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.
Note:We are a direct lender and broker licensed in more than 20 states. You may view some of our lowest mortgage rates here.
If you would like to learn more about the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, please contact us or call us at 877-868-2503, and an expert loan officer will be in touch with you shortly.
Update 6/25/10: The Tax Extenders Bill that the amendment to extend the credit failed to overcome a filibuster by Republicans in the Senate. As of now the closing date for the tax credit is still June 30th.
Update: Over the past week there have been several updates to this story. On Wednesday, an amendment was approved by the Senate to extend the closing date to September 30. It still needs to be approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives. At this time the extension is not yet law. For more information see Adam Quinones’ article from Mortgage News Daily here.
Over the past week, we have heard from a great many people who signed a purchase agreement for a home prior to April 30th in order to claim the $8000 first-time home buyer tax credit. Many of you are also having difficulty closing on your house prior to June 30th, which is another requirement to claim the credit. The massive spike in home sales that resulted from the credit has left many mortgage servicers, processors, underwriters and originators snowed under a mountain of paperwork. The delays are frustrating many of the potential buyers and could cause many of them to become ineligible for the credit by no fault of their own.
To this end, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) attached a proposal to extend the closing date from June 30th to September 30th. He attached the proposal to the controversial 2010 Unemployment Extension Benefits and Tax Extenders Bill, HR 4213. Despite optimism yesterday that the measure would pass, the bill was defeated in a Senate test vote today, 52-45.
Update: After this story was written, an amendment to extend the date was passed by the Senate. The bill it is attached to still needs to be approved by the Senate, voted upon by the House, and signed by the President to be finalized.
The bill would have extended unemployment benefits and a variety of other tax breaks. It was defeated largely because of the cost of the legislation, which would have added something in the neighborhood of $80 billion to the deficit. The total cost of the bill would have been more than $140 billion dollars. The growing concern over federal deficits and the (nominal) push toward fiscal austerity caused many Senators to vote against the measure.
Democrats will now head back to the drawing board, hoping to make enough concessions to get the necessary votes to pass the bill. Whether the extension of the closing date of the first-time home buyer tax credit will be in a reconstituted bill remains to be seen.
I will monitor this issue and do my best to keep you up to date on all the developments.
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Pammy
June 16, 2010 @ 2:59 pm
Um, this is incorrect. http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/06/senate-votes-to-extend-tax-credit-to-some-home-buyers.html
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Eric Barker
June 16, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
Are you sure? The Hill is reporting that the extension was approved in the Senate.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/103603-senate-approves-extension-to-homebuyer-tax-credit
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Sarah
June 16, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
The closing date extension was, in fact, APPROVED by the Senate today. The title of this article is very misleading, and the article itself is somewhat misleading!
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Anonymous
June 16, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
Firstly, it’s $8000, not $800. Secondly, the Seanate approved the extension.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/103603-senate-approves-extension-to-homebuyer-tax-credit
I recommend checking your sources and reviewing your work before posting it to the Internet.
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Michael Kraus
June 16, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
I wanted to chime in here. From the above cited article from Thehill.com: “By a 60-37 vote, the Senate on Wednesday approved a measure extending the closing deadline for qualifying for the homebuyer tax credit.
The proposal is expected to be added to a slimmed-down tax extenders bill that Senate Democratic leaders are expected to unveil today.”
This means that there is a proposal to extend the credit that passed. It will be attached to the revised tax extenders bill. That tax extenders bill still needs to be voted upon by Congress. If that bill passes, and I hope it does, the proposal will take effect.
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hhoover
June 16, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
Thank you. That explains the confusion.
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Amanda
June 16, 2010 @ 6:59 pm
I am so upset! we found a house on May 15th, but will be closing before june 30th, I think we should still be eligible for the tax credit!!.. I think it should be either in contract by april 30th OR closed by June 30th!! This bill only helps some.. what about those of us that really need it!!!
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DMM
June 16, 2010 @ 10:16 pm
Did it pass or not?
