Extending the First Time Home Buyers Credit for Military Families

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Extending the First Time Home Buyers Credit for Military Families

Extending the First Time Tax Credit for Military Families The US House of Representatives overwhelming voted to extend the first time home buyers credit for an additional 12 months to anyone in the military who has served overseas for three months in 2009. In a vote of 416 to zero the bill now has to go the US Senate and the President for final approval.

This extension could give up to 350,000 military families currently deployed overseas unitl November 2010 to take advantage of the current tax credit. In addition the IRS "recapture" rules will be waived for any service member who is deployed and must sell or rent their home.

Known as the Service Members Home Owners Tax Act this bill also contains the provision to waive the income tax liability currently in the expanded Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program.

The next step for this bill (HR 3590) is for the Senate Finance Committee to review the bill and hopefully move it to a vote in the full Senate.

This seems to be one time that the US Congress, Senate and President should be able to agree. Extending the tax credit for our military is the right thing to do no matter what your political beliefs.

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Posted by Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services on 10/12/2009 09:33 PM

Comments (117)

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Originally posted at: : Extending the First Time Home Buyers Credit for Military Families

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117 Comments on Extending the First Time Home Buyers Credit for Military Families

OCT

2009

Cindy - Thanks for sharing this information! I will make sure to pass this along to my clients!

Hi Cindy...Certainly makes sense. How unfair this would have been if such a bill had not been introduced and passed in the House. I cannot imagine the Senate not passing it.

Kate

Cindy - This is wonderful news! I'm so glad that it looks like our military will be getting this extension. This should be a slam dunk for the Senate and I'm hoping that they vote in favor of this bill as soon as possible.

Hi, Cindy

This is great for our military......I have alot of VA loan clients so I will pass it on....Thanks for the info.

Thanks, Tinker

Cindy, I have sold homes to two military families wanting to take advantage of the tax credit who are overseas. One of them is slipping in just under the wire, and I am sure there are many who just couldn't get back in time to take advantage of it. Great idea to honor these brave men and women.

Thanks for the post. That is great news, since I live in a military community.

Cindy.. This is great information. Looking forward to the final approval.

BTW.... Nice new photo.

Thank you so much for the post, Cindy! Wonderful news!

Great information! Thanks for keeping us up to date!

Cindy, I was excited about this! Have a couple of families coming from Okinawa in hte next few months and they will be eligible! Exciting!

Funny - Jo commented above me because I was going to send her your link next:)

Cindy i say amen to that. our brave soldiers are not rewarded enough for what they do, this is a great way to honor them

Great info! Finally something positive from this Congress!

OCT

2009

Thanks for the notification. I just sent my representatives an email in support of the bill. My 26 year old Navy son purchased his first home this summer using the First Time Homebuyer Credit. He was thrilled to receive his $8000 rebate check 2 weeks after closing. This is a government program that WORKS. Although I'd like to see the First Time Homebuyer credit extended for all, I'm especially glad that we can support and honor our brave servicemen and women. Mike Sparks Sparks Realty www.austxrelo.com

WAY TO GO! Thanks for the info too!

I am glad to hear they are thinking this way... lets hope they get it done and make it happen...

Hi Cindy,

This is fabulous news! Our military personnel deserve this and so much more.

People should write/email their legislators. Here is a link to the site (or double-click the usa.gov image) with all the contact information of every one of your state representatives. Encourage them to vote in favor of extending the Homebuyer's rebate.

EXAMPLE NOTE:

Dear Senator his/her name here:

I am writing to ask you to SUPPORT Bill #HR 3590. We owe our selfless soldiers enormous gratitude. This bill will help them get reestablished once they return home.

Thank you very much.

Make sure you put your correct name and address on your letter, they only listen to their constituents.

Another idea, buy a soldier lunch. We've all seen them, a soldier wearing his/her military uniform waiting in line for lunch. They look so wonderful standing with such poise and pride and wearing their name tag and ribbons on their chests.

Secretly go up to the cashier, tell him you want to pay for the soldier's lunch - do this anonymously. Just ask the cashier to say, "Thank you for your service. Your lunch was paid for by a grateful American."

* * * * * *

Mike (Comment 14), please convey my gratitude to your son for his service to our country.

