Update 7/1/10: 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.
UPDATE 6/29/10: It appears that stand alone bills that would extend unemployment benefits and the closing date for the first time home buyer tax credit will be introduced in the house today by Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan. This is a breaking story, more to follow.
A bill that would have extended unemployment benefits, as well as extended the closing date for the first time home buyer tax credit to September 30th, and extended a variety of other tax credits, failed to garner enough votes to defeat a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate yesterday.
The Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a consensus on this bill yet again, as lawmakers become increasingly concerned about deficit spending. Austerity is suddenly the watchword of the day, likely because of the debt issues that Europe is currently experiencing. These concerns about deficit spending seem to be selective, however.
The amendment to extend the closing date for the tax credit was approved by the Senate over a week ago, but the bill it is attached to seems increasingly unlikely to pass. Hopefully the extension can be passed as a stand-alone measure or attached to a less controversial bill.
As of this time, the closing date for the first time home buyer tax credit remains June 30th. If I learn anything new I will pass it along.
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Dave Wang
June 25, 2010 @ 8:08 am
May people had been counting on this. That’s that republicans do best – filibuster on the issues that impact’s people’s lives directly. So frustrating.
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carmen myers
June 25, 2010 @ 9:24 am
The first time home buyer tax credit a joke i was denied it just because 2 years before i bought a house i filed joinly on income tax with my husband who owned a home and they said that i benefited from that even though i never owned or bought a home until that time i filled wat a joke
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Chuck Johnson
June 25, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Until we fix the larger problem of stuffing unrelated measures together in a single bill to sneak in pet projects, good and logical measures will continue to fall victim. How Medicare payments, unemployment extensions, and correcting a poorly planned deadline for an already approved first time home-buyers tax credit are related and should be all voted on as one all-or-nothing measure is indicative of our failed and self serving government. Fire them all, impose two year unpaid terms and require a doctorate degree. There are plenty of educated, intelligent, and moral people to fill those seats for the next millennium.
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Audrey Winkels
June 25, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
My son, a first time home buyer, did EVERYTHING right in trying to buy a HUD home – his first home. He started in FEBRUARY. Due to one fiasco after another with HUD, he is still not closed.
He was told he was finally signing papers last Monday. Then HUD said they wanted MORE paperwork – paperwork they have received…, repeatedly, over the months.
Now he will LOSE the $8,000 first time homeowner tax credit – because of HUD. What a SHAME! No WONDER this country is in such a MESS!
If a loan has been IN PROCESS for MONTHS the first time buyer should get their $8,000 if the home has not closed through no fault of their own … but rather, through the INCOMPETENCE of … the government/HUD!
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Gary Richard Miles
June 25, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
I have been under contract to purchase my first home for close to 4 months and now because of metlife first horizon being so slow to move on this short sale not to mention our so called leaders blocking Harry Reid’s bill to help people like me to get our 8000.00 tax credit. I Just can’t tell you how disappointed i am. I’m not rich like those Bankers, that got all that Bailout Money… this is completely ludicrous. I finally got approval about 4 days ago, the appraisal has be ordered and here it is the 24th of the month. they are telling me that there is no way to be closed by the 30th. is there no one that can help ? But Thank You Harry Reid….at Least you care about the Struggling Middle Class. I agree with the Lady Above…….WHAT A JOKE !!!!!
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Jason Higgins
June 25, 2010 @ 1:08 pm
HUD is a joke, our loan documents have been at escrow (GBS a gov’t contractor who is the only escrow office HUD will use in WA) since Monday. GBS says they won’t even look at the file until July. Since we went under contract interest rates have fallen. Without the $8000.00 incentive there is no reason to close. Home values will continue to fall, especially without the tax credit. I think we’ll opt to back out and try and get a better deal… I’m sure we’ll end up saving over $8,000 by finding a better deal, and likely won’t be waisting our time with HUD again.
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Paul Ting
June 25, 2010 @ 3:47 pm
I am buying a coop in Queens NY. My wife and I signed the contract in the middle of April.