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Debbie
June 17, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
The amendment was approved. The bill it was attached to was defeated.
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Jobe05
June 17, 2010 @ 4:06 pm
Wow…… I am amazed….
You all need to go back and take a Social Studies Class because you all suck at history and Government……. And the scary part is you probably voted…..
The “House” Passed HR4213, once passed it went to the Senate. The Senate has denied (failed to Pass) the extensions listed in HR 4213.
However, hope is not lost and other forms of this bill will get passed in the near future, perhaps even by July 1. If you haven’t read HR4213 yet, you should, then you would realize that there is to much in it that would help the economy struggle through the next 5 months to just let it go, the economy would go flat real fast if they don’t pass it.
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Karen
June 17, 2010 @ 4:53 pm
Amanda, the deadline was well published. If you really needed the credit, you should have put in some more leg work and found something by April 30. I searched for a house solid for 2 months, using all of my available evenings and weekends, and fortunately signed a contract April 30. We are going to close on June 25. We all have to play by the rules. What’s fair is fair.
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Dhe
June 17, 2010 @ 6:39 pm
Amanda if you need 8 grand– you shouldn’t
be buying a house!
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Jeffrey
June 17, 2010 @ 7:38 pm
Do people that sign home contract for the month of May 2010 and close before June 30, 2010 qualify for the $8000 tax credit? Pls, I need answer to this question.
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MikeG
June 17, 2010 @ 9:17 pm
It was passed to be amended to a bill that ultimately did not pass, so it did not pass.
I believe it is attached to a revised bill, hopefully the Senate will vote on it Friday. Who knows if it will make the schedule though. Plus, the House needs to vote on the bill afterwards still.
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TJ
June 18, 2010 @ 5:42 am
Amanda, within that tax extenders bill is an unemployment compensation extension. Benefits ran out June 2nd. Therefore, people who were barely putting food on their table now have nothing and will be losing their home. So, you are buying a house and you say you really need it. Well, sorry, but there are people who may become homeless now. If they have to cut things from this bill to get it passed, this credit should go before unemployment benefits go.
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Rane
June 18, 2010 @ 8:29 am
I need the $8000 and I’m buying a house. At least I’m trying. If this doesn’t pass we won’t be getting the house. Dhe and Jobe, you are way too judgmental for your own good. Maybe you should learn that everyone might not be as smart as you think you are.
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Joe G
June 18, 2010 @ 8:52 am
For any one who are in the same position-Jeffrey and Amanda-email-call or write your senator or members of the housing committee immediately and I encourage anyone else in this position to do the same-I signed a contract on May 7, 2010 and closed June 2, 2010 and will be left out also-What people don’t understand is these funds will be reinvested back in the economy.
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T B
June 18, 2010 @ 8:58 am
We entered into a contract to build a home in January, fully expecting it to be complete by June 30, but weather and other circumstances slowed it. The builder has been rushing, trying to get everything done for a Certificate of Occupancy dated by June 30 but our appliances won’t be in until the first week of July–seems GE’s warehouse is in Nashville, recovering from floods, and that’s what’s holding it up now. Technically, we’ve already “Closed” on the loan (a construction to perm loan). It’s ALL in OUR name. We’re already paying on it (interest on construction loan) and have filed to modify–convert it to a mortgage, locking into a rate this week. But according to the IRS guidelines, a Cert. of Occ. must be issued by June 30 for us to get the tax credit. An extension of the deadline to clear the paper work ALREADY in the pipeline, being held up by no fault of the home purchaser, is only fair.
Okay, I’m done venting……..
