Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Senate Adds $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit to Stimulus
Amendment to Senate version of stimulus bill provides the credit to all home buyers and doesn’t require repayment.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a home buyer tax credit of $15,000 or up to 10 percent of the purchase price in its version of the stimulus bill. This proposed credit would be available to all home buyers and would not have to be repaid as long as a buyer lives in the house for at least two years. The amendment to the Senate’s economic stimulus package, co-sponsored by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), offers the credit on purchases from one year of the date of enactment and could be applied to the home buyer’s 2008 taxes.
Isakson, who spent more than 30 years in the real estate business, proposed the tax credit because he’d seen it used effectively to jump-start housing in the 1970s.
“It is rare that we have a road map to success in times of difficulty, but this country has once before realized a housing crisis every bit as bad as the one we have today and economic troubles every bit as dangerous,” Isakson said in a prepared statement Wednesday evening. “We have a pervasive housing problem, and we have a historical precedent that works. I am proud this Senate has joined together, learned from history, and repeated a method that worked by adopting this amendment.”
Dwight Jaffee, a professor of finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, called the 1973-1975 recession the “classic example” of how a direct stimulus to housing demand impacted economic recovery. “Housing led us into this recession, and we really need a stimulus for it to lead us out,” Jaffee said in a statement released by the Fix Housing First coalition, a group of home builders, manufacturers, and others advocating for several housing-related measures, including the tax credit.
According to Jerry Howard, the NAHB's CEO, the amendment’s provision to offer the tax credit for a year from the date of enactment "reflects Sen. Isakson’s in-depth understanding of housing. It gives the people who market housing a chance to ramp this up and put it in its proper perspective in the field.” Depending on the enactment date, it could make the tax credit available well into 2010. (In previous versions, the tax credit was only availble through Dec. 31, 2009.)
Howard also said Thursday that the NAHB's staff is working closely with the Senate offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on additional amendments that the Fix Housing First Coalition considers crucial to solving the housing crisis. Those include low-interest mortgages for home buyers and additional measures to stem foreclosures.
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association also issued a statement this morning applauding the adoption of the amendment and thanking the senators for their leadership. "We believe, if adopted in the final stimulus package, the tax credit could go a long way toward reviving the housing economy by encouraging more home purchases, creating new jobs, and restoring consumer confidence in the housing market," said NLBMDA President and CEO Michael O'Brien.
The Fix Housing First coalition, which includes the NAHB and NLBMDA, continues to advocate for additional housing stimulus measures, including an amendment that would provide discounted 30-year fixed-rate mortgage financing for eligible home buyers.
In appearances on television news shows, several senators this week expressed support for such an amendment. “We have a 4% mortgage proposal where creditworthy home buyers could buy down their mortgages or save them on the average $5,600 a year,” Sen. McConnell said on Sunday on “Face the Nation.”
One disappointment for home builders in the bill is that this amendment does not include the ability to monetize the credit at closing, a feature in an earlier bill Isakson filed in mid-January. “Emails were flying back and forth this morning, asking ‘Can it be used for closing?’” says Michelle Smallwood, vice president of sales for Melbourne, Fla.-based Holiday Builders. Pat Curry is senior editor, sales and marketing, at BUILDER magazine
Note the phrase "creditworthy home buyers". How is that helping current homeowners in trouble ?
Is this really just an incentive in hopes of restarting a new housing bubble ?
Note the phrase "creditworthy home buyers". How is that helping current homeowners in trouble ?
Is this really just an incentive in hopes of restarting a new housing bubble ?
Not restart but reinflate with tax dollars. Your tax dollars or, to be honest, the tax dollars of our grandchildren.
Congress has always been the sludge pit of humanity but with this they are outdoing even themselves.
Not to burst any bubbles, but this article was written last February. The $8,000 credit was passed instead of this proposal. There is new discussion now about the possibility of extending or changing the credit.
I'm sorry, but credit worthy is correctly stated. Bad creditors contributed to the poor present performing economy... I can say this, because I myself had issues with credit and have worked to fix it. In addition, if America learned CREDIT and how to maintain, fix, or get and maintain good credit... CREDIT WORTHY would not be an issue. It takes about a good year to fix someone with bad credit. Email me at fenominon09@gmail.com if I can help.