-A week later,
I got the loan that I need, but coop has many restrictions like they require rider to recognition agreement for the flip tax that they are charging for seller. and then bank got freak out over the steep flip tax so they draft a new commitment letter with lower loan amount which reflect the flip tax.
-That is the two weeks delay there.
Then the coop managing company wants more paper work from my wife because her name is also on the title even though there is only my name on the loan and I am fully qualified for mortgage myself. so it takes her a week to get 4 recommendation letters from her social/business contacts and an employment letter for her part time job. Her boss takes at least a week of sweet time to get that letter.
- That is another week delay.
Then finally, the applications arrive in the hands of coop board. I have no idea what is the hold up, but it takes them 3 weeks to call me and setup an interview.
- 3 weeks delay.
then I couldn’t make it for Monday on short notice. They call me on a Saturday two days in advance and I have night shift on Monday. and next available appointment is on the Thursday.
another 3 days delay.
Met them on Thursday. On Friday, the contact in coop management company didn’t even come in to work. so I have no way to know if I am approved or not.
It is now just 3 more days to close. I need more time!!! Thanks for nothing, GOPs.
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Mali B
June 25, 2010 @ 3:54 pm
I echo everyone else’s words. This is really unfair to those of us who made the effort to get under contract by April 30th. Due to no fault of our own, we’re going to lose out on $8000! That’s a lot of money, and I’m sure that many first time home buyers could really use that to get started in their new homes. Did they not take into account how many people are purchasing foreclosures, HUD homes, and short sales? These processes take longer than a conventional home purchase. I pray for a miracle. It would really be a shame for us to have to lose out on this.
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Paul Ting
June 25, 2010 @ 3:55 pm
Like other people say similarly before, it is a sweet icing on the cake. 8000 dollars can do a lot of good on furniture and renovation cost. oh well~
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Jim
June 25, 2010 @ 4:50 pm
I am a real estate broker and I also have 3 buyers who have been under contract since feb waiting to settle to recieve the 8k.
Call your republican leaders they need to get it through . All of you hang in there until the 30th and see if the extension happens , my clients are !!!
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Mayra
June 25, 2010 @ 6:03 pm
I have 2 client that with no fault of their own will be left out in the cold and not qualify for the $8,000 tax credit. I hope the government will re-consider before months end.
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Sidi
June 25, 2010 @ 7:19 pm
I have been trying to a house for the longest. I worked hard to save and purchase a house I can afford. This tax is NOT a handout.This is GOOD for our economy. The money is already there, all they have to do is extend the dateline so that more Americans can take advantage of this program. These elected oficials do not have our interest at heart. No one speaks for the regular folk. Corporate Bank of America runs the show.
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Sad man
June 26, 2010 @ 4:48 am
I’ve been in closing since thanksgiving 2009… Oh well.
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Becky
June 26, 2010 @ 6:47 am
In reference to the person above me, it’s not just a HUD problem. I have been under contract also, not with HUD, and I to am missing out on the tax credit. The banks are sooo overwhelmed trying to approve everybody that no one is getting approved. I agree with someone else’s comment about them lumping everything under one bill. Do u guys know that they also have something under that bill about flood insurance and no one can get flood insurance either if they are in a flood zone so they won’t be able to close on theirs loans for that reason either. This bill is messing up the lives of a lot of people. Between the unemployment, flood insurance, and the tax credit who knows how many people will be affected. Over 200,000 are being affected by unemployment, another at least 180,000 for the tax credit, and an unknown amount for the flood insurance. Call your congressman.
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Jeanette Shelby
June 26, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
Like everyone above, I am seeing the same sorts of stories. I see even more, because I am a real estate broker. It is not my buyer’s fault that the seller, Wells Fargo did not foreclose on the property correctly and therefore had to start the process over. Meanwhile, we have asked for essential repairs (CACH trashed by previous owner, water pipes in attic broken since they were not weatherized) and we seem to get nowhere. It really makes me mad that Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc got tons of money and are not making loans. They take up to 6 months to hold onto an offer on a short sale and then reject it. Most sellers can tell you within 30 minutes whether they will take an offer or not, but not these sellers.