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ginny
June 18, 2010 @ 9:11 am
What difference does it make. It is like pulling teeth to get the money from the IRS. We closed on our home Dec. 3 2009 and filed the end of January 2010. Still waiting…. after many calls we are still waiting. You might want to google “how long does it take to get my tax credit” and notice that we are not the only ones waiting, some folks are waiting a year now. If you do go through with it don’t be too hasty to “spend” it, just be prepared to wait and wait and wait………………
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s2kreno
June 18, 2010 @ 10:04 am
The problem with continually extending unemployment benefits is that people don’t look for work until just before the benefits run out. There are studies that show this over and over. And i have examples too, like my sister-in-law, who has been collectin for two years now and doesn’t even look for work. And yes, there are jobs. So I don’t think another expensive extension is a good thing. If you are really starving, as TJ says, you can get a job if you aren’t too picky. Unemployment benefits keep people picky.
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TJ
June 18, 2010 @ 11:29 am
s2kreno, not everybody lives in a metro area where there are available jobs. In our community, they shut down the two biggest employers; 5 out of 6 houses on each block is for sale with no bites. So yeah, you might have a lazy, picky SIL, but that’s not the case for a lot of people. My husband has worked all his life; the company he worked for hasn’t even laid off people in 78 years. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, other than your lazy SIL, shut up.
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Pat
June 18, 2010 @ 11:45 am
$8,000 tax credit is being passed more easily than the unemployment extension? Something is wrong here! Selling houses is more important than keeping people in their homes, whether it be mortgage or rent, paid by unemployment while they jobhunt? Really do I care if someone is about to miss the deadline for buying a home with the credit over desparate people losing their unemployment benefits???
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robin
June 18, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
Well I am In both situations. I signed for a P and S on Feb 2, House has had a few hold ups, the extension is Great News!! I have every belief it will make it in the house bill. My kid’s dad worked ever since I met him. He has had mostly unemployment for the last two years. I work tho and we are getting through it —my new house payment is only 786 per month. We are determined to make it through the tough times even tho he cannot get anymore unemployment. I feel for others tho who may have suffered both breadwinners losing their jobs, or other single folks who are struggling. You are all in my prayers.
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John Lucas
June 20, 2010 @ 2:52 am
My girlfriend and I were looking for a house 6 months ago. We talked to the first time homebuyers people and didn’t want to break a lease will be able to be eligable for the credit and when is the new stopping dAte
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Karen
June 21, 2010 @ 7:56 am
Any news about when the House looks at this?
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Wendy
June 21, 2010 @ 10:47 pm
In response to Karen. Good job with your leg work. The bill is fair for people like myself who put in a solid 9 months of the same leg work. Signed a contract For a shrtsale march 2010 and are still waiting for the bank to get back to us. We’ve done our part, but the banks are taking their sweet time with things.
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Merrie
June 22, 2010 @ 2:29 pm
I searched for 5 months, signed a contract in March, with a scheduled closing date of June 25th. It’s a short sale but today I found out today Bank is still taking their time and has not finalized the deal. Why is it taking four months for them to do this??
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Mary
June 23, 2010 @ 10:31 am
My husband and I signed a PA on March 30th with an initial closing date of 6/4 on a house that is bank-owned by Fannie Mae. We were told things would ‘take time’ and we anticipated a bit of paperwork and regulatory hassles, but due to the processing of so much paperwork and the back-up that are happening our closing date has been pushed back 3 times and NOW WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CLOSE UNTIL Mid-JULY. It seems that extending the closing date would be the best solution, since all both parties (sellers and buyers) have met all terms of the credit, but simply because of the surge of sales caused by the credit the closing conditions/deadlines are not being met . . .
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Karen
June 23, 2010 @ 10:41 am
Anybody know when the House is going to consider this bill (and what is the bill #).
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pigtown design
June 23, 2010 @ 12:50 pm
i signed a contract for a short sale house in december and i’ve done everything in my power to make sure the closing will happen by 30 june, but the seller’s agent doesn’t know what she’s doing. because of her lack of knowledge, combined with the slowness of the bank, there’s a danger i might not close by next week. it’s so frustataing to have put in so much time and energy to purchase a house and have it slip away because of the bank and the seller’s agent. I am getting the house at less than half the asking price, and i realize that it’s at the seller’s expense, but isn’t it better to have someone buy the house than have it sit empty for another two years.
