Will the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
Be Extended into 2010
Posted September 22, 2009
 As you may know, the economic stimulus package of 2009 enacted a tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time homebuyers buying a home between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009. The program has succeeded
in reducing inventories of unsold homes across the country while, at the same time, helping many afford to buy their first home.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and, according to Judie Berger, a prominent Sarasota realtor, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) now hope to persuade Congress to pass legislation to extend the tax credit as soon as possible now that Congress has returned to Washington, DC.
Both lobbying associations are urgently contacting members of Congress. In addition to an extension of the first-time home buyer credit, they want to expand the program to cover all home buyers through the end of 2010.
Senate Majority Leader Reid has indicated that he believes he can get this extension enacted. Two senators are sponsoring a bill that would extend the credit through 2010 and expand it to a $15,000 maximum.
In the House, two more bills have been introduced to extend the current credit for either 6 or 12 months. With
all this impetus, it might seem likely that in some form the tax credit will be extended into next year. Ah, but then ...
There is no such thing as a "sure thing" in Washington. NAR spokesman Walter Molony justifies NAR's support for the tax credit saying that it is reducing the inventory of unsold homes and stabilizing pricing, benefiting the whole U.S. economy.
NAR also estimates that about 1.4 to 1.6 million first-time buyers have already taken advantage of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and more will do so before the current version expires.
Thus, the program, as it now exists, is expected to cost about $15.0 billion.
A more negative view, however, is that, by NAR's own estimate, only 350,000 of the homes sold under the program would not have been sold without the tax credit program. Divide
the $15.0 billion the program cost by only those 350,000 homes that would not have been sold without it and you get a whopping $43,000+ per home sold. Critics add that the numbers will only get worse if the
program is extended and expanded into 2010.
Rich Stover, a well known, Sarasota real estate expert said, "these more negative views of the program may very well lead fiscally conservative Democrats and Republicans to complain that an extension will only add to the ballooning national debt."
Cheryl Stimac, a top-producing Tampa Florida real estate professional agrees.
So, if you are in the market for a first home, and if you haven't owned a home in the past three years so you qualify for the current $8,000 tax credit, you should be working with a Realtor right now
to buy the home you've been wanting so you can close on it before the November 30th expiration of the current program. If you aren't already involved, contact the Realtor sponsoring this website right away and get started
toward owning your piece of our the paradise that is Florida.
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