As you can see on our countdown on HomeBuyerTaxCredit.com, we have only 50 days left for buyers to get into contract and claim the Home Buyer Tax Credit for their purchase. That’s still a lot of time, even enough for people who haven’t started looking yet, but remember that it does take time to get through the contract process even after you find the home you want to buy.
Our new video — Seven Ways to Make Sure You Meet Your Home Buyer Tax Credit Deadlines — gives you some guidance on how to ensure that you don’t miss the April 30 deadline. Here are the highlights:
The Deadlines
As you might know, the Home Buyer Tax Credit has two principal deadlines:
· You have to be in contract by April 30th, 2010; and
· You have to be closed by June 30th, 2010.
These are hard deadlines. It’s not like high school when you can go to your teacher and ask for an extension because you were sick over the weekend. The government is not likely to issue another extension of the tax credit, and the IRS has been extremely strict about enforcing the deadlines.
Remember that getting into contract on a home can take a lot of time, that you have to get all these things done:
· Find the right real estate agent.
· Find the right mortgage officer
· Get pre-qualified for a loan amount.
· Look at lots of homes online.
· Look at lots of homes in person.
· Find the right home, and make an offer.
· Negotiate the price and terms.
· Arrange and hold an inspection.
· Deal with the inspection results.
· Hire an attorney to review contracts, if you are in an attorney state
· Review contracts with attorney, sign and return.
And then even if you’re in contract by April 30th, you’re not home free, because you still have to be closed by June 30th, which gives you only 60 more days to get through the title and financing process. And those can take a while.
Moreover, I fully expect that as we get closer to these deadlines, we’re going to see business activity explode. If you wait too long, you might have trouble scheduling an inspection when the inspectors are being hammered with urgent calls from people in the same position. A lot of people are going to be scrambling to get into contract in the last two weeks of April, and closed in the last two weeks of June. Try not to be part of that mob.
So here are 7 Tips for Meeting Your Home Buyer Tax Credit Deadline:
