11:59 pm

Ho, Ho, Ho.  Classic Holiday Scams – AMERICA -  If you’re like everybody else in America, you’re dead broke, or damn close, and that no good money pit of a holiday called Christmas is right around the corner.  Yeah, you tried to put a few bucks away each pay but your weed habit and addiction to take-out always seemed to get in the way.  If you put away $20 it went to extra cheese and pepperoni. If you stashed $50 it was shelled out for a satch of blueberry fields.  Now, with Xmas around the corner, you’re going into panic mode and have to take the el-cheapo route to holiday giving.  If that’s the case, use you’re head Jimmy, and not your dipstick.  Beware of these classic holiday scams or you’ll be waiting on the roof to rob Santa  at gunpoint.

1.  Hidden debit card fees.  That set of authentic ninja swords on Ebay was a killer deal, until that $200 debit sur-charge chopped its way onto your bill.

2.  Half-off sales.  That turkey deep fryer and sniper paint ball gun were half off, but they jacked up the price 100% the day before the sale.

3.  Extended warranties.  That 2 year replacement warranty on the battery operated nose hair trimmers was great, until you found out it cost $850 to ship the replacement covered under the warranty.

4.  Gift card fees.  What a great way to give somebody $100  to get what they want, only it costs $250 to buy one.

5. Return fees.  All items car be returned after 365 days, but they have to be shipped in the same packaging, and there is a $250 restocking fee to cover any depreciation of the item. (http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108213/worst-holiday-gotchas). 

It’s a fact of life that the holidays are tough on your budget, but you know you can’t do a damn thing about it.   You don’t want to spend more than you planned but also don’t want to look like a total cheapskate in front of the whole freaking famil on Christmans morning.  If you play your cards right you can find lots of cheap knockoffs on Ebay for a fraction of the cost.  And, if you cough up the dough with PayPal, then you’re pretty much home free, unless you buy from an overseas seller. If you do, chances are that $120 in-dash DVD player for a Hynundai Accent will end up being a box of Chinese food menus from Peking and after filing a PayPal complait and winning, it will cost you $850 to ship it back for a refund.  Ho, ho, ho. Merry freaking Xmas.

Beginning at the start of next year, PTQs for San Juan will be in full swing. These are extended constructed tournaments, and you should expect a lot of people to be talking, writing, brewing for and playing extended for the first quarter of next year. This includes – we presume – the first ever contructed PTQs on MTGO. So, given we know about this buzz one month in advance, how can we turn it to our financial advantage? Buying extended staples at their current depressed prices, of course!

"Hmm... maybe extended this month."

The Circle of Life

Formats are always changing. There are set rotations, rule changes, bannings and restrictions, meta changes and so forth that affect what cards people want to have. This change in level of desire is why prices change, and this change in prices is where we stand to make a few extra dollars through trading. The important change to consider now is the change in what PTQ format is in season. Currently it is limited, which means a lot of people are opening a lot of packs, and nobody needs to tune up their competitive decks for anything more important than FNM or States, both normally standard. Extended card prices are not as low as they might be thanks to PT: Austin and Worlds, but they are still lower than they were last time it was the PTQ format, and lower than they will be come January. How about some examples, to illustrate?

I’ve looked through the archive of Hamtastic’s brilliant State of the Program series over on Pure MTGO, and grabbed some card prices from back in January and February. I’ve then compared these to the current prices on Mtgo Traders. If I was clever I’d put this into a table, but instead you get plain text formatting.

.                                                                      Jan/Feb                    Now

Engineered Explosives                                   32                             14

Chrome Mox                                                    21.75                        11

Arcbound Ravager*                                         22                             10

Steam Vents                                                    11                              5

All numbers are in event tickets. The * against Ravager indicates that Affinity as a deck has taken some serious hits to playability in the new extended meta, so I’d be wary of buying the mighty Ravager even at this comparatively low price. I know this is not a very large sample size but it illustrates my point. Black Lotus Project’s handy graphs shows the same effect for paper cards, though it unfortunately also shows us we’ve missed the boat for extended paper cards thanks to PT: Austin. I’ll leave the investigation of this as an exercise for the reader.

