Loans For Florida Blog

Loans for Florida First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit is Extended November 8, 2009

Loans for Florida updates the First Time Home Buyers Credit expansion.  This week the President extended the First Time Home Buyers Credit until April 30th 2010.  Not only was the credit extended, it was enhanced with some nice features.  They include the increase in the income limits for those seeking to take advantage of this great program.  The biggest gem of an enhancement however is that in certain cases you do not even have to be a first time home buyer to qualify!  The state of Florida will greatly benefit as many of the homes are being bought in the lower price points of the market.  The new income limits should allow more Florida home buyers to take advantage of this valuable tax credit.

The enhancement available to other than First Time Home Buyers is for people who now own a home and have owned it for at least 5 years of the last 8 years and now want to buy a new primary residence anywhere in the US including Florida.  Another great aspect of the bill that showed some forethought was that the Tax Credit was good for all contracts signed before April 30th.  The buyers would then have 2 months to close.  This eliminated the guessing of when the last day would be to buy the house and still be able to safely navigate the rocky mortgage landscape.   Florida home buyers have seen mortgage closings taking longer and longer as Florida mortgage lenders have been reluctant to hire the additional employees needed with the fear that rates might rise quickly and the First Time Home Buyers Credit may have not been extended or both!

This credit has mortgage companies, real estate agency’s  and builders breathing a huge sigh of relief. In Florida, I know many of these people had been looking at an ugly month we were about to experience as the pressure to close before November 30th was fast approaching.  Many can now enjoy their turkey dinners without the fears of a truly black Friday and following Monday as the month end crunch was looking ominous.

Overall this is money very well spent in my mind.  Especially when you look at the cost of further bailouts that may have been needed if Florida real estate had taken another leg down.  Many banks would not be able to survive if that were to happen.

Lucas