every eight residents in the District and suburban areas. The author of the report says the purpose of the index is to give prospective college students a guide when considering location, academics, sports program, and costs. Washington scored the highest in two particular areas of the index: concentration of college-age students as well as post-collegiate opportunity. To view the report, you can visit the American Institute for Economic Research. You can purchase the report for $2.00.
Learn more by visiting the Washington Post Article here.
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Monday, 31 August 2009 |
 Many of you are excited about the upcoming football season, which is right around the corner. We are too! Every year we send out Redskins' schedule magnets for your refrigerator at home or your filing cabinet at the office. For those of you who are fans of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, or the University of Maryland, we have added their schedules, too. If anyone is interested in receiving a magnet exactly like this one, please email us at info@cookandzook.com with your mailing address and we'll put one in the mail for you the next day. We tend to have a lot of requests every year, so make sure you get one before they are all gone! Thanks for your continued support helping us grow our business. Go Skins!
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Written by Patrick Powers, Cook and Zook Team
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Wednesday, 19 August 2009 |
 There are new federal tax incentives for 2009 and 2010 that will help cut the costs of going green in your home. This is another effort by the government in hopes to reduce the carbon footprint of our society. The government is planning on paying for 30 percent of the cost of each qualified energy efficiency improvement up to $1,500 each year. That means you can claim a tax credit in 2009 and another tax credit in 2010 for work done in each respective year. That’s a total of $3,000 tax credit in two years! The energy efficient improvements include energy saving windows, attic and wall insulation, air conditioners, furnaces and more. There are some rules and limitations, so please learn more about this tax credit by clicking here. We wrote a blog post entitled "Stimulus Package Tax Credit Part 2" addressing the energy efficient tax credits back in February that has some additional links and helpful information.
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