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Joe
June 23, 2010 @ 6:56 pm
I hope this extension gets passed. Like many out there I did the leg work found a place I wanted to buy and made an offer mid March that was accepted. We did absolutely everything they wanted us to prompltly and were told our closing date would be June 18th. Due to some mess ups beween the banks and the listing agent we probaly wont close till early July!!! I don’t think honest people who did what they were supposed to shoud be penalized for others incompetence.
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dv
June 24, 2010 @ 12:33 am
I understand both sides of this argument, my husband is unemployed after being fired for being out on workers comp after 90days, went past the FMLA. The doctors have finally released him to work only light duty (desk job) which he is unqualified for. So now no worker comp, just unemployment he has six weeks left. So because of what he is going thru, when I looked for a house to buy I chose a duplex, mtg more then current rent but rent from other side makes payment $200 less then rent. Signed purchase agreement Apr 23, scheduled to close 6/2, waiting for appraisal. Appaiser came on 5/3 bank did not get it till 5/24, underwriter rejected because comparables to far away and to old. So bank backed out on 6/12 got new finacing but not sure if we can close by 6/30 because waiting on appraiser again. I don’t need the money per say on both parts of the bill but it sure would be nice with being eight weeks pregnat.
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Karen
June 24, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
I can’t find anything where the House is even considering #4213. I know they are in session from June 21 – June 28th, but what happens if they don’t pass this before June 30th. Can it be made retroactive?
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karen
June 25, 2010 @ 5:29 am
I just heard that the bill to extend unemployment benefits was defeated in Congress yesterday. Wasn’t this extension of the homebuyers tax credit added as an amendment to this bill, and therefore, no extension?
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Michael Kraus
June 25, 2010 @ 7:20 am
Karen, you appear to be correct, and I appear to have been given some misinformation. As of now the closing date for the tax credit is still June 30th. Whether or not the closing date can be extended retroactively, I do not know. See this post from calculatedrisk:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/06/update-unemployment-benefits-housing.html
The amendment that passed was attached to the Tax Extenders Bill, which has failed again:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062500342.html
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KMK
June 25, 2010 @ 9:25 am
I am very upset. Single mother, first time homebuyers. Left dom/viol. marriage, trying to stand on my own. Counting on tax credit, have had issue after issue with appraisal problems, and bank issues…long story short. Perfect credit on my end, the problem is in purchasing a double-wide…no one wants to loan. Now I have been transferred to another bank and pushed beyond the mandatory closing date after working hard to make all my ends meet. If not extended, I have worked hard for nothing and I have been shafted because of my decision to try to financially independent.
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Karen
June 25, 2010 @ 1:20 pm
What is everybody going to do. Are you going through with your home purchases if you can’t close on or before June 30th?
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Pam
June 25, 2010 @ 6:33 pm
I am a single mother of an infant–waiting on a short sale. Counting on the tax credit for necessary repairs. I am supposed to get a call on Monday and I might be given a closing date. The lawyer on my side says the seller’s bank is pushing for 6/30. No guarantees. I don’t know if I will purchase the house if the closing date is 7/1. Not sure what I will do….. It is all such a gamble. Can I put off some repairs? Will my house start falling apart around me if I wait on the repairs? $8,000 makes a big difference for first time homebuyers like me!!!
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Allison
June 25, 2010 @ 8:30 pm
We’ll be going through with our purchase, regardless of the tax credit. We were under contract in mid-April, and immediately started the mortgage process. This is not a short sale, we have great credit, and we’ve given the lender every document they’ve asked for by the end of that business day. We had our closing scheduled for June 25, but because of the delays in loan approval and now underwriting, we still don’t have a true scheduled date (we’ve had the loan approved for a few weeks now, though).
