Santa Photos for Helpline…
Windermere is sponsoring photos with Santa with all proceeds donated to Helpline House. Santa will be at the corner of Winslow Way and 305 (Winslow’s Corner) on Sunday, December 7 from 10am-3pm; Monday, December 8 from 4pm-8pm and Sunday, December 14 from 10am-3pm. Please bring a non-perishable food item or $5.00 donation.
Helpline House is able to leverage their buying power so a $5.00 donation can buy food for many…please come and enjoy the season.
This is an all-volunteer effort so all monies and food collected go straight to Helpline.
Happy Holidays!

Help on the way?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has presented a formal NAR Housing Stimulus Plan to Congress, hoping that the government will take action during this lame-duck session. The stimulus plan is NAR’s attempt to arrest the decline in home values which is a critical step in turning around the economy.
The Stimulus Plan has for major items:
Make the 2008 Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA (conforming) loan limits permanent. Currently those loan limits are up to $729,750, dependent upon location. The current Conforming Loan Limit in Kitsap County is $475,000. If this legislation does not pass, the Conforming Loan Limit in Kitsap County will reset to $417,000.
Open the first-time homebuyer tax credit ($7500) to all homebuyers and eliminate the need to repay the credit.
Use a portion of the $700 billion ‘bailout’ money to create a temporary federal mortgage interest rate buy-down program. They intent is to lower the interest rate to 4.5% or lower for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for buyers purchase either new or existing homes up to $1M.
Ban Banks from engaging in real estate brokerage or real estate management, permanently.

Perhaps the most controversial part of this plan is the third point; the interest rate buy down. Since this buy-down only applies to purchases (not refinances) many argue that this may stimulate the housing market, but will not help those needing mortgage relief.

These are expensive plans to instigate. It is estimated that the interest rate buy-down, as currently structured, will cost up to $100 billion per year. If the plan were to include homeowner’s needing to lower their interest rate the cost could exceed trillions of dollars.

Clearly, we need drastic measures for what are proving to be drastic times. On the other hand, we must be mindful of the debt we (and our children) are incurring for this bailout. Somehow, we need to negotiate a balance designed to restore confidence in our system and not over-burden our future with debt (which could re-create this nightmare again).