A good friend of mine who is also a mortgage broker wrote:
The federal tax credits for first time home buyers and buyers "moving up" are set to expire in less then 60 days.
Last time this program expired in 2009, there was a fair bit of lobbying, and buzz to get Washington to extend and expand the credit. The result then was that the credit was extended for first time home buyers and expanded to folks that were not first time home buyers, so-called "move-up" buyers.
This time around the effort to expand/extend these tax credits does not appear to have gained much traction.
We anticipate that if buyers are not under contract to purchase a home by April 30, 2010, and the credits are not extended, that they will no longer be available.
Tax credits reduce (dollar for dollar) the actual taxes due to the IRS, and are much more valuable than deductions or write-offs.
Also noteworthy to report, is that the Federal Reserve has announced they will curtail their highly unusual practice of purchasing mortgage securities, and may in fact become a seller of these same securities. This measure is slated to occur in March (this month). In many cases, the Federal Reserve has been the only, or nearly the only buyer, for certain new mortgage securities. Economists disagree about the exact impact on mortgage interest rates, but most agree that removing a large buyer of these securities will cause a rise in mortgage rates. Now the debate appears to be about how much of an increase is likely, not whether rates will rise.
Therefore, we think the timing is excellent to buy a home, and we are strongly recommending to all that they evaluate for themselves and others, the ability to act now to benefit from both the tax credit and low mortgage rates.
If you, or someone in your family, or a colleague, or a kid can benefit from learning more about how the program works, and/or how to get a fixed rate better than 5%, please let us know, we'd be delighted to help.
Feel free to share this update with people that can benefit from this unique opportunity.
Cheers-
Matthew J Northup
Private Mortgage Banker
33 Witherspoon St.
Princeton, NJ 08542
O-(609) 921-3131ext 1334
C-(908) 507-1642
Efax-(866) 331-2067
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