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Kerry Evans
June 27, 2010 @ 6:55 am
I too have been in contract for 2 months now, and despite providing all the needed documents to the Chase mortgage branch that I have been working with, I have yet to receive a solid closing date. The $8000 credit was my incentive to take money from my savings, despite this tough and unstable economy and invest in the housing market. Now the incentive is about to vanish and many people might be stuck. I made sure that my sale contract explicitly stated that we had to clode by June 30. I will just back out of the deal if we cannot close by then, leave the property vacant and take back my thousands and thousands of dollars in downpayment.
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robin
June 27, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
We all need to be calling daily to reid’s office and beg him to redo the amendment as a stand alone. they come back middle of july to august 1, they can make it retroactive too. we all need to be calling to get them to here us. I will be calling everyday until august 1.
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Adam Wood
June 27, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
I’ve been under contract since mid april. I went with the bank I did because they assured me I’d close before june 30th. That isn’t happening now. I really hope this extension goes through.
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samantha bunch
June 28, 2010 @ 5:28 pm
This is heartbreaking… My husband & I have been struggling to finish a new construction before the deadline. Our lazy contractor did a lot of things wrong before just stopping all together, & we have spent a lot of our own money to finish on time thinking we could catch up financially with this tax break. Then KY gets rain 5/7 days a week this season, making it hard to finish a garage in a damp yard. Bank wouldn’t budge on the unattached garage addition, said we HAD to finish it as well to close, even though the house is done. We haven’t even been able to pour the concrete foundation with all the rain. So no tax $ unless something comes through VERY soon!
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John
June 28, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
I have been in contract since mid April and am cleared to close by my bank. The seller is ready to close and so am I. The only thing holding this up is a Governmental Agency called the HDP that has to supply payoff numbers to the seller. All they need to do is give the number, no decisions are necessary. They have had the file for nine (9) weeks and both attorneys were told today that they would not be able to get us the payoff letter by 30 June and to call them on 1 July and see how it was going. Needles to say I will lose the 8K that I was counting on, and this is by no fault of mine. If the extension does not pass I will be an inocent victim that did everything right.
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Alma Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
John,
I am in the same situation, waiting for HPD. Was the seller able to get the Payoff letter?
Thanks.
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John
June 28, 2010 @ 6:50 pm
Correction: It is the HPD of New York that can’t give us the numbers.
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David B
June 29, 2010 @ 10:27 am
Important Update!!
Read
http://www.mlive.com/michigan-job-search/index.ssf/2010/06/house_to_vote_on_standalone_unemployment.html
H OF R voting today on stand alone extension of house tax credit.
If passed, on the Senate.
Could make it!!!
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Davud
June 29, 2010 @ 11:42 am
I signed the contract on April then started my processing with TD Bank for mortgage. They gave me approval letter in a week and I was waiting for commitment letter. Another week and half went by, then TD Bank denied the mortgage saying that the Co-Op Board doesn’t qualify for TD Bank Mortgage. What a jerk. TD Bank litterally wasted my 3 weeks of time. I would strongly recommend anyone not to pursue TD Bank for mortgage. Now I am processing my mortgage with other bank. I will loose the $8000 credit if they don’t extend the deadline for closing. Never ever with TD Bank for mortgage.
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A. Branch
June 29, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
Call your congressmen EVERYDAY unitl they make this right. If you were under contract by the deadline you should be given more time to close period. The lenders/processors/and title companies are not equipted to handle the amount of closing trying to close. They just don’t have the staff and internally they ARE acknowledging they have no other reason not to close other than they just don’t have the staff to do it. So who is pentalized? People who have done everything right are being told, tough luck; for instance; yes your file was complete BUT it took 2 weeks for Inspector to be assigned & make appoint reinspect a leaky toilet; buyer HAD recepts from lic plumber;it will take more time FOR REPORT, then to clear contigency; we will not be clear to close till Thursday ????? Leaky toilet ????? Who is looking out for US???? CHASE is no better than TD David….
Thank you to Harry Reid & Sander Levin, they seem the to be the only ones to acknowledge this is so important.
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