Linda Alexander

I think that this is great for the men and women who defend this country. I also think that it will help certain pockets of the country especially around military bases. However, I still think that Congress needs to do something to help the masses that have not recently been in the armed forces.

The real estate market drives the general sector of the economy. When housing starts and resales are down, the rest of the economy suffers. Finally, we are starting to see folks pull the trigger on the first time buyer stimulus. Really, that is what needs to be extended - and to all folks - not just a select few. But then, this is just my 2¢'s worth thrown into the pot☺☺☺

Helping you live your American dream...

Cindy - Great news and great post by you. This is, indeed, good news and only fair for our military personnel.

Fantastic! I am shocked at the overwhelming support of the bill in the House. Excellent!

May God bless our men and women in the military. We need to do even more for them...

Cindy:

I am glad to hear that there was not much question in extending this to our military who are serving us. We can't do enough for them.

Gina-we still have to wait for the Senate to pass but there are some important components to this bill for our military familes.

Kate-I can't imagine this one ending up on the budget cutting floor.

Donna-as soon as they get the Health Care bill out of committee this is the next up. Write your Senator in support of the bill!

Tinker-hopefully it takes the pressure off some military families who have been anxiously making house hunting trips to their next duty station in hopes of beating the current deadline.

Frank & Sharon-this is one time where I can't think of anyone who wouldn't support the extension.

Josuha-Yuma is a great military community and I'm sure when this makes it through the Senate there will be a loud cheer around all the military communities.

Roland-thanks. Hopefully this will be signed shortly and all the great folks shipping back to Fort Campbell will be able to take advantage.

Tammy-thanks for stopping by.

Valerie-thanks. I try and keep up with as much of the news that impacts our troops when it comes to real estate.

Jo-we spent 3 1/2 years in Okinawa. They will go through shell shock coming back to the US but the great news is by then the Senate and President should have wrapped this bill up.

Courtney-glad both you and Jo stopped by.

Sybil-they deserve all the extensions the US Government can provide and for those needing to use the HAP benefits they need the tax relief from the benefit as well.

Marcelo-I think the vote says it all. I would have hated to be the one or two who voted against it :-)

Mike-I've been sending emails to my local representatives for months. Since I'm working with multiple military families trying to use the HAP program to sell their homes. This bill contains an important provision for them as well.

Carla-thanks for stopping by.

Linda-thanks for adding the link. I've been on top of my representatives for months on various military issues this summer. I can't imagine this one not making it to a positive outcome.

Michael-I'm not 100% in favor of the overall extension of the first time homebuyers credit....at least yet. I think we need to have a real look at the numbers to see how much impact it had on the housing market and how much it is going to cost those same first time homebuyers for the next 10-20 years in increased taxes to pay for the benefit.

Meanwhile supporting the extension of the military has my 100% support!

Margaret-our military serving overseas whether it is in a combat zone or not deserve the same chance at the tax benefit as civilians have had this year. Looking forward to seeing the President sign this bill.

Dan-you are absolutely correct. Bless our men and women serving our country and the families that support them.

Claudette-I couldn't imagine why any representative in the US Congress would have said no to this bill. Not at a time when we are asking for so many to scarfice for conflicts around the world.

Hi Cindy, this is great news! Thanks for the info.

Hi Cindy,

If anyone deserves it, it's the men and women serving in our military. Thanks for sharing.

I can't believe Congress left out those hard working veterans of campaign '08: the workers at ACORN. Surely they deserve every bit as much help in acheiving the American Dream as the military.

This is great and I only wish they'd done same for cars as my son just landed back in Norfolk last week after 6 months on board the USS Carr.

Thanks for the info. I'm glad our government realized the importance of our troops.

Hey Cindy,

I live in a big Military town too. Want to use this to let my customers know about this. Thank you. Perhaps we can cross refer to each other. Jacksonville and Virginia are popular transfer locations for the military. Can you give us more ideas about getting more active in military customers. Great blog!.

While I am against extending the program, in fact I think if they did anything, perhaps retracting to last years program where you repaid it would be as far as I would go. That being said I am whole heartedly in support of this bill. Our military needs all the support they can get and have earned it. I just hope that they don't do what they always do and that is make it dependent on some other useless bill being passed along with it.

