Don’t Wait-Only 138 Days to Claim Your Share of the Tax Credit

The rush is on.  The deadline for purchasing a home using the $8000 tax credit is November 30, 2009.   You might be surprised to find out how quickly the remaining days left to take advantage of the "free" money from the government will click away.

Let's take a look at how you might use up your time remaining.

Before you even head out the door to look at houses you need to have made contact with a lender and start the pre-approval process.  The further you get along in this process before you get in a car to look at a home the better.  For timing we will say that this process will take you a week because you are super organized and have all of the documents on hand that your lender needs.  (7 Days Gone)

Now you are ready to actually head out and look.  With lower inventory (below $250,000) than a year ago, it would be realistic to think that it will take you 30 days to find a house.   Then there is the contract ratification process.  If you are lucky and you have focused on seller owned properties you may be able to get a ratified within 7 days.  (37 Days Gone)

With the new appraisal rules (HVCC) and the new lender rules (HERA) going into effect you can expect that getting your final loan approval will be 30-45 days.  For our calendar we will take the longest number just to be safe. (45 days Gone).

How are we doing so far?  Looks like we have knocked 89 days off the calendar leaving 49 days left until the deadline.  Whew looks like you have plenty of time to get this done.

Wait we forgot to add in the days that FHA is going to require for a second appraisal (it is happening more and more) or the processing time at the settlement company.  So let's pad those 89 days with an extra 7 to be on the safe side.  Now we have taken a total 96 days off the calendar.  Leaving you 42 days to move in and enjoy your new home. 

If you take longer to find a home, if the lender takes longer to approve your loan or you think you want to buy a short sale....then you may have waited to long!

Are you still thinking about whether the market might decline a bit more making your dream home just a bit more affordable?  Or are you waiting for the interest rates to come down to 4.5% again?   If you are then every day you wait is one less day that you have to deal with any issues in your schedule.  If you are serious about buying a new home this year and are eligible for the $8000 tax credit then time is of the essence.  Don't sit on the fence much longer or you may find yourself looking at the calendar on December 1st and wondering what you were waiting for.