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Rebate Wish List: Home buyers, what would you do with a tax rebate PLUS a real estate rebate?

Wishsign Pull quotes from: Bush backs $145 billion economic plan

The president and Congress are scrambling to take action as fears mount that a severe housing slump and painful credit crisis could cause people to close their wallets and businesses to put a lid on hiring, throwing the nation into its first recession since 2001.

Economists said a reasonable range for tax cuts in the new package might be $500 to $1,000. Congressional aides said the White House plan is looking at rebates of up to $800 for individuals and $1,600 for married couples…"

"Americans can spend this money as they see fit: to help meet their monthly bills, cover higher costs at the gas pump, pay for other basic necessities," he said."

General discussion on Boston.com: Would you spend a tax rebate? Specific questions for home buyers:

1. What would you do with the proposed tax rebate? Would the rebate, plus declining interest rates, make any difference in your home buying plans for 2008?

2. If you added a 100% commission rebate from The Real Estate Cafe, typically 2.5% of a home’s sales price, would that influence your home buying plans for 2008? What would be on your Rebate Wish List?

3. If you received a rebate over $10,000, would you be willing to donate part of your rebate to a cause or charity? If so, please add your favorite to The Real Estate Cafe’s "Rebate-It-Forward" list.

RebateWishList.com currently forwards to a twin discussion on The Real Estate Cafe’s experimental new social networking site.  Comments are welcome on either site, and home buyers are invited to introduce themselves via our interactive map.

“St. Joseph Statue Buyback Program” launched for thousands of expired real estate listings

No this isn’t a parody from The Onion, it’s the real thing — maybe even God’s work.  Nearly a decade ago, the practice of burying St. Joseph statues upside down to sell real estate caused me to write "Beyond Superstition: Doing Justice to the "Just Man". When an article on the misguided practice became the most forwarded story in the Wall Street Journal eight weeks ago, I decided to turn my "holy anger" into fund raising idea:

PROBLEM: More than 16,000 MLS listings have expired or been canceled across Massachusetts over the past eight weeks, representing billions of dollars in potential sales.  (UPDATE:  Expired & canceled MLS listings totaled nearly 29,000 during the 4th quarter of 2007, see graph.)

OPPORTUNITY: If you’re one of those discouraged sellers, particularly one who buried a St. Joseph statue, consider the following Special Offers:

1. Statue buyback / trade-in:  cost refunded to anyone who becomes a fee-for-service or referral client of The Real Estate Cafe,

2. FREE "for sale by owner" seminar,

3. 20% off the cost of preparing a "listing agent report card" (if you want to select a new agent),

4. 1/3rd of the referral fee paid to The Real Estate Cafe rebated to the seller.

To honor St. Joseph, we ask participating sellers to decide how another third of our referral fee will be donated to charities and causes of their choice.  Think "Pay-it-forward" meets real estate rebates.  Our sample client letter and Referral Rebate Redistribution Worksheet shows you how our "community commission" works.

St. Joseph never said anything (at least nothing recorded in the Bible), but if he weren’t buried upside down, here’s what we think he’d say about today’s real estate market: 

Practical wisdom from St. Joseph:  A generation ago, President John F. Kennedy said, "…here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own."  So pull that statue out of the ground, resist the urge to bury your OLD real estate agent upside down, and decide whether you want to sell on your own or need a NEW agent to relist your property in 2008.  Either way, become one of the enlightened sellers who will save billions of dollars in 2008 and do God’s work by sharing a fraction of those savings with a charity or cause of your choice.

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