Personally, I feel that the Tax incentive is a plus, but this article in Marketwatch confirms that the general consensus is that it isn't enough to get buyers off the fence.  If they are already buying, it is a nice bonus, but no one is out there buying because of the incentive.  Think about your kids...

"If you clean your room like we asked you to, next spring we'll buy you a bicycle, and you can pay us back over the next 15 years! By the way, you have to keep cleaning up your room on time!" 

Yea, I know it's a weak analogy, but delayed incentives don't work, ask any dog trainer.

First-time home buyers snub tax credit: NAR

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

ORLANDO, Fla.(MarketWatch) -- Over the summer, many in the housing industry applauded the temporary first-time home buyer tax credits written into the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. But apparently buyers weren't as impressed.

The tax credit gives first-time home buyers up to a $7,500 credit for buying a home between April 8, 2008, and July 1, 2009. Realtors say it hasn't been effective in getting people to buy homes, which would reduce the excessive inventory on the market.

The problem, they say, is that buyers are turned off by the repayment requirement of the credit. The credit needs to be paid back over a 15-year period, beginning on a buyer's 2010 tax return. In effect, it's really an interest-free loan.

"For the economist, even with the repayment feature, it was a clear benefit. Money today is better than money tomorrow. You receive the money today, put the money in the bank, earn interest, and pay it off over time," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

"It was a clear benefit, but nonetheless, the average Joe Homebuyer does not see it that way," he said, speaking at NAR's annual conference, held in Orlando over the weekend. The conference concludes on Monday.