This Month In Real Estate – December 2009 Comments Off
It’s official – The Federal Homebuyer Tax Credit has been extended! Comments Off
BREAKING NEWS – The Senate and the House voted on November 6th to extend and expand the Homebuyer Tax Credit through April of 2010. It has also enabled current home owners to receive a tax credit of up to $6500 when selling their current home and buying another.
To find out if you qualify for the tax credit, please contact me immediately.
The details are below, or you may also download the information in pdf format.
First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit update, November 5th Comments Off
Here is a quick update on the tax credit:
- A measure to extend and expand the first-time home buyer tax credit won Senate approval Wednesday
- The new credit still must pass through the House, that would send it to the President to sign into law
- New tax credit would extend the existing credit for first-time homebuyers up to $8,000
- New credit up to $6,500 for some existing homeowners that have owned their home for at least 5 years
- New credit would apply to contracts entered into through April 30, 2010 and closed before July 1, 2010. A home buyer must have a sale agreement in hand by April 30 and close escrow by June 30, 2010.
- The new rule also raises the qualifying income limits up to $125,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for joint
- The maximum allowed home purchase price would be $800,000
- Military personnel, deployed overseas for a minimum of 90 days in 2008 or 2009, would have until April 30, 2011 to claim the tax credit.
Will the $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Expand to $15,000? 1
This is a question or rather – comment- that I hear a lot, that the tax credit will be upped to $15,000. This is a good article that goes into the uphill battle the bill has to get that done.
My professional opinion is that the government will extend the tax credit for the public and very well may open it up to all home buyers not just first time buyers, and remove the income limitations the current credit has. They have already extended the credit for Veterans, and if they extend or expand the credit for the general public, they would have to alter it so it was relevant to a different crowd of people than those who have already taken advantage of it.
So if they open it up to all home buyers, then those looking to “move up” or buy a bigger home can take advantage of it, which is the largest demographics of home buyers that need help right now.
See below to read the entire article.
BREAKING NEWS: First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit nears extension! Comments Off
Senate Democrats plan to extend an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and allow benefits for some people who already own residences, a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
The proposal would let homeowners qualify for a $6,500 credit if they have lived in their residence for five years, said Reid aide Regan Lachapelle. Lawmakers expect to consider the measure as part of a bill to extend unemployment benefits, she said. That measure has been held up by a disagreement with Republicans over other proposed amendments.
The homebuyers’ credit would be available to individuals earning up to $125,000, or $250,000 for couples, up from $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples under the current law, Lachapelle said.
Lawmakers want to keep home sales from slipping as the economy struggles to recover from the worst drop in home prices since the Great Depression.
“The compromise we have now would expand the credit beyond first-time homebuyers,” Lachapelle said.
The plan would extend the credit, due to expire Nov. 30, to home purchases under contract by April 30, 2010, with borrowers allowed another 60 days to close the sale, according to a person familiar with the details of the agreement.
Operating Losses
The amendment is being packaged with a separate proposal to extend and expand a tax break for companies with net operating losses.
Any legislation would have to be reconciled with a House unemployment measure approved last month that omits the homebuyer tax provisions and extends jobless benefits only in states with the highest unemployment rates.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, is waiting to see the final Senate agreement before deciding whether to support it, said spokesman Nadeam Elshami.
More than 1.2 million borrowers through Oct. 9 have claimed almost $8.5 billion of the $13.6 billion set aside for “first-time” homebuyer tax credits this year, according to U.S. Treasury data.
Realtors and mortgage bankers said the credits, which are available for taxpayers who haven’t owned a home in the past three years, have helped stabilize housing sales this year.
“Already we’ve seen the impact of this credit in jump- starting the housing sector,” Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said on the Senate floor. He said it would be a “great mistake” to allow the break to lapse. Dodd estimated that more than 70 percent of current homebuyers would be eligible for the break.
Reid Cites Support
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor today that there is significant support among both parties for the homebuyers’ tax credit. He said the other amendments sought by Republicans are unrelated to the unemployment bill and are designed to embarrass his colleagues.
