The Obamarama continues...

President Obama has approved a bill for the Housing Tax Credit Expansion and Extension. Here's what it means:

The $8,000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is Extended!
• First-time home buyers receive $8000 tax credit if they sign a purchase contract by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010.

• The home purchased must be their primary residence

• Buyer cannot have owned a home during the past three years

• Tax credit is up to 10% of the home value (not to exceed $8,000)

• Annual income caps to qualify for the tax credit have increased $125K for single filers / $225K for joint filers.

• Partial tax credit for incomes up to $145K for single filers / $245 for joint filers.

PLUS New $6,500 Tax Credit for Current Home Owners Purchasing a Primary Residence

• Eligible home buyers must have lived in their current home for 5 consecutive years of the past 8 years.

• The new home does not have to cost more than the old home.

• Eligible for homes with purchase agreements signed between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010, and close by June 30, 2010

• Annual income caps to qualify for the full tax credit ($125K for single filers / $225K for joint filers). Partial tax credit can be granted for incomes up to $145K for single filers / $245 for joint filers.

Monster House

The former owner of a 16,000-square-foot mansion in Encinitas that neighbors called the "monster house" has been charged with stealing $1 million worth of fixtures, appliances and doors from the bank-foreclosed home, according to a published report.

The district attorney's office on Monday sent Suzy Brown, 45, a letter informing her she was charged with felony grand theft and felony vandalism, Deputy District Attorney Robert Eacret told the North County Times.
Brown was not arrested, Eacret said. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Dec. 1 at the Vista courthouse. Bail could be ordered at that hearing, the prosecutor said.

On Tuesday, detective Steven Ashkar said Brown had returned most of the items removed from the house to the bank and kept in contact with detectives throughout their inquiry.

"I am aware that she had the ability to return certain items to the bank and to the house, and to the best of my understanding, she returned everything that was in her power to return," said Bob Grimes, an attorney who represented Brown during the investigation,

The home on Fortuna Ranch Road in Olivenhain was controversial from the beginning because many neighbors didn't want the massive structure built, the paper reported earlier this year. Brown's neighbors dubbed it the Monster House after the 15-bedroom villa began construction. The house fell into foreclosure in February and was vacant for about three weeks. In March, it was stripped of up to $1 million in imported fixtures, police said.

In April, Brown told the paper that she didn't know who stripped the structure but said she wasn't surprised by the turn of events. Brown, who built the house in 2004, had planned to turn it into a "recovery house" for patients looking to escape the clutches of drugs and alcohol, but the city killed the plan after neighbors complained about the $13 million villa.