The Latest Developments on the First-Time Homebuyer Credit

11/28: Senate leaders struck a compromise to extend the first-time homebuyer credit. In this deal, sales contracts would have to be signed by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010. Along with this extension, lawmakers added a provision that would allow individuals who are not first-time homebuyers the opportunity to take advantage of this tax credit. The agreement indicates that if you have owned your current primary residence for more than 5 years and you purchase a new home, you will be eligible for a $6500 tax credit. Just like the credit for first-time homebuyers, the buyer would have to sign the contract before April 30 of next year and close by June 30 of next year.

11/30: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan issued a statement saying, “We welcome efforts taken by Congress to extend the first-time home buyers tax credit for a limited period.” This basically means that the President would sign into law a bill that extends the first-time homebuyer credit.

A couple of things to note from these latest developments are:

The joint statement issued by the Obama administration today made no mention of allowing repeat buyers the opportunity to take advantage of the tax credit.
This compromise or deal is only an amendment to a much larger bill that is still making its way through the Senate.
Even if this bill makes it through the Senate, it still has to get passed by the United State House of Representatives.

My thoughts are still that this, or something close to it, is going to happen. However, there is still some work that needs to be done