First Time Home Buyer $7,500 Tax Credit

On July 26, 2008 Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. A few days later President Bush signed it into law. One provision of this law includes a $7,500 tax "credit" to first time home buyers. This credit is good on homes purchased between April 9, 2008 and June 1, 2009.

$7,500

A few details about the law:

• The law defines "first time home buyer" as a buyer who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.


• Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.


• The tax credit works like an interest-free loan and must be repaid over a 15-year term or when they sell the house, if there is sufficient capital gain from the sale.


• The credit is refundable so it can be claimed even if the taxpayer has little or no federal income tax liability to offset.

After examining the details of this "credit", I feel that it's really nothing more than an interest free loan of $7,500 on a 15 year term. The only way you wouldn't be paying back the full $7,500 is if you sold the house within the 15 year term and did not have enough capital gains on it. At this point, the loan is forgiven.

For additional details, visit the Federal Housing Tax Credit web site

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Thanks For Stopping By

We get several visitors that stop by, or stumble upon, the Master Plan Homes Inc blog each day. Jon and I recently sent out a letter inviting several more to check things out. If you're here b/c of that letter, welcome! Thanks for taking a look and feel free to leave a comment. And if you have a new home construction related topic that you'd like to hear more about on this blog, email me.

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US Financial Crisis?

I've emailed a few friends today about this week's roller coaster ride known as Wall Street. It's been crazy to watch as large financial institutions have gone belly up and the government has stepped in with attempts at saving it. Meanwhile the media has been in a frenzy and has informed us that the sky is in fact falling. But just look at how the DOW has performed this week and you'll see it's actually trading higher than when the week began (as of 10:40am on Friday).

And do you think the current economy's condition has affected getting a mortgage here in the Columbia/Lexington area? Well, from what I'm hearing, not by a great extent. Some of their qualifications are a little tighter but if you are in a stable job with a good credit score you should be fine. I can refer you to someone locally if you'd like more information.

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