Senators Pushing for $15,000 Tax Credit for ALL Buyers

31 Comments so far

1. Dominic Joelson on June 11, 2009 7:18 am

   Cool! This is a good news. I mean, there might be some other news coming up. But this can somehow help everyone.

2. Esko Kiuru on June 11, 2009 10:38 am

   Diane,

   The housing market could really use something like this proposal. Especially areas like Las Vegas, Phoenix and much of California and Florida, the hard-hit places, could be major beneficiaries. More demand is what the market needs and this would definitely help there.

3. Diane Menke on June 11, 2009 10:46 am

   Will the offer extend to second home and investment prop buyers?

   Instead of buying 1-3 investment props a year, I could increase business with this to more like 3-6 a year = make more money, pay more to tax roles and service providers etc.

   Thanks and will RT your post!

4. Tim on June 11, 2009 12:57 pm

   First an $8,000 loan, then $8,000 gift, then $15,000. I’m going to wait until I get mine for free. Now that’s Jaguar inflation. See the link for what I mean.

   http://mises.org/story/3329

5. Bill on June 11, 2009 1:20 pm

   This is great, but $15,000 or $8,000 the REAL issue is that Congress needs to extend the credit past the Dec. 1, 2009 deadline. Most purchases are Foreclosures, REOs, or short sales that take even longer than traditional purchases to get underwritten and approved. Today that is anywhere from 2-9 months

6. Jason on June 11, 2009 1:44 pm

   So where is that additional 7k going to come from?
   Record issuance of debt has already caused markets to price in inflation. Yields on 10year T-bonds are soaring and now the bond market is behaving more like an equity market.

   Things need to cool down a bit.
   This also needs to be for first time homeowners. We need to provide incentives for people to absorb the housing inventory - not an incentive for investors, that’ll only reinflate the bubble..and then we can have a repeat crash 5-10 years from now.

7. Jesse on June 11, 2009 1:45 pm

   Tax credit for 1st time buyer is abuse of tax payer’s
   money. I bought my apt feb.2008, and if I bought it
   now, I would qualify.

   This is 1st grade doing 6th grade math. Nothing makes
   sense.

   It would make more sense if it applies to every tax
   payer without discrimination.

8. Nathan on June 11, 2009 3:30 pm

   This is absolutely outrageous to waste more tax payer dollars to enable people to buy homes they simply can’t afford.

   Why not save your own money for a down payment and then buy a home. Why should the government be providing the down payment? This is the last thing we can afford especially now that we are in a rising interest rate environment.

   The spending in D.C. needs to slow way down because we are piling on too much debt.

9. Eileen on June 11, 2009 4:57 pm

   This does nothing to help those that purchased a home they could afford and are now 100K or more upside down. Using my tax dollars to subsidize someone that probably shouldn’t own a home really pisses me off.

10. Joshua A. Lerette on June 11, 2009 7:30 pm

    I have to play the pessimist in this whole thing. I think this is horrible news to put out. If it’s not bad enough that the press put out that consumers should wait for 4% rates…look where that got many of the potential homeowners that “could” have benefited from 4.5% rates but held out for more! NO WHERE!
    Now, you want to publicize that there “may be” a new tax credit of $15,000 instead of $8,000. Does anyone else see the problem here and where I’m going with this.
    Now potential home buyers that could benefit from “still” historic interest rates of around 5%-5.5% are going to sit around and wait for a “maybe” that may never happen. Meanwhile, because they are waiting, they miss their opportunity of getting the $8k tax credit and inventory continues to sit on the market deepening our economic recession.

11. Jerome Markwick on June 11, 2009 10:52 pm

    The idea of increasing the tax allowance for first time home buyers sounds like it could be a great incentive to get the economy rolling. If only folks that have had homes in the past could take advantage of this incentive it would at least be fair.

12. Jamie on June 12, 2009 3:32 am

    The tax credit as it is now is for first time homebuyers who have not owned a home in the last 3 years. You have to spend your own money, not taxpayers to close on the home and put in the down payment. The tax credit is money you get back after you close on the home, not before. It is a way to stimulate the economy and it seems to be working. There are more people buying homes again now that they have become affordable. We must get this glut of homes off the market. It’s not good to have so many foreclosures just sitting there as that reduces the prices of other homes in the area, bringing things down more. I am all for this tax credit. I would love to sell my home, buy another one and get a $15K tax credit. It should not be available to “flippers” …you have to live in the home.

