Dennis Norman
I have been talking a lot lately about the first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 that has stimulated some home buying but is set to expire on November 30th. I have also shared the efforts by organizations such as the National Association of REALTORS, The Mortgage Bankers Associaiton, The National Association of Home Builders and Fix Housing First to urge Congress to extend the home buyer tax credit as well as expand it to include more than just first-time home buyers.
Unfortunately there are some inaccurate reports I’m seeing this morning that indicating the Senate has passed a bill to extend the home-buyer taxcredits, which is not true, yet. However, I am happy to report that progress is being made though! According to an email I just released by the National Association of REALTORS:
“Senate leaders of both parties, key Senate Finance Committee members and staff, and the homebuyer tax credit sponsors Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT, and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), have reached an agreement on extending and expanding the housing tax credit.”
So while there is an agreement amongst the powers that be, which in itself is a HUGE step toward getting the credit extended, the fat lady hasn’t sang yet. They still need to agree on whether to attach the tax credit extension to a pending bill (such as the Unemployment Insurance Bill) or to bring it before the Senate as a separate, stand-alone bill.
Once it is determined how to bring it to the Senate, it will need to be passed by the Senate, then if passed will go to the House of Representatives to consider and hopefully pass. If passed by the House then all it takes is the Presidents signature and it is done.
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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