The ABCs of Housing Stimulus!

Many of the first-time homebuyers that I work with end up getting help with the up-front costs involved in purchasing their first home.  The luckiest of them have parents or relatives who can help them out with cash up front for a down payment, closing costs, or home improvements.  Most often, the grateful new homeowners will pay that money back over time, and often the parents won't even charge interest for their assistance. 

Last week, this kind of opportunity was opened up to even the most independent of buyers when the President signed the housing stimulus bill.

The housing bill will, among other things, provide first-time homebuyers (those who haven't owned in three years) with a tax credit of up to $7500.  The credit is available to those who bought within the time frame of April 9, 2008-July 1, 2009.  It is in the form of an interest-free loan, wherein the $7500 credit would be paid back over 15 years in installments of $500. 

Here are 26 ways in which new homebuyers can use the credit:

Add a deck

Buy new appliances

Create a built-in bookshelf

Drop your PMI by applying the credit to your loan's principal amount

Extinguish your credit card debt

Fertilize your lawn

Grow a botanical garden

Hire a feng-shui specialist to maximize your chi

Invest it and watch it grow

Jam out to a new surround-sound system

Keep it for a rainy day

Lay some hardwood

Mitigage radon, or take care of other building-inspection issues

Need new windows?  Buy them!

Open a cushion account for property-related expenses

Paint!

Quiet down your parents by paying them back

Renovate your kitchen and baths

Stimulate the economy via your local antique dealer

Take a vacation

Upgrade your furnishings

Vinyl-side your house for lower maintenance down the road

Warm up to a new gas fireplace

X-Ray your home to diagnose insulation problems

Yank out that pea-soup shag carpet

Zennify your surroundings