Liz Mackenzie's (lizmackenzie) Blog

$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit Major Points: The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. The tax credit...

  The link below will take you to the NAR's report on the latest survey results.   http://www.realtor.org/research/research/cre_market_survey    

REALTORS....here is another bit of info for your toolbag! FHA requires that only owners of record may sell properties that will be financed using FHA-insured mortgages. Any resale of property may not occur before 90 days from the last sale date, unless it falls within one of the following excepti...

Check out my Localism page with my blog entries and comments. http://localism.com/neighbor/lizmackenzie

RESPA, enacted by Congress in 1974, is a federal consumer disclosure designed to inform consumers of their settlement costs and to prohibit certain practices, such as referral fees between settlement service providers, that result in higher costs to consumers. The RESPA was recently amended, with...

Possible Mortgage Fraud Red Flags The Latest from the mortgage industry - help our homeowner's and business owners avoid the scam artists!  Some of their tactics are listed below.  1. The business guarantees it can stop a foreclosure regardless of the borrower's actual circumstances.  2. The busi...

The director of the Arkansas Economic Development commision reports that 122 business operations in Arkansas are owned by international companies, employing roughly 33,700 Arkansans. Fifty-four of those companies are based in Europe.

The Arkansas State Police data show "electronic communication devices" were a cause of distraction in 1,336 wrecks from 2007-2008.  Imagine what that last year was! Arkansas drivers can no longer legally text or send em-mails from their handheld devices while driving.   The new law passed in the ...

The profitability of a business is directly impacted by the cost of leasing space--the occupancy cost. For example, a 25¢ differential in leasing a 5,000 square-foot space over a period of 5 years is $75,000. Who wouldn't rather keep that money?  What about your friends, your family and some of ...

In the Little Rock, Central Arkansas area the average days on the market seem to be around 140 days.  The sellers are either gleeful when their propery sells in a few days or angry that they have no offers.  And the buyers are either wary or overly excited about the number of properties on the ma...