Great post Cindy! We have TWO Navy bases in our area so we're a HUGE military city! God bless our troops. This is the least we can do for them.

This should be a no brainer. My biggest fear is that some fat cat Congressman adds some kind of rediculous give away to this bill. That really makes me angry when they do that. They start out with a great bill and then someone puts their "pet project" in there and it messes everything up. For once, can't they just pass the bill as it's written with only the current wording? Time will tell.

Thanks for a great post and I will be sending out emails to Congress in support of this.

American Flag

Ronda Densford signature

this is a must for military...thanks for the post. I'm wondering if it applies to foreign service families as well, many of whom are here in the DC area.

I agree with Leo - I don't think extending the tax credit in it's current form is something I can support any longer. My current post explaining why here: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1282569/let-s-ditch-the-8-000-tax-credit-and-help-a-different-segment-of-the-housing-market-

However - our military is quite a different story. It's hard to repay men and women enough for how they serve our country; especially those that have served overseas recently. Let them get themselves established after returning in this small way - it's the least we can do.

Great for our men and women serving, as long as they can get jobs when they come back...

Glad they are extending it to those in the military but it should be for all those in the military not just those who were overseas for 3 months of 2009.

Cindy -

Wow! This is something that really makes sense. Can't wait to hear how it progresses. Let's hope it doesn't die with ammendments. Wouldn't it be great if everything could pass with such supprt!

Thank you Cindy for your support of our troops. A great place to track bills like this is www.govtrack.us - put in the bill number and you'll get the details.

There's another key bill to follow and support for our veterans in need HR 403, The Homes For Heroes Act of 2009 which is currently in committee. Everyone please read the bill, and using Linda Alexander's example letter above ( thanks Linda), send an additional note to your elected representatives.

The extension bill is very important to me and the Affiliates of the Homes For Heroes program across the country. It will allow our organization more time to serve those who serve us.

Thanks Cindy and God Bless our Troops.

Brad Oosterhuis, Executive Director - Homes For Heroes

Great information Cindy,

I see that most of the posts her come from areas where there is strong military influence and that isn't a bad thing overall but I agree with the few that say there is a need to support the rest of the country as well.

This is great news for our military members. I think many military members are apprehensive about taking advantage of this tax credit due to the three year rule.

Cindy, thanks for sharing. This is great news, let's hope it makes it through and hopefully some help for the rest of the population is coming soon.

Well surprise surprise, a Bill that stimulates folks for doing something good and right, or actually doing something at all!!!

The Military is undernourished, under paid, under appreciated, and shamefully discarded after service.

I'll be writing to encourage the passing of this one!!!!!

This is good news - please continue to monitor this and keep us posted...I'm going to go ahead and reblog this right now.

Cindy: I was happy to see this in the news yesterday. I'm sure it will pass the Senate with flying colors.

Now THAT is a good step forward to take care of military who are serving our country.

Well that's some good news for our people serving overseas. They would most likely have missed out completely due to serving our country.

This is great news for our military families. Have we heard any news as to whether they are planning on extending this to everyone?

No one can argue with that one. I hope they extend it for everyone now.

Diito! Michael Thornton.

Mike-it was certainly the best news of the day for military families who were afraid they had missed out.

Michael-I couldn't agree more.

Thomas-I'm sure they will have their own benefits introduced soon in Congress :-)

Tina-thank your son for his service to our country. Sorry he missed the cash for clunkers but maybe this will make up for it.

Darrell-I don't think anyone can argue with this bill.

David-use the information for the benefit of the troops in your area. It still needs Senate approval and the President's signature but I can't believe that won't happen soon.

Leo-the other part of the bill that is important is the portion that eleminates the tax "penality" on the HAP program for military families.

Rhonda-someone is always trying to get one more piece of "pork" for their constituents. I think the overwhelming passage by Congress should indicate that the pork must have been at a miniumum.

Erin-Since the credit has only been in effect for 2009 I can understand why it is only for troops that have been overseas for a portion of this year.

Dana-I would not want to be the Senator who voted against this one or the President who didn't sign it into law.

This is great news for military members deployed overseas!!!!!!!!

