I was explaining the first time home buyer tax credit just yesterday - and the client was stunned. "Why don't people know about this?"

Well, there's knowing it exists and there's knowing how to access it.

For people buying a home to owner occupy between now and November 30, 2009, there is a tax credit of $8,000 available if they meet the qualifications.

A tax credit is a reduction in TAX which can be paid as a refund if no tax is owed. Most people are familiar with an income credit, which reduces only the income on which tax is owed.

Simply put, if your client is like most people, they get a refund back each year. This tax credit gives them an additional eight thousand dollars in refund. This money can be used to pay down payment and closing costs in the State of Texas (while funding holds out) or just gives your customer a huge refund.

So, you can generate more closings or more referrals by letting your customers know about this program. Even if they don't personally qualify, the information may help their friends, which increases referrals and retention.

Here are the bullet points you can use to let people know about the program:

* First time home buyer means that they cannot have owned any property during the three years prior to the purchase
* If they borrowed money to purchase, it has to be an FHA loan
* They can either take the credit when they file their 2009 tax return next year, OR they can amend their 2008 return and take the credit now - getting the money in about six weeks
* They cannot have delinquent student loans, tax obligations, money owed to the Federal government, or child support obligations, or the credit would be used to pay down those obligations
* If they earned more than $90,000 in gross income in the year they take the credit, they are ineligible

Here is where the real meat is, that will give you the ability to generate a ton of good will and more referrals -

* If they bought their first home (under these rules) between April 1, 2008 and today, they can amend their 2008 return and get the money before summer's end.

Think for a moment what it would do for you if someone you had done good business with contacted you and said "Hey, I think you qualify to get eight grand back from the IRS - you should look into that". Would you be excited? Would you think first of that person when a friend was looking for that service?

You sure would.

If you want to know how to use the money for new transactions at closing, I'll gladly go through that for you with a more detailed briefing.

If you'd like a flyer that you can send out to your clients, just hit me back and tell me how many you want.

Of course, everything has to have a hook in it - I do these tax return amendments for $125 each. I would love to support you in expanding your good will by delivering swift, accurate and warm service to your clients!

I know that it's tough to think about marketing yourself most of the time, given that there is so much else to be done - but this is a slam dunk way to generate terrific good will only for going through your closing list and contacting people who look like they qualify.

If you want to visit about this and get more information, please call me!

Douglas

Forty years ago today

Watching this video reconnects me to the sense of excitement and exhilaration that I felt forty years ago, watching this live in the summer of 1969.

Looking on the brighter side

How many times have you had someone tell you to just cheer up, or to look at the bright side? How many self-help programs tell you to focus on the positive?

For many years, I thought looking on the brighter side was either a Pollyanna exhortation or an impossibility. What about all of this reality?

Other people's negativity brought about my own negative reaction to them. THEY shouldn't be so negative, after all. They were unfair, and unreasonable. MY negativity, though was always VERY reasonable.

I know that my own view of my life has changed quite a bit, and now when I observe someone else's negativity, I just find it noteworthy and something I don't choose to be near. An example -

The office occupants downstairs from us operate a healing practice - chiropractic, massage, acupuncture and such. The requisite elements are present - lovely bamboo, comforting furniture, appealing scent - yet, in our short relationship as neighbors they have complained repeatedly of our interference with their occupancy. They have locked the gates and doors without considering whether we are present, they have parked their cars to block us from entering or leaving, and then complained repeatedly about our presence, not our acts.

It used to really annoy me, their view and communications. Now, I just find it puzzling. Do they understand the weird connection between their business and their lack of awareness of other people?

Looking on the brighter side IS a choice. It feels better, and it is antithetical to the way most humans are trained to view life. It requires practice and repetition to seed firmly into the psyche. There is not a sense of Pollyanna ignorance to having a brighter viewpoint - there is only peace and a sense that everything will work out as it should.

Today's New York Times features an article that suggests a life without enjoyment isn't worth living. Very interesting stuff to consume as I reflect on this idea.