Senate Adds $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit to Stimulus
Amendment to Senate version of stimulus bill provides the credit to all home buyers and doesn’t require repayment.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a home buyer tax credit of $15,000 or up to 10 percent of the purchase price in its version of the stimulus bill. This proposed credit would be available to all home buyers and would not have to be repaid as long as a buyer lives in the house for at least two years. The amendment to the Senate’s economic stimulus package, co-sponsored by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), offers the credit on purchases from one year of the date of enactment and could be applied to the home buyer’s 2008 taxes.
Isakson, who spent more than 30 years in the real estate business, proposed the tax credit because he’d seen it used effectively to jump-start housing in the 1970s.
“It is rare that we have a road map to success in times of difficulty, but this country has once before realized a housing crisis every bit as bad as the one we have today and economic troubles every bit as dangerous,” Isakson said in a prepared statement Wednesday evening. “We have a pervasive housing problem, and we have a historical precedent that works. I am proud this Senate has joined together, learned from history, and repeated a method that worked by adopting this amendment.”
Dwight Jaffee, a professor of finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, called the 1973-1975 recession the “classic example” of how a direct stimulus to housing demand impacted economic recovery. “Housing led us into this recession, and we really need a stimulus for it to lead us out,” Jaffee said in a statement released by the Fix Housing First coalition, a group of home builders, manufacturers, and others advocating for several housing-related measures, including the tax credit.
According to Jerry Howard, the NAHB's CEO, the amendment’s provision to offer the tax credit for a year from the date of enactment "reflects Sen. Isakson’s in-depth understanding of housing. It gives the people who market housing a chance to ramp this up and put it in its proper perspective in the field.” Depending on the enactment date, it could make the tax credit available well into 2010. (In previous versions, the tax credit was only availble through Dec. 31, 2009.)
Howard also said Thursday that the NAHB's staff is working closely with the Senate offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on additional amendments that the Fix Housing First Coalition considers crucial to solving the housing crisis. Those include low-interest mortgages for home buyers and additional measures to stem foreclosures.
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association also issued a statement this morning applauding the adoption of the amendment and thanking the senators for their leadership. "We believe, if adopted in the final stimulus package, the tax credit could go a long way toward reviving the housing economy by encouraging more home purchases, creating new jobs, and restoring consumer confidence in the housing market," said NLBMDA President and CEO Michael O'Brien.
The Fix Housing First coalition, which includes the NAHB and NLBMDA, continues to advocate for additional housing stimulus measures, including an amendment that would provide discounted 30-year fixed-rate mortgage financing for eligible home buyers.
In appearances on television news shows, several senators this week expressed support for such an amendment. “We have a 4% mortgage proposal where creditworthy home buyers could buy down their mortgages or save them on the average $5,600 a year,” Sen. McConnell said on Sunday on “Face the Nation.”
One disappointment for home builders in the bill is that this amendment does not include the ability to monetize the credit at closing, a feature in an earlier bill Isakson filed in mid-January. “Emails were flying back and forth this morning, asking ‘Can it be used for closing?’” says Michelle Smallwood, vice president of sales for Melbourne, Fla.-based Holiday Builders. Pat Curry is senior editor, sales and marketing, at BUILDER magazine
The correct date for the 8000 tax credit will expire NOVEMBER 30, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. and NOT December 31st.
Look the $15K tax credit for EVERYONE (without income limits or first time homebuyer restrictions) should have been included in the March 2009 stimulus package to began with.
However, once the Senate (who is for the proposal) and the House (most of whom are against it) decided to compromise, they watered it all down to the $8K first time homebuyers/incomes less than 150K/75K).
The reason....House Democrats did not want to pass any sort of bill that would see to favor the "affluent" in this case anyone making more than 150K.
So they ended up watering down a housing tax credit which only helped the bottom of the market and didn't really do anything to the mid-market (homes greater than 400K). That's why homes that are selling are the lower priced home.
The $15K tax credit would have cost the govt around $35 billion. The $8k tax credit costs the govt around 6-8 billion. However, they threw in 8 billion to fund Harry Reid's (D-Senate Majority Leader, Nevada) rail project from Las Vegas to LA to get his vote.
In the end, do I think the 15K tax credit will pass? I doubt it. There's no money left to spend. They are having a hard time trying to even pay for healthcare for the 15-45 million who do not have healthcare coverage.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