So what to buy? Well, a quick study of the top Extended decks from Worlds will be educational. The two biggest decks are various Thopter combo decks, of which LSV’s Gifts Ungiven version seems to be the strongest; and Rubin Zoo piloted to PT glory by Brian Kibler. All in Red was also quite succesful, and seems like an easy deck for new extended players to pick up. Expect all of these decks to be popular on MTGO come January, though perhaps Thopter less so than the other two for the intimidating complexity of the deck. Rubin Zoo, unfortunately, plays a ton of well known money cards already, like Tarmogoyf, Baneslayer Angel and hundreds of dollars worth of nonbasic lands.

One thing I noticed about the other two lists is how often Chrome Mox and Chalice of the Void show up in both, despite them being virtually opposite decks – one a slow, grinding control deck and one an ultra fast aggro/combo deck. We can see how low Chrome Mox is by looking at the figures above, and Chalice of the Void is currently under 4 tickets from stores despite being one of the most powerful disruption tools in the format. Blood Moon is another powerful disruptive tool that features in Rubin Zoo and All-In Red, and though it has never been a high priced card it could be ready for a breakout PTQ season. Blood Moon is one for the gamblers among us.

If I were looking to double my tickets in a months time without knowing much at all about extended, I’d be investing in these two powerful cards on Magic Online. Dark Confidant is also a mere 4 tickets, however it seems to have fallen out of favour with the metagame, especially now Zoo has moved largely to 3 colours. The only advice I can offer to paper players at the moment is to rewind time two months and invest before PT:Austin, but with any luck I’ll still be writing in a year’s time and I can warn you about the same plan then

Recommendations

Buy: Magic Online extended staples, especially:

Chrome Mox

Chalice of the Void

Blood Moon.

Wow, there we have it! The Mike Flores designed Naya Lightsaber deck, in the hands of Andre Coimbra of Portugal, takes down Jund piloted by David Reitbauer of Austria in the final of the World Championships. <edit> Meanwhile in the team event, Austria’s control deck featuring Spreading Seas knocks off China’s Jund but can’t stop the Chinese winning the team championship. I’ll be having a good look at the standard decks a bit further down, but first a look at extended (a format I don’t know a lot about yet) and the decks that did well. I know even less about legacy – though @mtgmetagame tells me Undiscovered Paradise has shot up in value based on its interaction with Bloodghast in Dredge – so I won’t be covering that at all at the moment.

Extended

There were two archetypes that notably outperformed the others in terms of numbers with 5-1 or better records- Zoo (8 pilots) and Thopter combo (6) out of a total of 26. Zoo consists of three subtypes, the most succesful being Rubin Zoo (5) which runs Grove of the Burnwillows and Punishing Fire to just dump all over other aggro decks. Landfall Zoo – playing Steppe Lynxes and Plated Geopedes alongside traditional Zoo beaters had 1 succesful player, and surprisingly we saw the return of Domain Zoo, capitalising on the easy mana in extended to play full-power Might of Alara and Tribal Flames on turn 3. Thopter combo pilots included 3 players with virtually the same 75 – good friends LSV and David Ochoa, and Carlos Romao – I’m not sure of their relationship with him, or if it was just coincidence that they found the same take on the deck. 3 other pilots all had varying takes on the deck, skipping the Gifts Ungiven package.

Other succesful decks include All in Red, Bant Aggro and Dredge – surprisingly there was only one Dark Depths deck at the top tables of extended, and that one incorporated the Thopter combo as well. Hopefully the pro writers will enlighten us as to why this deck failed to go well – perhaps people were packing a lot of hate for it? The extended coverage is a bit thin compared to standard, so we’ll just move right along.

Standard

So, as noted above the victorious deck was Naya Lightsaber, a RGW aggro deck featuring both the bomb 4 drops of the format – Bloodbraid Elf and Ranger of Eos – to counteract Jund’s card advantage – and a variety of efficient beatsticks like Wild Nacatl and Woolly Thoctar. The ubiquitous Baneslayer Angel makes an appearance, as does Oran-Rief, the Vastwood to pump up most of the creatures in the deck including everybody’s favourite mana elf Noble Hierarch. Andre capitalised on Jund’s major weakness, its manabase, in the final game by Ruinblastering David’s only green source, leaving David with 3 Maelstrom Pulse in hand at the end of the game. This deck seems extremely strong against the field, not only Jund. It plays all the best creatures, some of the best card advantage and the most efficient removal. Most of the cards in this deck are already well known and will remain solid at their current values, but between this and the GW tokens deck we could see a rise in Sunpetal Grove, currently the cheapest of the M10 duals online. As I write this Cardhoarder are sold out at $2.50, and MTGOTraders only have 8 in stock at the same price.

