First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Expires Soon

Sept 10th, 2009
				

 

Uncle Sam is giving first-time homebuyers a federal income tax credit of 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, up to $8,000.  The tax credit has an expiration date: Nov. 30.  The purchase has to close on or before that date for the purchaser to qualify for the tax credit.

 

Many consumers are under the false assumption that the transaction has to occur “by Dec. 1,” but first-timers who close on their home purchases Dec. 1 will discover that they’re a day late and $8,000 short unless Congress extends the deadline.

 

The Nov. 30 deadline has a pitfall.  That date is the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Few home purchase transactions are going to close over the long Thanksgiving weekend, or even on the eve of Thanksgiving.  So, realistically, buyers should try to close by Tuesday, Nov. 24.  And if they want to make that deadline, they need to act soon. Waiting another couple of weeks might be OK, but now is better.