Dennis Norman
In yesterday’s update I had some rather encouraging news about the possible extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 that has stimulated some home buying but is set to expire on November 30th. The good news was that there is an agreement amongst the powers that be with regard to extending the home buyer tax credit, which in itself is a HUGE step toward getting the credit extended, but as I said yesterday, “the fat lady hasn’t sang yet”.
Based upon the latest news I just received in an email update from the National Association of REALTORS(R) I would say the lady has not quite taken the stage yet. The Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment (the agreement I was referring to above by the “powers that be”) ended up being added to the Unemployment Insurance bill. As I mentioned yesterday they were deciding whether to add it as an amendment to this bill or make it a stand-alone bill. Obviously they made the decision. Apparently the Senate needs to reach an agreement on procedure in order to schedule a vote on the Unemployment Insurnace extension and they were not able to do that yet. NAR is reporting that the next action is expected to be:
“The Senate is expected to vote Monday evening for a “Motion to Invoke Cloture”. If 60 Senators vote yes on the cloture motion, the Senate will then be able to schedule a vote on the bill that contains the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment.”
So, assuming the Senate takes action to get this bill in front of the entire Senate and they vote to pass it, it will then move on to the House of Representatives for action from there.
So, while progress is being made, we are still a ways off from having the home buyer tax credit extended. If you would like to let your members of Congress know you want to see the tax credit extended you can easily do so using the link from the Fix Housing First website (click on “Time to Take Action!” in the upper right corner.
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