Congress has passed a bill to extend the original Dec 1, 2009 deadline to include buyers who are under contract by April 30th and closed no later than end of June 2010. This is great news for first time buyers who just couldn't get it together or find the right home by now.
Jody Bakst is really excited about the extension:
The significant changes are that the tax credit has been extended, the income limits have been raised to cover more buyers AND now there is a credit available to move up buyers that have lived in their houses at least 5 of the last 8 years. The time is still right to buy. There is great inventory and interest rates are at all time lows.
Chapel Hill realtors are not alone in loving this credit.
Of course Realtors are excited about the credit. They skim an extra $195 per sale off the top because of this credit. They expose either their stupidity or their dishonesty by pretending that the credit is a good thing for buyers. If they don't see the tax credit as making housing more expensive, then they are stupid. If they do see it as making houses more expensive, but want you to ignore that fact and purchase a house anyways because the credit earns them more money, then they are being dishonest.
If Realtor's excitement over the credit were genuinely their excitement for you the buyer, then here's what they should offer. They should acknowledge that the tax credit only means that buyers have to bid more money on houses they would otherwise be able to purchase for less. They should acknowledge that this higher bidding price means a higher commission for them, since they take 3% of the purchase price. Finally, they should voluntarily reduce their fees by $195 so that they don't directly benefit from the tax credit.
Hey, if the tax credit was actually causing people to buy who otherwise wouldn't, then Realtors would still be benefiting indirectly from the credit due to increased sales volume.
I'll bet you $100 that no realtor would ever suggest this plan.
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