They waited until the very last minute, but last night the Senate passed the stand alone bill from the House of Representatives that would extend the closing date to claim the first time home buyer tax credit from June 30th until September 30th. The measure passed the Senate unanimously and President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law today.
Many people that had signed purchase agreements prior to April 30th were having trouble closing by June 30th due to backlogged lenders and servicers who were having difficulty dealing with the increased volume of home sales before the expiration of the tax credit. Many others who were purchasing distressed homes or short sales were having issues with the closing date because of the extended transaction time for those types of sales.
If the closing date was not extended, it was estimated that nearly 180,000 home sales would fall apart as borrowers backed out of deals. Whether or not you agree with the original tax credit policy (and I think the jury is still out as to whether this was good policy or not, although I am initially inclined to believe it was not a good idea), it made a lot of sense to extend the closing date. The additional cost is relatively minimal, and it does not make sense to unfairly punish those who entered into deals with the expectation of receiving a credit who could not close due to any fault of their own.
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T
July 1, 2010 @ 8:10 am
Great news!!!
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robin
July 1, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhoooo-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-oooo………………………
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jay
July 1, 2010 @ 11:16 am
SO IS IT OFFICIAL YET???????
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Michael Kraus Reply:
July 1st, 2010 at 11:18 am
The president still needs to sign the bill into law, which he is expected to do given the overwhelming support for it in congress.
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Pammy
July 1, 2010 @ 11:32 am
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TXfirsttimebuyer
July 1, 2010 @ 7:40 pm
Thank goodness! We are one of those families that this will affect. We were told due to the backlog that they wouldn’t be able to process our closing by the deadline. We were told this after we have had all of our ducks in a row (documents, etc.). The lender did not have to ask for anything from us as we all had it ready. No matter how proactive we had been, we were told that they lenders, etc. just couldn’t handle it. So thank goodness! This incentive is what gave us that push we needed to purchase versus leasing.
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AP
July 1, 2010 @ 9:22 pm
If I did not enter into a contract before April 30th but I’m able to close on a house before the extended deadline of September 30th, do I qualify for the tax credit?
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Michael Kraus Reply:
July 2nd, 2010 at 8:52 am
No, you needed to enter into a purchase agreement prior to April 30 in order to claim the tax credit.
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moni
July 6, 2010 @ 12:47 am
will there be any othe type of first time home buyers tax credit available for someone purchasing a home after april 30
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Michael Kraus Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Some states such as California enacted their own tax credits (although I believe California ran through all of the allotted money for their program). Other states have credits that are available for members of the military or civil servants. At this time there is no more widespread federal tax credit program that I am aware of, unless you count the more general subsidizing of housing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Jeff Ragan
July 10, 2010 @ 12:20 am
Actually the Senate has extended the tax credit closing deadline for buyers already under contract as of April 30, from June 30 to September 30. President Barack Obama recently signed into law a three-month extension on the deadline for home buyers to obtain a federal home buyer tax credit of up to 8,000.
Eligible taxpayers who contracted to buy a home, qualifying for the first-time home buyer tax credit before the end of April 2010, now have until September 30, 2010 to close the deal. To be eligible, buyers need to be in a binding contract that was in place by April 30.
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