It looks like the homebuyer tax credit will (likely) be extended. Maybe.

Via Calculated Risk and Bloomberg:

– Income eligibility for home buyers increases to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples.

– The tax credit for first-time home buyers (anyone who has not owned in the last 3 years) will be the lesser of $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price.

– For move-up buyers – “who have lived in their current home for at least five years” – the credit would be limited to $6,500.

– The credit runs from Dec. 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010, with an additional 60 day period to close escrow. (So end of April to sign contract, end of June to close escrow)

At least they are addressing move-up moving homebuyers, but will $6,500 be enough to incentivevize someone to sell their house and buy another?

Remember, kids, the Senate is only one branch of the people we have elected to spend our money.

I’m not in favor of artificially supporting any market, but at the very least we may be on the path to some clarity … one of the worst things the government can do is confuse the public – they need to put these questions to rest:

– Should we wait for the credit?
– Should we buy now to get the $8,000 tax credit?
– Should we wait to see if the credit will be $15,000?

Get rid of the shoulds and let the market work.

The Charlottesville real estate market is not protected – from the economy, from national trends, from unemployment – from anything really. We need to move on. Let’s hope they vote on this quickly so homebuyers in Charlottesville and everywhere else can find clarity (at least regarding the tax credit).

I wonder if we can get some assurance from the politicians that this time, they really mean it – the tax credit will expire.

Updated 29 October 2009:

Expanded Home Buyer Tax Credit to Cost $10.8 Billion

*The credit is available for homes that go under contract by April 30, 2010 and close within 60 days after that.

*It will be attached to a bill to extend unemployment benefits, but it’s unclear when that bill will be voted on.

Related reading:

Senate Nears Deal on Keeping Tax Credit for Home Buyers

If you want to do what you can to kill this pestilential home-buyers’ tax credit…

Home Buyer Tax Credit Could Soon Be Extended, Expanded

For the life of me, I can’t find the bill on GovTrack.

Apparently, there’s a reason for that.

Photo courtesy.