Lisa and Jim's Northern Nevada Real Estate Blog: Lisa Wetzel CDPE carsonvalleyland.com (RE/MAX Realty Affiliates)

Yesterday the House of Representatives unanimously voted to extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit to active military personnel, foreign service and intelligence officers.  HR 3590 extends the existing tax credit to this group until November 30th, 2010.  The bill now goes to the Senate, and is expected to pass with the same ease.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) because it was thought that military personel serving oversees this year did not have the same opportunity to take advantage of the tax credit.  If the original qualifications are met, the extension applies to military personnel who spent at least 90 days of the current calendar year oversees.  It also does not require borrowers to payback the tax credit if they are deployed after receiving it.  The current tax credit requires borrowers payback the tax credit if they do not occupy the home within three years of receiving the tax credit.

No word yet on whether the $8,000 tax credit will be extended for all eligible borrowers.

Helpless Victims Of The Economic Crisis- Abandoned Animals
Should I be crying after showing property? That's the question that I asked myself as I drove home on a recent Saturday afternoon after showing homes to a client. Earlier that day we happened across 2 abandoned dogs living all alone at a house in Los Angeles.

The house was listed as a short sale, but the agent told me that the owner was in the process of moving out and may already be gone. Sure enough, the house was vacant and the dogs were living in the crawl space under the home. They had no food and no water but had a way to get in and out of the property. I'm not sure if that was a positive or negative though.

We went and got food and water and poured it into some bowls that we found in the yard and called animal control and the listing agent.

The listing agent never returned my call and apparently animal control never showed up because I went back 2 weeks later, after not being able to get them out of my thoughts, and found that the poor dogs were still there. Their ribs were beginning to show and they were literally covered in hundreds of fleas and each one had about a half dozen ticks burrowed into it's skin.

I knew I had to do something! After 5 hours on the phone with no kill shelters I realized that this abandoned animal issue had become an epidemic. All of the shelters were completely full throughout Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and cited the crumbling economy and surge in foreclosures as the primary reason.

I learned that L.A. shelters are considered to be high kill shelters and they may not even keep the animals for the standard 72 hours before putting them down. I had no idea that over 10,000,000 animals are euthanized each year in the United States just because the city shelters don't have enough room or money to house and feed them.

Long story short, my husband and I picked them up, got rid of their fleas and ticks and are giving them a safe, warm place to sleep at night and lots of love. We're trying to find them a permanent home, since our yard is not set up for outdoor pets and I'm allergic to all animals. They're beautiful, loving dogs though and my heart will break when I have to let them go.

So what can we all do to help this epidemic of abandoned animals?

 

 

 

1. You can do something that's completely free! Every day log onto theanimalrescuesite.com and click on the purple "Click Here to Give" button". This site's sponsors provide food and care to rescued animals for every click they receive each day. You can also sign up to receive a daily email reminder to click, which makes it SO simple and easy!
2. Click here to sign the petition to urge Congress to support and approve the "HAPPY Act", H.R. 3501.  This act will make up to $3,500 of qualifying pet care expenses tax deductible. This could seriously help with the issue of abandoned and orphaned animals in the U.S.
3. If you're thinking of getting a pet, please take a look at these sites: Petfinder.com and ASPCA.org and consider adopting a pet from one of their affiliate rescue organizations, or check on other sites like Craigslist instead of buying from a pet store or breeder. Our good friends just adopted a 1 yr old pure bred Maltese for FREE, from a family on Craigslist! She is completely trained and came with a bed, collar, food, etc... 
4. If you live in Southern California and have a pet that you can no longer care for, please contact Friends of Animals at (310) 479-5089. They can fax you a 2 page list of no kill shelters that may have space for your animal if they don't have room themselves. If you live outside of Southern California you can find many shelters and sanctuaries online. Just search for "no kill shelters" along with your city and/or state name.
5. Have your animals spayed and neutered. If you're having financial difficulties, there are low-cost and free clinics that can be found through the ASPCA website mentioned above. Simply hover over "Pet Care" and choose from "dog care" or "cat care". On the left side of the page you'll see the orange link to search for a clinic in your area.
6. Consider becoming a "foster parent" for abandoned and orphaned animals in need. The ASPCA provides food, supplies, medications, etc... for those who foster animals from their New York City shelter. Many non profit animal rescue organizations do not have facilities and are in need of foster homes for these beautiful animals. The organizations that you are fostering for will show the animals at local pet adoption events and list them on their website for permanent adoption. 
7. Consider donating your time or money to one of these organizations. In addition to monetary gifts, they are in need of volunteers to help out with the animals.
   

I hope that all of the animal lovers of the world will step up and do what they can to assist these truly helpless victims of the economic crisis, abandoned animals.