New Widget: Do You Qualify for $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit?
By: Ajay Mehta, Zillow Business Development Intern | July 17, 2009
No doubt that it’s a buyer’s market. Home values have taken a hit in most markets throughout the nation and mortgage rates are relatively low. Plus, the government has offered up an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, further sweetening the pot for any first-time home buyer out there.
The $8,000 tax credit has been a source of confusion by those who might be eligible, but aren’t quite sure if they fully meet the criteria. For example, do you know the definition of a “first-time home buyer” according to this tax credit offering? It doesn’t mean you’ve never owned a home before — it means to be eligible for this program, you cannot have owned a home for the past three years prior to purchase.
To help clear the confusion, we developed a new widget called:
“Do You Qualify for the $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit?”
It’s a quick, five-question quiz that consumers would find immensely helpful, if they happened to see it on your blog or Web site.
So, if you’re an agent looking to catch the interest of some first-time buyers, having a quiz like this on your site could help them, as well as develop a potential new client for you. Remember, content is king!
And like the many other Zillow widgets, it comes with co-branding, so if a reader follows through to Zillow from your page, your name, photo and contact information stays at the top of Zillow pages, so visitors can get back to you anytime they want!
Here are three of our latest widgets:
- Single-home value estimate
- Real estate market bottom poll
- Do you qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit?
Give us feedback on Zillow Widgets for Web sites section and tell us what you like or don’t like, or give us ideas for new widgets that you would want on your site.
- Stumble it!
- Categories: 8000 tax credit, Partner Relations
Comments
16 Comments so far
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bill barnes on July 20, 2009 3:30 pm
i have a rental property that i’ve had someone rent for 11 years. for the last 3.5 years i’ve lived in an apartment. if i purchase a main home will i be eligible to receive the 8k,
thanks,
bill
abe vigoda on July 21, 2009 7:50 am
If I hear one more Realtor say “IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BUY or IT’S A BUYERS MARKET” I’ll shoot blood out of my eyes. Hey kid, how long have you been selling homes? Home prices taken a hit? So houses that went up 100% in value and have come down 40% are a “value’? What’s the historical rate of return on housing over the last 30, 50, 100 years?
Tell me in terms of home prices to income, home prices vs. rent, home prices vs. historical mean why it is a great time to buy? What about the huge amount of shadow inventory and foreclosures? What about the 10% unemployment and huge deficit spending?
How will they impact home prices?
If someone needs the $8,000 free money to qualify, maybe they shouldn’t be buying a house. Just a thought.
abe vigoda on July 21, 2009 7:53 am
Holy Crap! I just looked up your profile.
I’m a new, excited, intern in Zillow’s Seattle offices dealing with lots of new things, from Search Engine Optimization to Social Media Marketing in the real estate field.
I don’t own any real estate, nor do I have to worry about my mortgage payments, but I’m learning one step at a time–when it comes to those days I hope I’ll have learned enough from all of you to be successful.
I’m also a high schooler attending Phillips Exeter Academy in the fall.
You are a flippin HIGH SCHOOL KID? And you are qualified to say “No doubt that it’s a buyer’s market”?
Who fed you that line?
My god. This site is pathetic. Letting teenagers give advice?
David G from Zillow.com on July 21, 2009 9:40 am
abe -
Ajay said “buyers market” not “great time to buy.” It’s a common enough term which simply means that buyers are in the driver’s seat because they are greatly outnumbered by sellers. You might want to look it up — it’s a fact, not “advice.” Now please stop being such a jerk and think before you type.
Ajay Mehta on July 21, 2009 9:44 am
Bill — Here’s an IRS site in which you’ll be able to find information pertaining to your specific situation: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206294,00.html
Abe — This widget is meant to be an easy test to see if you would meet the basic requirements for the tax credit. The rest of the post was merely an introduction to the widget and I was not intending to force investment advice on anybody who wasn’t willing to hear it.
Joe on July 21, 2009 12:30 pm
The widget doesn’t really work. It asks if you have owned a house and says you don’t qualify if you answer yes. That is not necessarily true. If you own a house but haven’t lived in it as primary residence, you can still qualify (rental house, etc). They updated the tax form that you use for the credit.. probably best to refer to that as it says you can’t own a house as your MAIN house and then goes on to define MAIN as the house you live in.
Diane Tuman on July 21, 2009 12:59 pm
Hi Joe: I just checked the IRS site and didn’t see any changes that you speak of. Here are the two items that you allude to, taken directly from this IRS page: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206291,00.html
Q. Can I apply for the credit if I bought a vacation home or rental property?
A. No. Vacation homes and rental property do not qualify for this credit.
Q. Who is considered to be a first-time homebuyer?
A. Taxpayers who have not owned another principal residence at any time during the three years prior to the date of purchase.
Joe on July 21, 2009 1:20 pm
Sorry for confusion.. I didn’t mean you could buy a vacation or rental home and get the $8000 credit (what that quote refers to). I meant that if you ALREADY have a vacation home or rental, you are not excluded from the credit on the new purchase of a primary home in 2009.
Here is the Q&A site: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206294,00.html
It says that you are not exempt just because you own a home that you use as a rental.
Here is the form itself with the definitions of “Main house”
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5405.pdf
Joe on July 21, 2009 1:22 pm
oh oh.. on the Q&A site.. look to question #3. forgot to include that!
Theresa OBrien on July 21, 2009 10:51 pm
zillow.com is the worst thing that happened to us honest people who pay our bills on time for 30 yrs and banks take that info and make us lose 300,000 in a week.
Theresa OBrien
abe vigoda on July 23, 2009 2:17 pm
David,
The kid said ” NO DOUBT THAT IT’S A BUYERS MARKET.” That implies what? You should NOT be buying?
Oh I get it now.
So tell me David, in a BUYERS MARKET, when SELLERS are outnumbering BUYERS,wouldn’t that mean prices should go DOWN or are the laws of physics suspended in your world.
If prices should continue to go down, how is that beneficial to a BUYER. More like a KNIFE CATCHER’S market.
Tell me based on FACTS and FIGURES why it is a BUYER’S market. Where are we in line with median house price inflation over the past 50 - 100 years? Where are we with respect to price to median income? How about owning vs. renting? Cash flow?
There’s a reason there are more sellers than buyers. It’s called reversion to the mean. And its got a long way to go.
Jerk.
David Gibbons on July 28, 2009 4:01 pm
abe -
Please READ my prior comment and I’ll just take it that that’s your signature in the last sentence above. Have a nice day.
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