I just read that the Home Buyer Tax Credit has now passed the House and the Senate, both by overwhelming votes and will go to the President for signature in the next few days. President Obama has already said he would sign the bill when it comes to him. This extends the deadline for first time home buyers. They must be under contract by April 30, 2010 and closed by the end of June. It also ups the qualifying income level from $150,000 to $225,000 for a married couple. In addition to first time home buyers, it provides up to $6,500 tax credit for home owners who are selling a home they’ve occupied for 5 of the last 8 years so that they can purchase another, likely move-up, home. This last detail is the first to address the fact that the first time home buyer tax credit has been successful in driving sales, but left out those who need more space, or need to move to a new location and couldn’t get the numbers to work for them to make the move. This should significantly improve the home resale market and new home market while the tax credits are in place.
Hopefully, there will be enough sales to be a catalyst for overall improvement in the economy. It would appear that our federal legislators, having studied the issue, have concluded that we’ll be helping our economy more than hurting it with this spending. If the economy does improve over the long haul, that will greatly increase income and other tax revenues and help to pay back these huge investments our government has made in keeping us afloat and getting us out of the recession.
Here’s a good US News report on the details of the bill.