Cindy,

Sounds like a very fair bill!.... hope no UGLY riders get attached to it!

Kathy Opatka

This is great news Cindy! Thank you for posting this. I have drill this weekend and will be sure to let my soldiers know since a lot of them have been arriving from deployment and know of several soldiers who are doing the same.

-Joe

Brad-I started tracking this bill as part of the DoD HAP program. I'm anxiously awaiting the news that it makes it out of the Senate Finance Committee and on to President Obama's signature.

Robert-I think we have to be careful and look at how much the tax credit is going to cost everyone over the long run. I'm worried that the $8000 credit now is going to cost billions for the next 20 years.

Kim-this has been a tough market for military families. Hopefully this and the HAP program will help make current moves a bit easier.

Kryste-it is great news and hopefully it will be law soon.

Pete-thanks for putting your support behind this bill! We need to let our representatives know this should be a slam dunk.

John-thanks for the reblog. I'm watching this one like a hawk as it also impacts four of my clients with homes under contract with the HAP program.

Chris Ann-if it doesn't I'll personally go down to the Capitol and smack a few Senators :-)

Sally-yes it is!

Rich-it is great news. It also includes Foreign Service personnel which is nice as well.

James-this is a totally separate bill and has not wording for any other buyers.

Gene-from the reaction on AR I don't think anyone is disputing the value of extending the credit for military who have been deployed.

Rich-thanks for stopping by.

Renee-Absolutely!

Kathy-I've read the bill and don't see anything that should make anyone squirm.

Joe-I hope that some of your buddies will be able to take advantage of the extension.

The "right thing to do" indeed. Although, as usual, there are needless conditions. Why the 3 months overseas nonsense? Active duty personnel are denied home buying opportunities regularly while being deployed overseas or transferred in the U.S.

Wow. This is great. I'm trying to remember the last time congress did something that I liked.

Lenn-I guess they figured they had to draw the line somewhere. Actually the more significant part of the bill is removing the tax liability for the HAP program. My clients were looking at ways to cover not only the 10% differental but the deduction for taxes as well.

Mike-there have been a few great things that Congress has done over the years to help military families and a few that haven't been so great. Fortunately this one should be a no brainer for the Senate to pass as well.

Thanks for this information. I was happy to read of it.

Colleen-thank you for stopping by. It is an extension that everyone can get behind.

Colleen-thanks for stopping by. This is a bill that everyone can support.

Thanks for this information. I reblogged it as I think everyone should know about this possibility.

Cindy We just have to hope and pray the Senate isn't stupid enough to modify it Karen

Cindy, if the Senate votes for this, it will be one of the best things that's happened all year. You should stay very busy.

Cindy,

Good news indeed. Big step forward. There are bills for the general public also in the mix, so we need to get those passed as well.

OCT

2009

This is a wonderful bill. I don't see any reason why anyone would want to shoot this one down. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Connie-thank you for the re-blog. It is great information to share.

Karen-there are a couple of pieces to the bill, since it is a "tax" bill that the Senate might modify. However something tells me they will leave the pieces that relate to the military alone.

Kay-I'd like it to pass so I could close the 4 HAP properties I have under contract with less of a hit for the military families involved. I'm already working with a Foreign Service family who would also benefit from this bill as well.

Esko-yes there are some other pieces to the bill that need to be sorted out. Hopefully it will come out of the Finance Committe quickly as we need to get some key pieces of the Bill in place for the military.

J.T.-I'm hoping the Houses reaction to the bill translates to the Senate!

This is great news. Another thanks for the men and women who serve our country!

Karen-it is a well deserved break for those who are serving our country.

OCT

2009

I agree completely Cindy. The people in the armed forces gave up their lives and safety so that we could be safe. It is the LEAST that we could do.

Mark-I encourgage everyone to let their Senator know that they support this Bill so it can be finalized and put into place.

OCT

2009

I'm so glad there wasn't any resistance to passing this. As a retired Soldier, I KNOW the men and women here in the 82d Airborne Division (and abroad) do their share to earn this. I think it is a great thank you for their service and sacrifice to our country.

OCT

2009

Latonia-thank you for your service. Now they just need to get this bill out of the Senate and signed into law!

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Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services

Woodbridge, VA

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