Updated July 1 – Now the bill has passed both the House and the Senate, and is headed for the President’s desk. Provided you were under contract by April 30th, you would NOW have until September 30th to receive the buyer credit rebate. Whether you like the credit or not, it looks like it’ll be extended.
A question came in for Brandon Nicely on the blog over the weekend from Josh. He wrote:
The first-time homebuyer credit has been in place since 2009 (I can say that now, it’s 2010) but since the extension in November, it seems there’s still a lot of misinformation out there about the credit. A few days ago, I talked with a first-time buyer who thought he had to be under contract by December 31 2009.
The tax credit extension has been signed into law, and now people far and wide are wondering if it’ll create a Monopoly-like run on buying properties and collecting checks.
Well, I’m admittedly many hours late on this, but as of this post it’s being reported that the President has signed H.R. 3548, the bill that deals with, among other things, an extension to the first-time buyer tax credit that was put in place earlier this year.
I had a teacher in high school, Mr. Smith, who had a saying that’s stuck with me. I remember little from his government and US history class but this phrase:
See Saw
The tax credit seems to be all the rage in the real estate world these days, and for good reason … it’s going to expire. See that ticker on the right side of your screen (if you’re on a mobile phone, apologies – you’ll just have to imagine it) – that ticker is counting down to the expiration date of the first-time buyer credit on November 30th. Any home buyer, who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years and who close on or before November 30th, is eligible for up to $8000 in tax credits. Anyone who closes AFTER November 30th gets … zero … nothing.
As we countdown to the expiration of the $8000 first-time buyer tax credit, the question everyone seems to be asking is “are we going to see the credit again?” As I was speaking with a seller tonight, it was one of the questions he wanted to ask, and I’d bet at least once a day for the last few weeks has someone stopped me to ask whether I’ve heard that the first-time buyer tax credit will or will not be extended.
Our thanks to Bob and Sally for their role in this video