Should I or Shouldn't I scope it?

Is it really worth it or necessary to spend $250 on a sewer scope for a new construction or re-habilitated (flipped) unit?

YES you should.  TODAY I had a client do a sewer scope on a 1947 Townhouse that was just re-habilitated into new units (very cute rehab BTW).  The units were gutted with new plumbing and 97% new electrical, complete new kitchens and baths.  From the looks of it, the sewer line is new but the question is where does the new line connect to the old?  In this case the new connected to the 1947 clay sewer line (that runs to the main sewer in the street) right at the home.  Sometimes the clay pipe being from 1947 is still in good shape.  In this case, the pipe was crushed and in some places you can actually see dirt.  If this does not get fixed, my client could wake up one day with a huge back up problem (how crappy!)....not fun in any case but especially when you are a first time buyer.  Here's the sewer scope video for fun.  From about 27ft to 14ft you can see the breaks.

We will be asking for this on our inspection response to be repaired by the builder and I am sure he will agree to fix it before closing.  Stay tuned for the outcome!

So YES, moral of the story, always do a sewer scope.  

MCC tax credit....what's that??

THIS IS NEWS WORTHY!  I recently found out about a tax credit that's available right now!  A current client is going to receive around $1500 the first year!!  That's incredible!  If the mortgage applicants (single or both combined) make under $90,000 a year, buy a home under $475,000 (King county, other counties have different requirements) and are going to live in the house....you may qualify.

What you get;  so, everyone gets to write of 80% of their mortgage interest on their taxes (that amount reduces your taxable income).  With the MCC you get a dollar for dollar tax credit for the other 20% of the mortgage interest.

That mean that lets say you paid $10,000 in interest for the year.  80% of that, or $8,000 will reduce your taxable income (so if you made $60,000 now you will be taxed on $52,000).  20% or $2,000 will be a tax credit (this is the good part!) so if you are normally getting a refund of $1,000 you now get a refund for $3,000 ($1,000 plus $2,000).

This credit is for the LIFE of the loan!  Check out this link for more info:

http://www.wshfc.org/buyers/MCCprogram.htm

Why isn't this spread around the NEWS??