13. Angela on June 12, 2009 6:43 am

    My husband and I are shopping for our first home right now. I’ve got to say, I’m so confused on whether I should wait for this to possibly pass or go on ahead with our search.

    I know a lot of my friends that did the $7500 incentive, which was a loan, only to find out that a few months later, they could have had $8K for free.

    I’m not sure what this will do to the market, but like the other commenter said, it may kind of hault things in the short term while people begin to drag their feet more, holding out for the $15K.

    I’d be pretty upset if I missed out on $7K by only a few months, you know what I mean?

    Also, to the person that says that this is ridiculous. Well, it’s what is moving us toward home buying when we otherwise might have rented another year or two, waiting to see what this economy would do. So I don’t think this stimulus effort is a complete bust.

14. Nike Lebron VI on June 12, 2009 8:02 am

    This is 1st grade doing 6th grade math. Nothing makes
    sense.

    It would make more sense if it applies to every tax
    payer without discrimination.

15. Emily on June 12, 2009 8:16 am

    I did things “the right way” the first time around - saved for a down payment, paid my mortgage, didn’t get a house I couldn’t afford - yet I was punished. Rather than walking away or doing a short sale, we saved up and paid over $15,000 at closing when we sold it a year ago (the home was only worth $114000). That was money that we had saved for two years and had planned to use it as a down payment on a new home in Texas. Because of that, I’m a little bitter. I would like this new bill to pass, so that I can take advantage of the credit.
    From what I read, this will also extend the time frame, instead of ending in dec 09, it says it will be a year from the time the bill is signed.

16. natausch on June 12, 2009 8:40 am

    Even if 6,000,000 properties transferred hands during the duration of this program it would only represent .0045% of the Federal Budget. That’s only half of what it cost us to bail out AIG and 10% of what TARP will cost us.

17. Corey on June 12, 2009 11:08 am

    Manipulation of real estate markets to stimulate economic activity can only last so long and then there is nothing left to stop the fall. Building an economic recovery strategy around real estate is not sustainable for our country. We need to be focusing on industries that generate highly desirable US exports…now that is a economic stimulus plan worth discussion!

18. Paul Smith on June 12, 2009 12:17 pm

    THIS IS A GREAT BILL TO PASS. READING SOME OF THE OTHER COMMENTS ABOUT GIVING MONEY TO PEOPLE WHO CAN’T AFFORD A HOME IS NOT CORRECT. I AM A LOAN OFFICER AND QUALIFICATION FOR A MORTAGE IN TODAY’S MARKET TAKES THIS ARGUMENT INTO CONSIDERATION. PEOPLE WHO BUY AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS BILL WILL HAVE TO QUALIFY BASED ON THE STRINGENT GUIDELINES. SO THIS IS A GREAT PROGRAM.

19. Jon Miller on June 12, 2009 12:57 pm

    This news does not make feel better about buying, cause I’m a renter now and I want to purchase. I have credit debt but not behind in any payment. The amount I spend on renting per month I can’t get appoved for. So intill someone says ‘Hey you’ve been paying this amount per month, lets appove you for a mortgage for the same per month.’ WTF talk about fairness.

20. Parky Shawnie on June 12, 2009 1:23 pm

    Just pass the bill already. I need a home.

21. Bobbin on June 12, 2009 1:30 pm

    I want a home to live my life with Drewy

22. Rob Gel star on June 12, 2009 1:43 pm

    This bill would be great, instead of spending all the money on other companies, spend it on the consumer who is stimulating the economy. How you doing Parky and Bobbin

23. Marc on June 12, 2009 2:53 pm

    This credit will really help more first time homeowners to jump into the market. The current situation is pretty bad right now.

    Rising rates will not let the housing market recover. If you are buying a 500,000$ home and if the interest rate has gone 1% up, you will end up paying approx 500$ extra per month. This is stopping home buyers right now.

