Home staging has arrived to nearly every price range of home.  See the difference for your self in this short video about the benefits of staging.

Are you renovating, repairing or painting a home, child care facility or school built before 1978?

Beginning April 22, 2010, federal law will require that contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb more than six square feet of paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and trained to follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.

Protect your family and make sure you only hire a contractor who is in a Lead-Safe Certified Firm. Find a Lead-Safe Certified Firm near you.

Read about EPA’s requirements for renovation, repair and painting.

Read EPA’s pamphlet on renovation, repair and painting:

• Renovate Right: Important Lead Hazard Information for Families, Child Care Providers and Schools (PDF) (20 pp, 3.7MB)

Missouri offers additional tax incentives to fist time buyers.  HOPE (Home Ownership Purchase Enhancement) approved by the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) offers to reimburse first time homebuyers up to $1,750 for a home purchased in 2010.
MHDC is allocating $15 million towards the HOPE program. Qualified Missouri families that purchase a home in 2010 are eligible for a HOPE incentive equaling the amount of the 2009 real estate tax bill associated with the property they purchased, up to a maximum of $1,250. Additionally, homebuyers who are approved for the real estate property tax HOPE incentive may also be eligible to receive an additional amount if they bought a qualified, newly-constructed, energy-efficient home or bought an existing home and remodeled or purchased items such as Energy Star® appliances to make the home more energy efficient. The maximum combined total of the HOPE property tax incentive and the HOPE energy-efficiency incentive is $1,750.

After much fanfare the home buyer and home owner tax credit is in place.  This new law extends the first time home buyer tax credit for property under contract by April 30, 2010 and closing by June 30, 2010. Under the same bill unemployment benefits are extended by 14 weeks and there are provisions to provide some tax relief for some businesses. 
The law also expands the real estate tax credit to include current homeowners through the same period and increases income limits.  Although opinions vary most believe that the tax credits along with low mortgage rates and property values have encouraged hundreds of thousands of purchases that otherwise would not have occurred.

Outline and comparison chart

MHDC Rolls Out Innovative New Program For First-Time Homebuyers

Starting January 2009, Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) will have a new product to enable first-time homebuyers to take advantage of the $7,500 federal first-time homebuyer tax credit. This program is the first of its kind in the nation.

The federal first-time homebuyer tax credit was created by Congress this summer to encourage new homebuyers to purchase homes and thereby stimulate housing markets. However, the federal tax credit has been largely ineffective. One of the primary reasons the federal credit hasn’t worked is that the homebuyer doesn’t receive the money until he receives his federal income tax refund – which may be several months after the home is purchased. 

With over 30 years experience funding mortgages for first-time homebuyers, MHDC knows that the biggest barrier faced by first-time homebuyers is acquiring money for downpayment and closing costs. As a result, MHDC created a program that allows homebuyers to receive the value of the tax credit at the time of closing.  

Get more information from a Participating Lender about the Tax Credit Advance Loan Program.

Misouri Housing Development Commission

Internal Revenue Service tax credit aid to first-time homebuyers