I don’t think I would buy at this price in the hope of making a quick buck, but if you want to play a GW, Bant or Naya deck anytime soon I would grab a playset immediately. Another card that is likely to go up somewhat is Conqueror’s Pledge, a card I suspected was a lot better than it had shown in tournaments so far (and posted as much). William Cavaglieri was unlucky to fall against Bram Snepvangers Boros with his mono-white tokens deck, though he showed off the power of Pledge by playing one with 4 Soul Wardens in play to go to over 60 life. Speaking of Bram’s deck, I am trying to put it together at the moment as most of the expensive cards are staples in multiple formats – Fetches, Goblin Guides, Rangers and Baneslayers are all played widely in standard and some show up in extended. When this deck fades into obscurity the only cards I’ll put away will be the commons and uncommons, the rares will always be useful.

Another breakout hit featured in Cavaglieri’s deck is Emeria Angel, which was not really on people’s radar a week ago but is actually really strong – a flying 3/3 for 4 that makes a ton of flying tokens in a format with Honor of the Pure and Ajani Goldmane, who would have thought? The boat has sailed on these already, but you can probably still trade for them with less well informed FNMers. I really want to try them at the top of the curve in Boros, playing them with 12 fetches and Goblin Bushwhacker seems pretty strong, and I don’t currently have Elspeths.

Worlds Trading

Just a quick note about the trades I made online this weekend. On Thursday I bought 4 Emeria Angels for 2.8 tickets, 24 Aven Mimeomancers for 2.4 and 16 World Quellers for 1.6 tickets, a total outlay of 6.8 tickets. Saturday I sold 4 of the Mimeomancers for 1 ticket, then on Sunday I sold 4 more for 1.6 tickets and the 4 Emeria Angels for 10, 12.6 tickets total and nearly doubling my money with 16 Mimeomancers and 16 World Quellers left over! I bought 8 Conqueror’s Pledges for 6.4 tickets and cheered on Cavaglieri, but it wasn’t to be. The Quellers didn’t work out as I had hoped, but bots will buy them back and the same price I bought them for currently so its no big loss. I will see how things go over the next few days as the standard online meta adjusts to the changes Worlds has brought, and hopefully sell all these cards at a decent profit.

As you can see from this experience it is very easy to make some extra tickets around event time, you just have to be quick to respond to trends. In future I will try to stay more liquid as I didn’t have enough tickets spare to go all in on Emeria Angels. If you are looking for a medium term investment at the moment with guaranteed gains, extended staples are the way to go as that is the next PTQ season, starting in January. I will make a post about this sometime this week, if I find the time between exams and applying for my own job.

The second consultation on whether a school should be converted into an academy is extended at the request of parents…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: grades. The blog is also related to: social studies teaching.

WOW! Great new from our Congress- the the $8000 Homebuyer Tax credit has been extended for the first time buyer AND current homeowners can now purchase a new primary residence ( not necessarily new construction, just knew for you).  You can rent your current home or have it up for sale and if you qualify for a mortgage you can still buy another home as long as it is your primary residence.  Sweet!

For all the details follow this link:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

Beyoncé – Video Phone (Extended Remix) (feat. Lady GaGa)

Az MTV ma bemutatta a legújabb Beyoncé klipet, amiből egyelőre csak az első percet láttam, de ennyi alapján is helye van a listán, zeneileg a “MUTE and enjoy” kategória, de jó szemlegeltetős itt-ott!:)

UPDATE: Lady Gaga egy klipben/egy képben Beyoncével, olyan mintha _______? (szólj hozzá!)

A legszexibb videoklipek (01), (02), (03), (04), (05), (06), (07), (08), (09), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (16), (17), (18), (19)

(nem rangsor!)

Sizzling HOT!

Always buy from a reputable company; you can buy discount contact lenses without a prescription, but the company is selling you a prescription device as if it were an over-the-counter device, in violation of FTC regulations – selling you lenses without having a prescription from you. Now it’s easy to order the perfect contact lenses online at a great discount. Ophthalmologists (M.D. or D.O.) are eye surgeons who study and treat eye diseases and can also perform the duties of optometrists; optometrists (O.D.) examine eyes, diagnose and treat vision problems, and prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses and in most states they also can prescribe medicine; opticians grind and dispense eyeglasses and in some states dispense contact lenses.

