Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers

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Home Buyer's Guide

Preparing for Homeownership Buyer's Guide
Before you begin your home search at REALTOR.com, prepare yourself by reading Ten Steps to Homeownership.Homebuying GuidesEven before you begin looking for a home, the homebuying process requires diligent preparation. Buyers who have been preapproved for a home loan often have their offers taken more seriously by sellers. With advance preparation, you can tackle the process of acquiring the financing you need with more confidence. To help you on the path to homeownership, Neighborworks® offers* free step-by-step guides, developed by the Fannie Mae Foundation, that can help you get closer to achieving your dream:
Knowing and Understanding Your Credit
Opening the Door to a Home of Your Own
Choosing the Mortgage that's Right for You
Borrowing Basics: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
These authoritative homebuying guides (in PDF format) are available in nine languages, including English, Chinese, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. You can download a guide or order a print version online from HomeBuyingGuide.org
*These brochures are free for non-profit organizations, and available for sale to other businesses.

Sweating Equity?

Sweating Equity: Your Guide to Surviving a Rough Real Estate Market

It’s a confusing time for home buyers and sellers. But the bad news in the housing market may reveal some unforeseen opportunities. For instance, could this actually be a good time to buy? If so, what’s selling right now? Do low interest rates mean it’s time to refinance? Can foreclosures be avoided? And just what is a sub-prime mortgage, anyway? We took a hard look at the market and found the answers that will help you navigate these troubled waters. Plus, we found 15 great neighborhoods that offer benefits beyond the obvious, and we give sellers a measure of hope with tales of properties that got snapped up in a hurry. And it wouldn’t be a real estate issue without our annual chart listing average home sale prices in 226 neighborhoods. So don’t sweat. Your house may be worth more than you think.(Don't believe us? Check out Money magazine's list of the six best places to buy a home these days.)
By Kathleen Doane, Brent Donaldson, Katherine L. Sontag, Linda Vaccariello, Amanda Boyd Walters, & Kathy Y. Wilson
15 Great Neighborhoods
13 Real Estate Questions Answered
Five Homes that Sold—FAST
Our Annual Guide to Home Prices
Originally published in the May 2008 issue of Cincinnati Magazine.

Habitat for Humanity

Coldwell Banker West Shell Builds Community

Coldwell Banker West Shell in Crestview Hills raises money and builds homes for Habitat for Humanity. On June 28, 2008, Coldwell Banker West Shell held its 10th Annual Parking Lot. The sale is a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Each year Coldwell Banker West Shell funds a local build. In order to fund a Habitat Home, our company must raise $35,000. In addition, all the local (Cincinnati Tri-State area) Coldwell Banker offices send volunteers to the home site to help build the home. This year, a home will be built in Latonia Lakes for a local family of four.
Thanks to the generosity of area businesses and the support of local patrons, we are able to continue to successfully make a difference in our community. Coldwell Banker West Shell would like to extend special thanks to all those who made this event a success - every donor, every shopper, and the following businesses: Planes Moving and Storage, 3L Self Storage, Accutex Signs and Banners, Eagle Storage, and Snappy Tents. Through the generosity of our donors, Coldwell Banker West Shell is able to raise funds for this worthy cause and work together with Habitat for Humanity to provide homes for families in our community. The Parking Lot Sale was a great success again this year; we raised $3,900 from the sale!
In addition to helping Habitat for Humanity, Coldwell Banker West Shell, through the Coldwell Banker Foundation, raises money to help support Susan G. Komen for the Cure, ProKids, and Fine Arts Fund.

For more information: http://www.cincinnati-habitat.org/

Meet the family:

The Bowles’ family consists of mother, Tawna 38, father, Brian 41, daughter, Tiffany 19 and son, Jordan 16. As a family, they enjoy participating in and visiting medieval reenactments. Their new passion, as a family, is to work on Habitat houses. Brian likes to hunt and fish. Tawna enjoys working with special needs children and taking her 88 year old grandmother to bingo whenever possible.

Tiffany is an honor student and will be a junior this year attending EKU majoring in Forensic Science and minoring in American Sign Language. She is on the color guard and is a member of the honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. She also enjoys anything to do with Johnny Depp, hanging out with her friends and babies.

Jordan is a junior attending Scott High School. He enjoys all types of games: Xbox, Wii, paintball, four wheeling, hunting and fishing.

Block Cell Phone Telemarketers

BLOCK CELL PHONE TELEMARKETERS!

We received notice that cell phone mumbers went public, which means that you may start receiving telemarketing calls on your cell phone. YOur cell minutes will be charged for these calls.
We recommend that you take the following step to prevent receiving sale calls by placing your cell number on the "DO NOT CALL" list:
From your cell phine, call #888-382-1222.
This number must be called from the phone you wish to have on the block list.

Trick or Treat for Troops

Dear Friends,

Coldwell Banker West Shell Foundation needs your help. We are currently collecting new packaged DVD movies to be sent to our troops overseas. Please help us do our part for our soldiers.
Trick or Treat for the Troops began with a phone call between two close friends in 2007, separated by thousands of miles. One friend in the US, and the other stationed as a solider in Kuwait. The solider explained that they receive the basic supplies, but, what they each needed badly was a way to take their minds off the everyday struggle during their down times.
In 2007, a major community initiative, Trick or Treat for the Troops, was launched by Coldwell Banker West Shell Foundation, WKRC Channel 12, USO, Relay Express, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Bell, and R+L Carriers, which collected over 10,000 DVD movies in less than 8 weeks with the help of over 23 major corporations and many volunteers.
Beginning October 6 the community will be able to drop of any new packaged DVD movie to any Coldwell Banker West Shell location in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky areas. The DVD’s will then be packaged up after October 31, with the help of Matthew :25 Ministries located in Blue Ash, Ohio where the DVD’s will be delivered to the USO in Cleveland, Ohio. The USO will deliver the DVD’s overseas to our troops.
“We need to remember that our troops are still fighting for our freedom overseas and we should give our best effort to support them and honor them by giving back in whatever way we can,” says Thomas Courtney, Director of the Coldwell Banker West Shell Foundation.
Dozens of cards with appreciation came back from our troops in 2007. “It is great people like you that make me proud to serve. God bless you and God bless America!” says, Master Chief Rich DeTersa, Kuwait. We hope to see the same response in 2008. Thank you for your effort.

Twilight Tours

Join us for the final Twilight Tour of the season, Thursday, October 30th from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.