    Government should lower the interest rates again to stabilize the housing. Governments efforts are not helping much to the housing market anyways.
    http://www.housingnewslive.com/is-the-housing-market-recovering.php

    Is housing market recovering
    

24. Rick James on June 13, 2009 1:28 pm

    Pass this bill. I know several home owners including myself that have been responsible in paying my monthly mortgage. We are WAITING for this bill to pass so we can all move up to bigger homes. This legislation will help the economy recover albeit slowly but a recovery nonetheless.

25. William on June 14, 2009 1:29 pm

    So…. if I get that $8000 credit from my taxable social security income…then I get my HUD voucher to pay part or all of it and the utilities.no property taxes because I am over 65…..and I get my Free healthcare, including assisted living with the meals on wheels…WHO PAYS FOR ALL THIS ????????
    YOUR GRANDCHILDREN !!!!!! Mine as well just give me that REO house == free & clear !!!!

26. Amazed on June 15, 2009 11:22 am

    Why not make it $30,000? $50,000 $100,000?

    It’s simply another gimmick to keep prices artificially high. More of moral hazard. Think about it.

    I’m in my house valued at X. My mortgage is based off of X. Now I am subsidizing someone to have a similar home next door or down the street at X- $15,000. Now, considering that the only houses that are selling are either short sales or foreclosures, you are now at (X*50%)- $15,000.

    In addition, it only perpetuates the entire scam of putting people in houses they can’t afford. They will use the free $15,000 as the down payment, as most people don’t have the extra $$ these days, leaving them with little, no, or worse, negatvie equity by closing.

    As others have commented, where is this magical money coming from? It’s more social engineering from our Socialist leader. We’re now paying for our neihgbors to buy a house, a car, taxes,and pretty soon health care.

    Let prices fall to where the markets dictate. They are going to REGARDLESS.

    I ask myself why am I still paying my mortgage, car payment, taxes, etc. No one else is.

27. Johnny on June 25, 2009 3:38 pm

    I kind of have to get a a very good chuckle at all the whining babies in here who cry that a new tax credit is unfair because it helps people buy a home they can’t afford????? Hey whiners, what about all the billions in tax dollars that subsidize your mortgage interest and property tax deductions?????? Why should other americans have their wages taxed so that you can piggyback on their work eithic by having your mortgage interest and property taxes paid used to reduce the ctaxes you truly owe???? Funny how when it benefits you its a good thing, but when it benefits someone else you whine like babies abouot it. LOL

28. Local Coupons on September 11, 2009 9:26 pm

    Everyone loves to hear the words tax cuts, and I guess when this involves being able to get into your a home it is even more of a godsend. A great deal of time should be made to make sure that even with the tax cut application to a home purchase that you can keep up the requirements. Many new home owners, especially, get so excited about the new home ownership and the tax cut to help them get in that they forget the long term components of a mortgage.

29. Local Online Advertising on September 20, 2009 2:41 am

    Where is there more info on this? I have found more details regarding the US$8,000 program but have been unable to find anything further relating to the proposed $15,000 tax break?

30. John on November 20, 2009 8:14 pm

    This whole tax credit is foolish. It is completely non conducive to making housing affordable. Let me explain. This keeps prices high sure people who bought in 04 05 dont want to hear this however only a fool buys at the top kinda like buying tech stocks when the nasdaq was at 5000 you would have to be an idiot to think this may be your only shot at home ownership. The real unemployment numbers are at 17.5 percent(govt u6 data) what happens when a third of all americans are out of work and the inflationary destroyed dollar buys a nickels worth and interest rates are at 20 percent house prices will be in the trash sorry for all those who bought at the peak buy your an idiot plain and simple if you couldnt see there was a bubble being blown up you simply know nothing. this speculatory bubble has not taught americans anything that real estate is an awful investment. I was thinking about buying a house in 04 but was advised by a friend to invest in precious metals im up about 54 percent and real estate is where about 40 percent below the peak wake up u idiots all these govt handouts are ruing the dollar its down over 14 percent this year gold up 40 percent and climbing

31. Kai on November 28, 2009 8:56 am

    We desperately need such good news.