Before you buy contact lenses from anyone other than your eye care professional, it pays to be a wise consumer. You’ll want to take simple precautions to make any lens purchase safe and effective.

Although easier to handle and less likely to tear, rigid gas permeable lenses are not as comfortable initially as soft contacts and it may take a few weeks to get used to wearing the RGPs, compared to just a few days for soft contacts. With planned-replacement lenses, the doctor works out a replacement schedule tailored to the needs of each patient. Extended wear contact lenses are used for overnight or continuous wear ranging from one to six nights or up to 30 days.

Extended wear lenses are usually soft contact lenses; made of flexible plastics that allow oxygen to pass through to the cornea. Extra-thin soft lenses are on the market for very sensitive people. Rigid lenses generally give you more clear vision.

Rigid gas permeable contact lenses are more durable, resistant to deposit buildup, and generally give a clearer, crisper vision. Keep in mind contact lenses are often more complex than appears. You can mark rigid lenses to show which lens is for which eye; they don’t rip or tear, so they’re easy to handle.

Bifocal correction is possible with both soft and rigid lenses. Soft contact lenses are made of soft, flexible plastics that allow for oxygen to pass through to the cornea.

When you place your contact lens order, request the manufacturer’s written patient information for your contact lenses; it’ll give you important risk and benefit information as well as instructions for use. Carefully check to make sure the company gives you the exact brand you ordered, the name of the lens, the power, sphere, cylinder, if any, axis, if any, diameter base curve, and peripheral curves, if any. Get a feel for how the retailer handles customer service calls; in case you have a problem after your order arrives.

Compare prices – get quotes from two or three online and offline suppliers. Always ask what rebates are available. Check out how long the online supplier has been in business before you buy.

You can buy contact lenses from an eye doctor, on the Internet, from an optical store or a warehouse club. When you receive your order, if you think you’ve received an incorrect contact lens, check with your doctor or eye care professional right away; don’t accept any substitution unless your eye care professional approves it. Make sure you have a current, valid prescription when you order contact lenses.

Don’t wear lenses any longer than they’re prescribed for, nor when sleeping unless you are otherwise directed. Heat disinfection is the only method effective against the microorganism Acanthamoeba keratitis, a common culprit for contact lens wearers, and it also kills organisms in and on the lens case. Extended-wear rigid lenses can cause unexpected, undesirable, reshaping of the cornea.

Soft extended-wear lenses bind down on the closed eye, but they are porous and allow some tears through during sleep; because they have so little form, their binding has very little effect on the shape of the eye. Microorganisms may be present in distilled water, so always use commercial sterile saline solutions, if you plan to use enzyme tablets in water for disinfections. The FDA has approved extended-wear lenses for use up to seven days before removal for cleaning; but there are risks with use of extended-wear lenses even for one night.

If you haven’t had a check-up in the last one or two years, you may have problems with your eyes that you’re not aware of, or your contact lenses may not correct your vision as well as you’d like. If you’re looking for cheap contact lenses, you may find that cheap materials or other ways of cutting costs will affect the quality you’ll want for your precious eyes. Shopping for contacts online will save you a lot of money; contact lenses are deeply discounted.

                                               Federal Housing Extended Tax Credit

I am sure that many of you have heard and read about the Extended and Expanded Federal Housing Tax Credit.  For those of you that have questions, here are answers to frequently asked questions…

       ~~~~~~~CLICK TO VIEW FAQ about the Move-Up/Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit~~~~~~~

I’m back after my extended hiatus from this Blog. The reason for the break was my moving to a new place to live. So I’m now all settled in and ready to get back into it all.

The other thing is, that I have also decided to broaden my horizons and post not only photos, but also videos, quotes and links, but still only one post a day every day. I just felt I needed a little more scope with material to post.

So, my new post will follow here soon.

Here is the highly-anticipated collaborations between pop superstars Beyonce and Lady GaGa. Video Phone (Extended Remix)

Beyoncé (Feat. Lady Gaga) – Video Phone

In the year 1970 (or near that period) there was a severe flood damaging the  Ghana bird santuary near Bharatpur, Rajasthan. The railway line was blown away, along with a number of bridges, under costruction in the Lakheri -Bayana doubling project. Many existing small bridges were being extended. The old ones, made in lime mortar survived, whle their extended portion, in  cement mortar, were washed away by flood waters !

