Homebuyer Tax Credits Running Out

BOSTON (FOX 25 / myfoxboston.com) - Deciding, when to get into the real estate market is a tough decision. But there’s some cash out there for homebuyers that might persuade you that the time is now.

“Well there are a lot of tax credits because of the recovery act and one of the biggest ones, actually the biggest one is the first time homebuyer credit and the long time resident credit,” Peggy Riley, spokesperson for the IRS says.

If you’re a first time homebuyer, you’re eligible for $8,000. And if you’re looking to move into a bigger home or even downsize and you’ve lived in your house for the past five years, you could be eligible for $6,500. Yes, that means you can get cash back just for buying a home.

If this sounds good to you, you better get moving because time is running out. “You have to settle, at least be in a binding contract to buy on April 30th of this year in order to qualify for this first time homebuyer credit and you can either claim in on your 2009 return or you can claim it next year and claim it on your 2010 return,” Riley says.

Of course that cash can be nice to make improvements on a new home. If you don’t have all of the down payment you were hoping for or need cash for closing costs, we found one local lender giving you the money before you buy.

“We created here at MassHousing, a tax credit loan advance program so that we know you’re going to get $8,000 when you file your taxes. It’s a credit, you know, that’s coming in there as a payment for you. Let’s turn it into cash up front for the homebuyer, so by using our own resources we're making an $8,000 loan for people, for additional down payment, or to pay for the closing costs on their home,” said Tom Gleason, Executive Director of MassHousing.

Finding that perfect home with just three weeks to go before the credit expires could be a challenge. “They are flying off the market. Truthfully we've had a couple of multiple offer situations even in our own town. We haven't seen that in a long time,” said realtor Laurie Cadigan of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

Cadigan says there are a good amount of properties on the market but there are certain types of homes you may want to stay away from if you’re looking to get the credit. “My concern on people looking towards short sales and foreclosures is the unpredictability of a closing day. The tax credit is very clear. You need to be under agreement with a contract by April 30th and closed by June 30th and unfortunately we've seen our short sale and foreclosure properties take much longer than a couple of months to come to closing. So the best buyer for a short sale or foreclosure is someone who doesn't have a deadline,” Cadigan says.

Real estate firms across the country are working together to make this weekend, national open house weekend, giving you more of a chance to catch up on lost time. “We're hoping it gives the buyers an opportunity to see the most amount of houses available in the market in one weekend,” Cadigan says. So while the time is ticking away on this tax credit, there’s still time to cash in on some free money.

WEBLINKS:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html

https://www.masshomefair.com/portal/server.pt?

http://marealtor.rls2000.com/search.asp

https://www.masshousing.com/portal/server.pt?mode=2&uuID=%7BE97F7241-F9D4-4917-8ABD-C526D73DB5CE%7D

http://www.marealtor.com/content/

http://www.barrettandco.com/