It looks like the fat cats in Washington, D.C. will pull it together and extend the home buyer tax credit. But it’s really anybody’s guess. Here’s a Facebook message I sent just a few minutes ago to a friend who asked.
Q: Will the tax credit be extended?
A: My gut says probably. Handing out money during a recession is ultimately good politics, no matter what the Tea Baggers say. But it’s getting awfully slowed down in Congressional Committee. There’s so much political noise about healthcare legislation and (today) noise about the local elections in VA and NY.
If they extend it, I just hope those old fat white men in DC are smart enough to make it retroactive so there’s no gap between the old credit ending Nov 30 and the new credit beginning. It would suck HARD to close on Dec 3 if the old credit ends 11-30 and the new one begins 1-1-2010.
There are actually 2 different bills, both stuck in Committee. HR 3760 and S1230. You can track progress at OpenCongress.org – do a search for “Home buyer tax credit” and you’ll see them both.
Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a runner as a consequence. Her TiVo's full of spy thrillers, police procedurals and Whedonesque sci-fi.
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Well my loan officer gave me a heads-up last week that it was time to close. I thought he was just getting antsy and wanted his commission already, but turns out rates were just about to ride back up. I closed Friday and got a great deal on my house.
I’m an investor, new to Phoenix and yes, rates are crazy right now but I was able to lock in with Intercontinental Capital Group (I think they’re fairly new to Phoenix) and they’ll let me adjust my rate if it goes down before I close which is pretty sweet. Any idea which markets are going to rebound soon?
edited by site authors to add: most lenders allows this practice of “float down” so that buyers are protected if mortgage interest rates fall after the buyer has locked their rate.
I say keep them stuck! Let this market play out some and see what happens before we go upping the debt like crazy any more. There should be deal in place that if the credit is extended banks need to actually start foreclosing on this inventory and releasing it instead of sitting on it, that way there are more homes for them to buy!