Before cement factories came, all civil works were executed in lime.The indigenous technology, evolved after genrations, is now forgotten. Lime is a natural reversible product. As such it is ecofriendly, whereas cement concrete is an irriversible one, causing permanent damage. What shall we do when all the sky scrapers in cities become due for destrucion ?
Now we  must take up this issue, for standardising procedures for lime mortar works, to replace cement concrete, in all future civil works.

The $8,000 tax credit has been extended until the end of June 2010. Click here for full details: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/faq1.php

Dance After Dark

DANCE AFTER DARK
DJ Freedom’s latest greatest featuring BIG ROOM ANTHEMS.

“Big Room Anthems” are songs made for the dancefloor of a full scale nightclub. Venues in NYC like Pacha, in South Beach like Cameo or in Vegas like-like any hotel with a nightclub really-feature these songs.
My versions on these songs is meant to feature the best parts of the songs. I don’t get into the WORDS a lot but they are there to guide the original vision of the song, and the person who remixed it.
If you like the list and want the download (I don’t sell these) then you should send me a note.
There’s a SPECTACULAR jazz song at the end that I want you to go to giantstep.net and buy…it is so well done and emotive I thought for those of you who LOVE music you’ll dig on this one.

Until next time…stay in tune!

BIG ROOM ANTHEMS | PART ONE

1) Love Songs (Bimbo Jones Dub) -
2) Did You See Me Coming – Pet Shop Boys
3) We Are Golden (Radio Edit Vs DJ Freedom’s Refix) – Mika
4) Sad Song (Jason Nevins Club Mix | FJ Dubout) – Blake Lewis
5) Smoke (Extended Mix) – Jus Jack With Phil Garant
6) Obsessed (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Club Mix) – Mariah Carey
7) Wake Up (Buzz Junkies Mix) – Sliimy
Fight For You (Beltek Mix) – Morgan Page
9) I Gotta Feeling (David Guetta Remix | FJ Dubout) – Black Eyed Peas
10) Down (Club Remix) – Sean Feat Lil Wayne
11) Use Somebody (Club Remix) – Kings Of Leon
12) Bad Romance – Lady Gaga (FreeMix)
13) Dollhouse – Priscilla Renea (FreeMix Reprise style)
14) Turn It Out – Altar and Jeanie Tracy
15) Shoes (Green Velvet Remix) – Tiga
16) Be Alright (Perry Twins Los Angeles & Demons Mix) – Kristine W
17) Shoes (Electro-fied Remix by Lanzamientos) – Tiga

HUSTLE TO THE NEW DISCO | PART TWO

18) Get It Shawty (Moto Blanco Radio Remix) – Lloyd
19) Red (Moto Blanco Club Remix) – Daniel Merriweather
20) Outta Here (Moto Blanco Club Remix) – Esmee Denters
21) Let Me Show You (Moto Blanco Remix) – K-Klass
22) Generation Noise (Twocker Remix) Laidback Luke Featuring Boogshe
23) I Call It Love (Moto Blanco Remix) – Lionel Richie
24) Let Freedom Think About It (Free*Beats) – Ida Corr
25) Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix) – The Ting Tings
26) Gypsy (Laidback Luke Gypsy Woman Remix) – Steve Angello
27) Hotel California (Latino Guitar Mix) – Eagles
28) Time After Time (Tommy Trash Club Mix) – Soul Central Feat Abigail Bailey
29) Whatcha Think About That (Starz Angels Remix) – Pussycat Dolls Feat Missy Elliot
30) SPECIAL CLOSER: No Worries – Robert Glasper (Special thanks to GIANT STEP ON THIS ONE!)

DJ Freedom | Music Scientist…Rhythm & Soul Productions
(917) 405-4423 | Freedom@socialtravelers.net
www.facebook.com/freedom.us
www.myspace.com/rsmf

For many months, many of us have anxiously been waiting to see what was going to happen to the $8,000 first time homebuyers tax credit that was due to expire November 30th, 2009.  Well the wait is over, yesterday Congress not only extended the tax credit but they also expanded it.  Below are the changes.