Basically, we don’t NEED the $8,000, and we DO need somewhere to live starting in Aug. So, we’ll close as soon as we can, whatever the status of the tax credit is. We WANTED the $8,000 (who wouldn’t?) and had planned to buy anyway, but we wouldn’t have hurried as much if we thought closing in July wouldn’t “lose us” money. We wanted to use the tax credit to re-do the bathroom counters and sink in the condo. It’s not something that is going to break the deal, but it’s something we wanted to do to improve the value. If we don’t get the credit, I guess we’ll just have to save up!
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m
June 26, 2010 @ 9:18 pm
I had an offer in on a short sale on February 13… not going to close in time so yesterday I put an offer on a different house (not a short sale) and it was approved today, close in August. No tax credit but atleast I’ll have a house. Short sales suck!
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Salina
June 28, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
The tax credit was NOT extended to September 30th. The close date is still June 30th. It never got all the way passed because the bill to extend unemployment benefits was defeated in Congress and the tax credit was added as an amendment to this bill. So all of the news articles that are being written that it was in fact extended are wrong. I called the IRS and had to hold for half hour to talk to someone and they confirmed that you must close by June 30th to get the $8,000 tax credit. I wish people wouldn’t post false information. I am closing hopefully on June 30th and when I heard that it got extended to Sep. 30th I got very excited and my lender and I felt we could slow this down a little so we weren’t in such a time crunch to close by June 30th but then I heard it wasn’t passed so I had to do my research and found out it wasn’t passed. So if I would of believed those articles that said it was extended I could of lost out on my $8,000 tax credit that I am really depending on!
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Heather
June 29, 2010 @ 9:38 am
My husband and I entered contract in early April but the loan process has slowed the sale. Our loan officer states we’re “top priority”, but we’re considering not buying if we can’t close by June 30th. Suppose the market has changed since April and now nicer and larger homes are in our price range. If we miss the $8,000, we may keep looking.
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Karen
June 29, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
Went to House of Representatives site and read the following: H.R. 5623:
to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the homebuyer tax credit for the purchase of a principal residence before October 1, 2010, in the case of a written binding contract entered into with respect to such principal residence before May 1, 2010, and for other purposes
2:14 P.M. –
DEBATE – The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5623.
Considered under suspension of the rules.
Mr. Levin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
Keep your fingers crossed!!!!!!
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Karen
June 29, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
It looks like this passed in the House Of Representatives. Anybody know what happens now?
H R 5623 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 29-Jun-2010 3:45 PM
QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended
BILL TITLE: Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act
Yeas Nays PRES NV
Democratic 244 10
Republican 165 5 8
Independent
TOTALS 409 5 18
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karen
June 29, 2010 @ 7:21 pm
The National Association of Realtors is reporting that the House of Representatives did in fact pass HR 5623. However, it now goes to the Senate, where the outcome is NOT CERTAIN. Don’t just sit there, write and call your Senators NOW.
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Karen
June 30, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
The Senate passed the first time buyers tax credit today, but it was part of the extension of unemployment benefits package. It now has to go back to the House and, if it passes there, on to the president for his signature.
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NAW
June 30, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
When will they stop playing games with us…. This nation deserves better than this.
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Nathan
June 30, 2010 @ 5:48 pm
Karen, I have searched the world over. Where did you find this information?
Why don’t people post URLs when they site this kind of information? ugh.
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Nathan
June 30, 2010 @ 9:46 pm
Holy crap, the senate just passed it as the single separate bill that the House passed them yesterday. I AM SO ELATED!
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Karen
July 1, 2010 @ 11:46 am
Nathan, you are indeed correct. I was misinformed. Looks like the Senate passed the stand alone bill yesterday and it just needs the presidents signature.
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Kathreen
September 6, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
Has anyone heard if they will bring the tax credit back for those that have recently purchase or that are undercontract. I read somewhere they were trying to pass a bill to bring it back. Is this in the works.
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Kathreen
September 6, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Does anyone know where I can write to, to suggest that the first time buyers tax credit be broght back for us folks that are struggling as single parents and americans. We need to all stand together to get this thing going again. Beside the squeaky wheel get the oil.
Kathreen
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