Congress has approved and now President Obama has signed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit “Closing Deadline” only. Please note, this is not an extension of the entire program. It is merely an extension of the deadline for closing your transaction. So, if you were under contract by April 30th of this year and you were not able to close your deal by June 30th, you now have until September 30th to get to the closing table. If you went under contract after April 30th, you are not eligible for the tax credit.
In a normal market, 2 months would have been sufficient to get from contract to closing, but in this market, its just not enough time. With a significant percentage of deals being the foreclosure market (Short Sales and REOs), 2 months is really pushing it.
The National Association of REALTORS® reports that this will save as many as 180,000 homeowners from losing their tax credit. We are lucky Congress acted or many of these buyers would have walked away from their transactions. For more information about the Homebuyer Tax Credit and too see if you qualify, please see our Homebuyer Tax Credit information page.