-The bill would extend an $8,000, first-time home buyers’ tax credit on all house contracts entered into before April 30, 2010, and closed by June 30 the same year.

-It would create a new, $6,500 credit for existing property owners who sell their home and buy another during the same period of time.

-On top of including current home owners, legislators opened up the credit to more buyers by raising the income caps — from $75,000 to $125,000 for individual taxpayers and from $150,000 to $225,000 for married couples.

       About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit.  Many critics say that these buyers would have bought anyways, I say they are absurd.  Before the tax credit our housing market was only falling and for the past many months home sales have been on the rise.  I believe the tax credit is the sole reason for this.  I am also very excited about the extension.  While in the Arizona market the $150,000 and under market has been doing very well, the over $150,000 has still been in dire straits.  I believe we will see big changes in the $150,000 and up market. 

Tarra Christensen

Realtor for DPR Realty

www.tarrasellsaz.com

Good, Bad, or you dont care, it has happended, more free money for home buyers, not just first time homebuyers, but exisitng home buyers as well.  Do not worry about making too much money, since the income limits have bee increased as well to help most.  Isuppose we should be jumping for joy, yelping with excitement, etc.  however I am just not excited, when will this all end, credits for this and credits for that.  Stop the madness.

It’s (Almost) Official: Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended, Expanded via WSJ.com: Developments on 11/5/09 Congress voted on Thursday to extend the tax credit and President Obama plans on signing it into law Friday morning. The $8,000 credit will apply to all contracts, for homes up to $800,000, entered into before April 30, 2010, and closed by June 30. It creates a new $6,500 credit for property owners who have lived in their home for at least five consecutive years. Income limits for eligible home buyers are expanded to $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for couples, from $75,000 and $150,000, respectively. To help guard against fraud, buyers are required to attach documentation of purchase to their tax return. (For more on the tax credit, see this tax credit Q&A from last week. And this analysis from Goldman.) Economists from the National Association of Realtors, which has been pushing hard for the extension, estimate that the current tax credit has contributed approximately $22 billion to the general economy, and approximately 2 million people will take advantage of the tax credit this year. “This important incentive is helping to stabilize the housing market, stimulate the economy and create new jobs in communities all across our great nation,” said NAR President Charles McMillan in a release today, commending Congress for passing the legislation. Others have argued that extending the tax credit only serves to keep home prices artificially high, among other issues.

o

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska

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Just watched this trailer of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland for the first time and I am giddy with excitement! The buzz on this movie is huge and so are my expectations. The Production Design (Robert Stromberg), Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Hair (Paul Gooch) and Makeup (Leslie Devlin) look extraordinary even above and beyond Tim Burton’s already exemplary track record in these areas for his past films. I can’t understand why they are waiting until March 5, 2010 to release this film in North America despite its obvious awards potential. I am waiting with baited breath.

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That’s the official trailer in HD.

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That’s the extended trailer just released. The official trailer is still better.

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What film are you most looking forward to?

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Rose XO.

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By The Associated Press (AP) –

The Senate has voted to extend and expand a popular tax credit for homebuyers that was scheduled to expire Nov. 30. The House is expected to schedule a quick vote on the bill, part of a package that also extends unemployment benefits for people out of work more than a year. How the homebuyer tax credit would work:

Tax credit: Ten percent of the purchase price of a primary residence, up to a maximum of $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers. First-time homebuyers are defined as people who have not owned a home in the previous three years. Repeat buyers must have owned their current home at least five years. The credit cannot be used for houses costing more than $800,000.

Deadline for qualifying: Purchase agreements must be signed by April 30, 2010, and closings must be final by June 30.

Military deadline: The deadline is extended by a year for members of the military who have served outside the U.S. for at least 90 days from Jan. 1, 2009, to May 1, 2010.

Income limits: Individuals with annual incomes up to $125,000 and joint filers with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full credit. Individuals with incomes up to $145,000 and joint filers with incomes up to $245,000 qualify for reduced credits.

How to apply: Taxpayers can claim the credit on their federal income tax returns. If the credit exceeds their tax bill, the government will issue a payment. Taxpayers who want immediate refunds can amend their tax returns for 2008 to claim the credit.

Cost: $10.8 billion.

Source: Joint Committee on Taxation

Finesse

Jimmy Ross – First true love affair (Edvaldo’s extended original mix)