Recession, Recovery & Tax Credits

It appears that many congressional leaders believe that the $8K tax credit should be extended as it appears to have helped stimulate increased demand for homes and therefore industry related employment as well. The housing industry is still in a fragile state, but we are seeing fairly steady improvement.

Unfortunately, with every good program, there are those out there that will try to find scams to enrich themselves at the cost of everyone else. This is true with this program as well and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is examining questionable claims. Of course, this adds more expense to the program which is generally thought to cost approximately $1B per month.

Mixed Reviews – the Dow’s been toying with the 10K mark and we’ve seen some steps toward improvement in the real estate industry, yet, unemployment figures and foreclosures are putting a damper on any kind of thought of a quick recovery. We are experiencing the longest recession since the ‘30’s and the worst unemployment rate in 26 years.

Now it could be worse, but how do you tell that to your neighbor who’s out of work and in jeopardy of losing their home? I have a dear friend who’s been out of work for 6 months, but what makes this situation worse is that he has a roommate who is not only out of work but also dealing with chemotherapy. Now he’s in jeopardy of eventually losing his home and doesn’t know what he can do to help the roommate.

This is just one situation, yet there are many, many like this and these are our neighbors and friends.

OK, so now with all that doom & gloom said, the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) released a report last week in which more than 80% of economists surveyed believe that the recession is over & we are starting a period of expansion. Granted, the unemployment rate and federal deficit are expected to remain somewhat high through 2010.

Additionally, they expect overall housing prices to increase by 2% and that 2010 will be the first year since ’05 that the housing industry will contribute to the nation’s overall growth.

Many economists believe that we’ve exited the recession during the last quarter and that we are entering the recovery period. The situation that we currently find ourselves in did not occur overnight. It took years to create and will take more than just a few quarters of growth to repair it.

Till next time….Marc It Sold!