National Association of Realtors newest consumer website

The NAR has just launched this week a new consumer website that is geared to help home owners make better decisions in maintaining, protecting and increasing the value of their homes.

This site will help home owners plan projects for their homes, and offer comprehensive articles with helpful information. And the site is free. Just go to www.houselogic.com to check it out.

Chicago Makes Forbes Magazine's Top Ten World's Most Beautiful Cities

Forbes Magazine just came out with their top ten list of the world's most beautiful cities and our own mid-western mecca made the list. New York and San Francisco also made the list. Other cities included Paris, Tokyo, Cambridge England, Sydney, Florence Italy, Cape Town South Africa and London. Finishing up the list is Vancouver, home to this year's Winter Olympics.

Fresh Shrimp for the Last Time from Fabians

Fabians Seafood will be making their last run to Bloomington for the season. This fresh shrimp from the Gulf Coast driven straight to Bloomington.

If shrimp is your thing, then head over to Bloomingfoods east side location on 3rd street this Tuesday, October 27th from 1:30 to 5:30.

Come early and dress warmly because there is always a line. They also will have fresh blue crab meat and fresh shucked oysters...but they sell out of these items quickly.

If you want to receive email notification of when they will be coming to town and receive a 10% discount, go to http://www.fabianseafood.com/ and sign up.

Sorry for the break in market information

The b-town Report has been working on new formatting and information for this site. We'll still offer real estate market information, but the format will have a slightly different focus. Thanks for your patience as we work toward our new publication.

Luckily we picked a beautiful spot in central Vermont to work on the new format. Stay tuned!

Have a great day, Matthew

A Sample of Today's Interest Rates

Interest rates have been hovering in the lower 5% range for the past week. Here is a sample of today's interest rates from local lenders. And as always on the b-town Report rates are for 30 year fixed rate conventional mortgages for folks with superior credit and rates are subject to change.

• German American Bancorp (www.germanamericanbancorp.com): 5.00%
• Peoples State Bank (www.peoples-bank.com): 5.125%
• Regions (www.regions.com): 5.25%
• United Commerce Bank (www.unitedcommercebank.com): 5.00%
  

Fabians Seafood Will Be In Bloomington Next Tuesday!

Mark your calendars! Fabians Seafood will be making a run to Bloomington with fresh shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico. Fabians is out of Galveston Texas and the shrimp is amazingly fresh.

In addition they plan on having Fresh Blue Crab Meat and Maybe Red Snapper.

They sell out of refrigerated trucks in the Bloomingfoods parking lot on 3rd street.

Tuesday, September 15th from 2:00 till 5:30 or until they sell out. There's always a line so get there early!

Congress is Looking at Cuts in Deductions of Mortgage Interest

From an article in Realtor.org/Mag:

The Congressional Budget Office has prepared a report that suggests ways for Congress to raise revenues. One key suggestion is that Congress cut deductions for homeowner mortgage interest from the present $1.1 million cap to $500,000, phasing in the reduction by $100,000 annually starting in 2013. Over a 10-year period, the change would increase revenue by an estimated $41 billion.

Alternatively, the CBO proposed replacing mortgage interest deductions with a flat tax credit that is 15 percent of mortgage interest paid. This would potentially increase revenue by nearly $390 billion from 2013 to 2019.

It also proposed eliminating deductions for all state and local taxes, including property taxes, which would cost taxpayers $862 billion by 2019.

What are the odds these ideas will fly? In the past, the mortgage deduction has been sacred. These days, some analysts say it may be vulnerable.

Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (08/30/2009)