Thinking "Stimulus", Obama & DC / Bethesda Luxury Homes
Posted by Gretchen Koitz on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 3:00:23 PM
By Gretchen Koitz / October 16, 2009
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Contributing Blogger, Kevin Koitz: Thinking Obama, DC / Bethesda Luxury Homes, and current market conditions....
It's no secret th
at DC home sales are down...even the close-in Chevy Chase / Bethesda real estate micro-markets. But I keep thinking back to one of Gretchen's pieces in February after Obama's Stimulus Plan was announced. And the the $8,000 buyer tax credit set in motion...and the restrictions put on those incentives. For those exceedingly well qualified DC home buyers, what would an unrestricted $20,000 subsidy have meant?
Hindsight is 20/20 but if a lot of the higher end sales were psychological leaps rather than financial ones, would the luxury home inventory in Bethesda...or Chevy Chase, or Georgetown, be as high today had buyers been given an incentive commensurate with the price-point of the home. Should the $300,000 home buyer been offered the same incentive as the $1,000,000 buyer? And I'm not even going into the income limitations...
Thoughts?...
It's no secret th
at DC home sales are down...even the close-in Chevy Chase / Bethesda real estate micro-markets. But I keep thinking back to one of Gretchen's pieces in February after Obama's Stimulus Plan was announced. And the the $8,000 buyer tax credit set in motion...and the restrictions put on those incentives. For those exceedingly well qualified DC home buyers, what would an unrestricted $20,000 subsidy have meant? Hindsight is 20/20 but if a lot of the higher end sales were psychological leaps rather than financial ones, would the luxury home inventory in Bethesda...or Chevy Chase, or Georgetown, be as high today had buyers been given an incentive commensurate with the price-point of the home. Should the $300,000 home buyer been offered the same incentive as the $1,000,000 buyer? And I'm not even going into the income limitations...
Thoughts?...
