Time Is Running Out To Get The $8000 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
by Efin Advisor | August 31, 2009
The $8000 tax credit is a great deal for people who are first time home buyers. But let’s review the tax credit and it’s provisions:
First-time buyers can claim a credit worth $8,000 – or 10% of the home’s value, whichever is less – on their 2008 or 2009 taxes.
To qualify for the credit, the home must be purchased between Jan. 1, 2009 and Nov. 30, 2009.
You cannot have owned a house for the past three years to qualify as “first time” buyer. You also must live in the purchased house for at least three years, or you will be obligated to pay back the credit.
To get the credit, homebuyers have to earn less than $75,000 for singles or $150,000 for couples. If you make more than that you may qualify for a partial credit.
Getting the credit should be pretty easy, just claim it on your return. One caveat, however. You have to close on your new house by November 30th. That may sound like it’s a long way off, but in reality it’s coming a lot faster than you think.
The end of November is also tricky because of the Thanksgiving holidays. Keep in mind that with the holiday schedule, you’d be better off to try and schedule your closing for at least the week of November 16th, just to give yourself some extra time for unforseen issues that can often come up in the buying process (problems with the final walk-through, mortgage documentation problems, etc).
FIrst the “Cash for Clunkers” door slams shut and now the housing tax break deadline looms large. Thanks Efinancial for providing the heads up the average consumer needs to make timely financial decisions.
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Will the $8,000 discount offset any further price reductions the real estate market may see, or have we bottomed out of the market? Seems like there is a real incentive to extend the period for this taqx incentive well into 2010! Are you listening, U.S. congress?
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Why not open up this deduction to those who previously were misdirected into bad mortgage loan products and let Americans try to hold onto the assets they heavily invested in. Economics is the “science of incentives” and there should be a whole lot more of them for average people, instead of Wall Street bailouts.
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