The President of the United States has signed a bill into law that will give many home shoppers the extra push they need to get off the fence and into a home of their own. If you are a first-time home buyer, you should definitely investigate the possibilities.
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 if you buy a home. A new Web site, www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com, explains how this important incentive works. Here are the provisions in a nutshell:
• Qualifications. The tax credit is available for first-time home buyers, which under the Act also includes people who have not owned a home for at least three years.
• Income limits. The credit can be as much as $7,500 but is decreased depending on how much money the potential home buyer makes. To receive the full tax credit amount the income limits are $75,000 a year for single tax payers and $150,000 for married taxpayers filing joint returns. For partial credit the upper limit is $95,000 and $170,000 respectively.
• Time limits. To qualify, a home purchase must occur on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. For the purposes of the tax credit, the purchase date is the date when closing occurs – the date when title transfers.
• The way credits work. Qualified home buyers claim the credit when they file their income tax return – no additional application or certification is required. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in what the taxpayer owes. A taxpayer who owes $7,500 in income taxes and who receives a $7,500 tax credit would owe nothing to the IRS.
• Payback. You can look at this tax credit as an interest free loan with up to 15 years to pay it back. For example, a home buyer claiming the full $7,500 credit would repay the loan at a rate of $500 a year. There are exceptions, of course, but all that is explained on the Web site.
Www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com also includes links to the resources you need to help make buying a home easier, including information on the home buying process, financing and new home listings.
Homeownership has always been the cornerstone of the American dream, and it remains the best way for a family to build wealth over the long term. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 is also designed to help struggling home owners avoid foreclosure and keep their homes and provide a boost to the housing market and economy overall.
The new legislation combined with current market conditions gives home buyers the opportunity of a lifetime to get into the home of their dreams. Interest rates are still at near-historic lows, and due to the housing downturn, there is a large selection of homes on the market to choose from, and prices are more competitive than they have been in years.
But this opportunity won’t be around forever.
Remember that you need to purchase and settle on your new home before July 1, 2009. As homes currently on the market sell, there won’t be a lot to choose from for the next couple of years. And as fuel and material costs and demand for homes goes up, so will prices.
More than two and half million home owners and home buyers will benefit from Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. To find out if it can help you, visit www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com today. Learn about home buying opportunities in Colorado Springs by visiting our website at www.campbellhomes.com
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Top Reasons you shouldn't wait to buy a new home
1. $7,500 FEDERAL TAX CREDIT.
For a limited time only, qualified first-time buyers can receive a tax credit. www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com
2. LOW INTEREST RATES.
Rates remain at near-record lows; you can lock in a payment that fits your budget.
3. UNBEATABLE INVESTMENT.
Even in down markets, over the long term home prices still appreciate more than the stock market.
4. AVAILABLE LOANS.
Lenders are still eager to make loans to borrowers with good credit.
5. GREAT SELECTION.
With so many homes on the market, you can get the features you want!
6. ENERGY EFFICIENCY.
New homes have advanced technology and environmentally-friendly features that can help you save money.
Is it really easy being green?
Is it hard to build green? Is it a lot more expensive? Do you have to live in a straw-bale cottage or some other strange building to say you’re a green home owner? No, no, and most decidedly no!
The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Model Green Home Building Guidelines are about to celebrate their second birthday. Designed to help bring residential green building into the mainstream, the Guidelines also demystify the process and debunk the myths of green building for consumers – and for home builders.
Using the Guidelines, local home building associations are creating regionally appropriate green building programs for interested builders, and that interest is growing rapidly. Twelve state and local associations have launched voluntary green building programs, with another dozen on the way.
The Guidelines include an easy-to-follow checklist to make sure the builder is incorporating all aspects of green building into each project. That makes it easier to build green – and that’s the beauty of the voluntary Guidelines.
Is it more expensive to build green? Experienced builders say it doesn’t have to be. Guidelines-based programs award points for resource efficiency, and if you’re using fewer materials, you’re saving money, they point out. And some green building ideas – like positioning a home’s windows to best take advantage of natural light – don’t cost any more than conventional building – and save money for the homeowner.
Nor does green building consist of neighborhoods filled with yurts, underground bunkers or geodesic domes. When a house is green but looks like other houses in the neighborhood – and can be replicated by large-scale building companies – then we know green is mainstream. We’re seeing that happen right now.
There are more green building products than ever. Easier to use insulation, chemically neutral paints and flooring and natural landscaping products are no longer difficult to find. Most home-improvement stores carry a full line of compact fluorescent bulbs, which use 70 percent less energy, and advances in solar roof panels and shingles, wind turbines, and efficient appliances make green technology less expensive than even a few years ago.
But there are scattered gray clouds on a mostly green horizon. Efforts to mandate green building are the perfect example of good intentions gone awry. Green building needs to stay voluntary to continue to allow for market innovation and to make sure that the additional money spent to build ‘green’ goes to building improvements, not excessive certification fees. NAHB discourages efforts to dictate and legislate what constitutes acceptable green building practices because the building science in this area is still evolving. We don’t want to see this dynamic process frozen in place.
Homebuyers don’t have to wait that long to learn more about being green: download a free guide at www.nahb.com/greeninnovation – or contact your local home builders association to find a green builder near you [www.cshba.com]. To sign up for NAHB’s free consumer e-newsletter, visit www.nahb.org/housekeys.