Republicans want to vote on amendments on immigration and to bar funding for the community activist group ACORN.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, agreed that most lawmakers support the unemployment and homebuyer measures. “We’re not that far away from an agreement,” he said earlier today.
The $2.4 billion unemployment measure would extend jobless benefits by 14 weeks in all states and provide another six weeks of benefits in states with the highest unemployment rates.
About 1.9 million Americans will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of this year unless Congress acts, the Labor Department said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.com; Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net
Source: Bloomberg News, Dawn Kopecki and Ryan Donmoyer (10/28/2009)
Update on Tax credit extension Comments Off
It is not “officially” too late – If you don’t have a home under contract as of today, the chances of taking advantage of the Federal Tax Credit is pretty much NIL. BUT – THERE IS HOPE! As the below podcast indicates, National Associate of Realtors is lobbying very hard to get the credit extended. In fact, they have already extended it to veterans.
What I am telling my clients right now is that this credit has existed in one form or another for 4 years. The economy still is in need of incentives to get people out there to buy, so the likelihood that the credit dies all together is very slim. There is a very good chance it will be extended and maybe opened up a bit, but it is the government, so you can never count on that. Let’s keep following the story and see what happens.
http://www.realtor.org/about_nar/presidents_report/_podcast_archive/mcmillan_credithealthreform_20091020
Getting the Tax Credit Extended: Outlook Comments Off
This article and video was posted on http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/ on September 25th. Great article and discussion on the Tax credit and extending it.
By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
What are the chances of getting the first-time home buyer tax credit extended, particularly before its expiration Dec. 1? No one can know that, of course, but what’s clear is that the leadership in Congress wants it extended—and if you have the leadership on board, you’re in a strong position. Yet with health care reform consuming Congress’ attention, even the leadership faces a challenge ensuring the tax credit gets the consideration it deserves.
After sitting down with Linda Goold, NAR’s director of tax policy, and Samuel Whitfield, an NAR legislative representative, I learned the tax credit has really been the economic recovery’s workhorse. The IRS says 1.4 million households have used the credit. What’s more, a number of independent looks at the credit, including one by Economy.com (owned by Moody’s) and Campbell Surveys, estimate that between 350,000 and 400,000 home purchases would not have happened without the credit. NAR has come up with a similar estimate.
Goold and Whitfield say there’s bipartisan support for extension, and NAR is on Capitol Hill daily reminding lawmakers that the clock is running. But it’s coming down to the wire.
Do you qualify for the $8000 Tax Credit? Comments Off
Here is a quick check list to find out if you would qualify for the entire, soon to expire, $8000 Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit -
If you are single:
- If you are single, do you make more than $75,000?
- if you are married/filing jointly, do you make more than $150,000?
- Are you buying a home that is less than $80,000?
- Are you planning on buying a mobile home?
- Are you a non-resident alien?
- Have you or your partner/spouse owned a home in the last 3 years?
If you answer yes to any single question, you may not qualify for the $8000 Federal tax credit.
To find out for certain, please contact me directly and I can help you right away!
Home Buyer Tax credit may get expanded and extended! Comments Off
H.R.2801 or the Home Ownership Moves the Economy (HOME) Act of 2009 was introduced by Rep. Howard Coble, Republican from North Carolina on June 10, 2009. It is currently being reviewed by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
This bill Amends the Internal Revenue Code to:
- Extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit to all individuals who purchase a principal residence (currently, only first-time homebuyers as so defined);
- Extend such credit and the waiver of recapture requirements for such credit through 2010; and
- Repeal the limitation on such credit based on modified adjusted gross income. (No income limitations)
This bill still has several steps to go through before it is considered law, which includes being reported by the committee, House vote, Senate vote, signed by the President. So the bill is still in it’s infancy. In my opinion this would be fantastic as it would help an area of the real estate market that really needs it which is the $300k + range that first time home buyers are not in.
But, if you are a first time home buyer, I would not wait until this is passed to take action. This is the Government we are talking about here. As it stands, if you are not looking for homes by September 1st, you are in real danger of missing the boat on the current, and only tax credit available.
To set up a 20 point, initial Home Buyers Consultation with me, just contact me.
Be informed, read the entire bill
