Congress Extends Home Buyer Tax Credit

Congress just voted on extending and expanding the popular "First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit".

By a vote of 403-12 in The House, and 98-0 in The Senate, the bill would extend the tax credit until June 30, 2010. Contracts must be "ratified" by April 30, and settled by June 30.

The bill would also extend to home buyer's who have owned their current homes for at least 5 years and buy a new primary residence. That group could be eligible for a tax credit of up to $6,500. Anyone who hasn't owned a primary residence in the last 3 years, and first time home buyer's would continue to qualify for up to an $8,000 tax credit.

Perhaps one of the most popular tax credit's used today, 1.4 million first time home buyer's have qualified through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 first time home buyer's have bought specifically because of the tax credit.

And with numerous complaints about big bank foot dragging on "short sales", countless first timer's were caught unsure if their "short sales" were or were not approved, and if they were or were not going to make it to settlement in time.

The expansion and extention of the credit is estimated to cost $10.8 billion. Current members of the military would have until June 30, 2011 to qualify. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law before the weekend.