My wife and I bought a house in mid April last year. It’s my first home but not hers. I’ve been reading about this $15K tax credit and I can’t find anything that says it’s for first timers only. I know there is a 7.5K “loan” that first time home buyers qualify for and since my wife owned before we don’t qualify for it. But this $15K never seems to be tacked to the “first time homebuyer” when I read about it.
Also, If I bought a house on 15 April 08 will I qualify? Alot of what I’ve read says that it must be within a year of the legislation passing and most seem to think that it will be grandfathered all the way back to 1 Apr 08.
There is no stimulus package bill to sign by Obama just yet. The Senate still has to approve their version. Then it must go to a conference committee to rectify differences between the Senate and House versions. Then it goes to the president to sign.
I’m overjoyed to hear this. I know someone who may be closing on his house in a couple of weeks, and I am worring that his closing might be before the bill passes. If it is retroactive, that would be great.
Well, I mean great for him personally. And great for you too. But not so great for Joe and Jane Taxpayer.
Here’s my question: Why should anyone get grandfathered in? If the idea is to stimulate the economy, what advantage is there in giving these goodies to someone who has already made a purchase? Isn’t that a total waste? The money should go to encourage people to buy stuff - these people don’t need any encouragement.
Fair question. I don’t think I’m entitled to anything really, but the $15K would still stimulate the economy in home upgrades and what not. It really feels like being penalized for buying our house when we did. $15K goes a LONG way for alot of us and that would make a LARGE impact to our bottom line.
Sorry, but as proposed, it’s not retroactive. It applies to home purchases within one year after it’s enacted; there are no restrictions for first-time buyers or income limits. Text of the proposal here (pdf).
Are you aware that “first-time buyer” really means “hasn’t owned a home in the last 3 years”? Might that make any difference in your situation?
You can split it over 2 years. There’s no payback, as long as you live in the house for two years. I also see in this comparison of the house and senate bills, that the house version removes the payback requirement from the existing $7500 credit.
The reason to grandfather anything is to prevent paralysis now.
Imagine for a minute that there’s a decent (say >50%) chance that a $15K credit will be voted into law in, say March & take effect in say, April. How many houses will close between now and then when the parties can wait 2 months and probably pocket $15K from Uncle Sam? Answer: damn near zero.
Any time Congress proposes any legislation on any topic, a bunch of economic actors freeze in the headlights, well aware that zigging when it later turns out they should have zagged will double or half (or erase completely) the profit on what they’re about to do. This is not always obvious to laymen unless the topic is real close to consumers.
This is where partisan wrangling is most destructive. Doing X or anti-X tomorrow is less damaging than wrangling for 6 months over X versus anti-X during which everybody freezes awaiting a stable playing field.