I figured they would definitely need to extend the $8k credit, since it's really not helping keep house prices inflated... but won't even talking about doubling the credit next year have the effect of hurting home sales this year? If I thought the 8k would expire, I might feel compelled to buy sooner rather than later; but if I think there's a good chance I can get 15k next year AND benefit from the plunging house prices, why would I buy now?
BBG said:June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers are pushing to revive legislation in the Senate that would almost double an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and expand the program to all borrowers.
Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, plans to introduce a bill today that increases the tax credit to $15,000 and removes income and other restrictions on who can qualify for the credit, according to his spokesman, Sheridan Watson.
The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and other Democrats, would extend the homebuyer credit to multi-family properties that are used as the borrower’s primary residence. It would also eliminate income caps of $75,000 and $150,000 on individuals and couples seeking to claim the credit.
“The housing market continues to be a drag on the economy, said John Castellani, president of the Washington-based Business Roundtable, which represents the interests of more than 100 CEOs including General Electric Co.’s Jeffrey Immelt and Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Rex Tillerson. “We believe that if we don’t stabilize this vital sector, we can’t turn the tide on the recession.”
The Business Roundtable and the National Association of Realtors are both pushing to expand the tax credit and to lower mortgage rates to revive the U.S. housing market.
Isakson’s bill would extend the credit, which expires at the end of 2009, to one year after it’s signed into law, according to Watson. It would also allow borrowers to divide the credit over two years. The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, David Vitter of Louisiana and James Risch of Idaho.
Senators Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, have also signed on to the bill, according to Watson.
Mortgage Rates
The roundtable and Realtors groups also recommended the Federal Reserve continue its plans to purchase mortgage securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to drive down mortgage rates below 5 percent.
The Fed is about a third of the way through its $1.25 trillion commitment, holding $427.6 billion of mortgage debt backed by the government-sponsored enterprises as of June 3, according to the New York Federal Reserve.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate U.S. mortgage jumped last week to the highest level since November, rising to 5.57 percent from 5.25 percent the prior week, according to data released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
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Summary of bills to date: (Credit heyeaglefn)
* S.1230 - A Senate bill to expand the tax credit to $15,000 for any home buyer regardless of income was introduced this month by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. It is co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
"It would go a long way toward inducing trade-up buyers into the market," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR.
* H.R.2619 - A House bill to keep the $8,000 credit in place until June 2010 and expand it to all home buyers was introduced last month by Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas. It also would provide a $3,000 credit to homeowners who refinance.
* H.R.2606 - Another bill in the House, introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, would extend the credit to all home buyers through 2010.
Message edited by: darkhaven on 2009-06-22 10:13:02 CDT
When everyone around my workplace started asking me if I was going to take advantage of the 8k tax credit and buy my first home, I responded, half jokingly, no, "I'm going to continue to ride the Obama train," because if Obama turned the 7.5k tax deduction into a credit (which he did), I'll wait another year for him to double said credit. Nothing like riding the Obama train. Unbelievable.
16k housing credits, 4.5k junker clunker credits. . . The money is nice if you're receiving it in a vacuum, but the taxpayers are paying for it. I dont want to chip in 16k for joe blow's new house, and I don't want to chip in 4.5k for his new car! Buy your own stuff!
When will these idiots grasp the fact that prices were TOO HIGH, and that trying to reinflate housing prices to artificially high levels will simply delay a much needed correction.
BBG said:June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers are pushing to revive legislation in the Senate that would almost double an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and expand the program to all borrowers. Now if I could just get all borrowers to mean mean ALL borrowers...or at least get an exemption. I'm recently divorced, ex-wife kept the house and refi'd out of my name, but I wouldn't qualify because I owned a home in the last 3 years. I'd like to jump on this gravy train.
Message edited by: faztcobra on 2009-06-10 13:58:17 CDT
faztcobra said:Now if I could just get all borrowers to mean mean ALL borrowers...or at least get an exemption. I'm recently divorced, ex-wife kept the house and refi'd out of my name, but I wouldn't qualify because I owned a home in the last 3 years. I'd like to jump on this gravy train.
Nowhere in the article does it say the credit next year will be only for "first time" buyers. Is it possible, they are removing this restriction as well?
dawndelion said:Nowhere in the article does it say the credit next year will be only for "first time" buyers. Is it possible, they are removing this restriction as well?
LOL not surprising the idiot senator proposing this bill is a former Realtor...
more info said:5/21/09 Yesterday U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., introduced an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 Supplemental Appropriations bill that seeks to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market by expanding the current $8,000 homebuyer tax credit to include all individuals who purchase a home in the next year.
