Somewhere In, UT
Tick tock, tick tock, the clock is ticking on the tax credit currently available to first time home buyers and those that have lived in their homes for 5 years who are looking to buy. The program comes to a close on April 30, 2010. First time home buyers in Utah have the most to gain as the government by way of the IRS is going to line your pockets with $8000 big ones just for signing on the dotted line(s) at closing. Yes line(s) is plural because there are hundreds of lines you will be signing on.
Where was my $8000 handout when I bought my first home? No where to be found I can tell you that. All I got was a crappy 2/228 arm from Long Beach mortgage with a 7.25% rate and a cheap welcome package from our builder. Man o man what I would have given to get the $8000 bucks that these kids are getting today. I have some clients that are using it to buy furniture, some are planning to landscape and still some others are paying off their car loans. No matter how you use it, you can't really lose as long as you don't miss out.
Slightly less enticing but still amazing is the $6500 available to those that have lived in their current home consecutively for the last 5 years or more. Although not quite the $8000 being shoveled out to the greenies $6500 seems to be enough to get some of the fence sitters off the fence and into the game. I have several clients out looking right now so they can cash in just in time to claim their prize. One lovely lady I explained this move up credit to was attentively writing down notes so that she could go back to her husband with exactly what they qualified for and see if she could use her best methods of persuasion on her husband to get him to leave their home of 26 years and cash in on one of the many bank owned deals of a century that are to be had right now in Utah County. I didn't ask what her method was.....moving on.
The moral of the story folks is to make sure you understand the time lines and deadlines to this program. As much as I would like to see it extended over and over again, I tend to think that all good things must come to an end, at least that's what my Mom used to tell me when we were leaving Lagoon after our annual Questar family day, boy how I hated to see those days end.
We can get mortgage's done start to finish in as little as 7 days but why wait till the last tick of the clock?
For more useful information and frequently asked questions on the federal tax credit go to http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/ I found this site to have some great information on the topic.
Your comments are always welcomed. Stetson Lowe is a expert in the mortgage industry specializing in FHA, Conventional, USDA and Utah Housing Loans. Don't attempt to blog like this at home:)