Specifically, Isakson’s amendment would expand the current $8,000 homebuyer tax credit so that it applies to any buyer of any home, not just first-time buyers. The amendment also would eliminate the income caps of $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for a couple under the current tax credit so that there is no income limit for eligibility. Finally, the amendment would extend the tax credit to June 10, 2010, and would still allow homebuyers to claim the credit on their 2008 tax return.
“By removing the income and first-time buyer restrictions from the current homebuyer tax credit, I am confident many more buyers will take advantage of this tax credit and we will have a significant improvement in the housing market and in our economy,” Isakson said. “As has happened in 1968, 1974 and 1990-1991, housing took America into a recession and it was only when the housing market recovered that the America economy improved.”
Isakson has pushed hard for a non-repayable tax credit for homebuyers because he knows that it will work. In the mid-1970s, America faced a similar housing crisis when a period of easy credit and loose underwriting flooded the market with new construction. Interest rates rose, the economy slowed and America was left with a three-year supply of vacant homes. Congress responded by passing a $2,000 tax credit for anyone purchasing a new home for their principal residence. Isakson, who was in the real estate industry in Atlanta at the time, says the results were clear and swift as home values stabilized, housing inventory dropped and the market recovered.
Last year, Isakson introduced legislation to specifically target those homes that were causing the unprecedented increase in housing inventory by offering tax credits to individuals purchasing a foreclosed home or a home where foreclosure is pending. In April 2008, the Senate passed legislation to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market that included Isakson’s proposal. However, the final version of the legislation that was signed into law included only a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that must be repaid over a 15-year period.
On Feb. 4, 2009, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment by Isakson to the economic stimulus bill would have provided a direct tax credit to any homebuyer who purchases any home. The amount of the tax credit would be $15,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. During conference negotiations between the House and Senate on the final version of the bill, Isakson’s $15,000 tax credit for all purchasers of any home was removed. Instead, House and Senate negotiators made only small modifications to the first-time homebuyer tax credit that was enacted in 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
Isakson spent more than three decades in the real estate business, beginning his business career in 1967 when he opened the first Cobb County, Ga., office of a small, family-owned real estate business, Northside Realty. Isakson later served as president of Northside for 20 years, presiding over the company’s growth into the largest independent residential real estate brokerage company in the Southeast and one of the largest in America.
Count me in the "yeah,so what camp" If the banks require a 740+ and a job to get a loan and home values still need to drop another 30% and 7M+ people still remain out of work, who really cares? This won't solve the fundamental problems of oversupply and no jobs.
codename47 said:Count me in the "yeah,so what camp" If the banks require a 740+ and a job to get a loan and home values still need to drop another 30% and 7M+ people still remain out of work, who really cares? This won't solve the fundamental problems of oversupply and no jobs.
because not having a job requirement will make it ok?
codename47 said:Count me in the "yeah,so what camp" If the banks require a 740+ and a job to get a loan and home values still need to drop another 30% and 7M+ people still remain out of work, who really cares? This won't solve the fundamental problems of oversupply and no jobs.
So short is our "collective" memory. You forget, the "banks" is the US Feds --> the united socialist states of america now own/have an ownership interst in many financial companies/banks. If the government wants to get loans to people to buy houses (in addition to the grants its handing out via these tax credits), you better believe the good ol (new?) USS of A will make it happen, comrade.
Everyone deserves to be a home owner, whether they have a job or not . . . right? Soon we'll hear that unemployment benefits have been exetended indefinitely and have also increased across the board by the amount of one's mortgage payments. Nobody deserves to work...errr... suffer.
Message edited by: rollingrock on 2009-06-10 14:55:55 CDT
I don't think you'd be able to apply the $15k to a $15k Detroit house. As far as I know, the credit would still be 10% of the purchase price, capped at 15k. So you'd only get 1.5k off your Detroit mansion.
dawndelion said:faztcobra said:Now if I could just get all borrowers to mean mean ALL borrowers...or at least get an exemption. I'm recently divorced, ex-wife kept the house and refi'd out of my name, but I wouldn't qualify because I owned a home in the last 3 years. I'd like to jump on this gravy train.
Nowhere in the article does it say the credit next year will be only for "first time" buyers. Is it possible, they are removing this restriction as well?
from the article: Isakson’s bill will make the credit available to all borrowers, not only borrowers who haven’t owned a home in the previous three years as is the case under current law.
because not having a job requirement will make it ok? No, it isn't that the job requirement is a bad thing, it is that the politicans are focusing their time on fixing the symptoms and not the problems. Fix the job situtation and the housing situation will start correcting itself.
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