1st Time Homebuyers - $8,000 !

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
Ok, let me start off with saying, any political stuff that crops up in this thread will be deleted, go argue that in the Garage.

The purpose of this thread is to help out our fellow wheelers and help them to take advantage of this stimulus.

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/home2.html

The thread above is built by the home builders assoc, it should NOT be considered professional tax advice, NOR SHOULD this thread or anything I am about to tell you.

You should seek guidance from your CPA (I honestly would not trust HR Blockheads with this level of decision/info)

In the stimulus bill is a 1st time homebuyers provision that is a CREDIT of up to $8,000 for buying a home in 2009, BEFORE 12/1/09.

"1st time homebuyer" is defined as someone that has not owned their house/residence in the last 3 years. (If you have but wife has not...will not work)

The credit is 10% up to the $8,000 cap...so a $80,000 home would max out this credit.

This credit is REFUNDABLE... so assuming you normally pay in $5000 in withholdings, you would get back a check/refund for the full $8,000!! (Your $5k you paid in plus another $3k on the gov't)


One final thought on this... the FAQ section on there specifically mentions that in a joint purchase (say parents and kid) the credit can be allocated.

I will research more into this, but parents with kids in college / this means you jointly buy a condo for them, kids gets back $8k!!

With that being said....it is possible that if you were going to buy a house this year anyway... you may want to put your kid on the purchase...that is how it reads right now!!

(We may have some 3 years olds buying houses with mommy/daddy!)

House MUST be principal residence, so no condos at the beach unless that is where you or the kid is going to live.

I will try to answer questions as I see them / but honestly this one is pretty huge...hoping to see some fellow wheelers able to take advantage!
 
I think this is great - however is very frustrating for me... b/c we're considering buying a home in the not-so-distant future, resnting right now. However we've already owned and sold our first home (recently) so we don't qualify. As a result, I will not hurry and buy now, but wait another year as this does nothing for me.
I just wonder how many people are in a similar situation.
 
And the timing for me sucks, I plan to buy my first house, but not until late summer of 2010. My finances just won't swing it any earlier, unless I sell ALL my toys for their FULL value, and the economy just won't support that right now.

I hope there are similar credits available next year!
 
Chris_M said:
And the timing for me sucks, I plan to buy my first house, but not until late summer of 2010. My finances just won't swing it any earlier, unless I sell ALL my toys for their FULL value, and the economy just won't support that right now.
I hope there are similar credits available next year!
Click to expand...


I'm the same way. I'd love to buy now, but I just don't have the savings to make it worth my while. Hopefully next summer will be different.
 
Will throw this out there... rent vs buy

$80,000 condo / 6% / assuming 0 down (which doesnt happen as much but just for giggles)

Should be approx $560-600 a month pmt / prop tax / insurance

IF I was buying a condo / gonna close in time... could adjust my amount being held out in Federal withholdings so that I get part of that $8k "up front"

That could put another $200 a month in pocket or more... and when the remaining cash came... $8000 / $600 month, that is 13 months of house pmts?

Just food for thought...
 
my gears are turning. in my situation this just might work. i havent married my significant other yet and she would be a first time home buyer.
 
I am going to try and buy a home this year.......

But, I dont think that I will qualify for a loan with the down payment that would be required.

I guess I should have bought that $500,000 lake house 6 months ago even though I can only afford about 100,000
 
BigRedB2 said:
my gears are turning. in my situation this just might work. i havent married my significant other yet and she would be a first time home buyer.
Click to expand...

This will ONLY work if you are unmarried (at time of purchase - have not looked into after..but if holding off till 2010 at least I would not worry) But if married before 12/31 you are considered married for the whole year.

You could buy the house jointly / allocate the credit 100% to her, she gets the $8k.
 
I am planning on buying a home in the next 8 months or so. Don't really have a budget yet but probably 250-400k range. Interest rates are supposed to continue to fall so we will see what happens..
 
WCURoverd90 said:
I am planning on buying a home in the next 8 months or so. Don't really have a budget yet but probably 250-400k range. Interest rates are supposed to continue to fall so we will see what happens..
Click to expand...

i would never tell a man what to do with his money, but damn what does a (presumably young?) first time home buyer need a $400k house for?? That payment would be killer and iI would much rather have all that money left over for my (rather expensive) hobbies.

I just bought a ~2400 ft^2 brick 1.5 story house with 4 bedrooms, office, 2.5 bathrooms, detached 2 car garage and 1.2 acres for 91k.

But, if you can swing it, more power to ya!
 
ok. question about last year. first time home buyers get a $7500 credit on taxes if purchased in 2008...


What if the home my wife and I purchased in August is my second home and my wife's first since we married after only I purchased my first home 6 years ago? Technically, its her first home purchase and my second. Would filing as married seperate returns work where she gets the $7500 credit?
 
awspence said:
i would never tell a man what to do with his money, but damn what does a (presumably young?) first time home buyer need a $400k house for?? That payment would be killer and iI would much rather have all that money left over for my (rather expensive) hobbies.

I just bought a ~2400 ft^2 brick 1.5 story house with 4 bedrooms, office, 2.5 bathrooms, detached 2 car garage and 1.2 acres for 91k.

But, if you can swing it, more power to ya!
Click to expand...

Well I'm not going to live in the cookie cutters and then the locations I want to live in make a big difference. 400 is on the very high end for me and the closer I get to buy that figure may come down quite a bit. I am leaning more towards less than 300K and If i find the "right" house for a lot cheaper I will have plenty of money left for upgrades etc.

The down payment i will have will make a difference as well.
 
Sweet my dream house came on the market a few days ago as a foreclosure,and im hoping and watching to see if it comes down some,as its about 50k more than im ready to pay for it.

Just hping some rich loser dosent buy it up !! LOL
 
400k house.
I hope you're pulling in solid 6 figures, at least 150/year.


Of course with the stupid buyoffs banks will be back to BS loans in no time.
We bought our house a while ago, but at the time they "pre qualified" us based on MY income alone, (wife was new at her job, 3 weeks) for up to 500k. UTTER BS. At MOST we could have afforded on my income was 240k or so. And that would have been only eating ramen and mac and cheese. As it was, We spent more than I wanted, and money was tight the first year. But had we done 500k? We'd be needing bailout funds by now.

Don't be house poor with your first house. That said, if you can do it, buy a 80-120k condo/townhouse right now. FHA loans at 3% down are available, decent rates, and 8k free money is NICE. Plus, it IS a buyers market right now.
 
These numbers make me laugh.

$90k? $130k?

Up here, $400k is fairly normal for middle/upper-middle class. Small old houses in crap locations start at $250k. Cracktown is $190+.
We're paying $1425/mo in rent for a ~1000 sq ft ranch and very happy about that rate.
And, no, we're not all making 6 figures to compensate. The truth is that most of this housing recovery business is really targeted to area like this, most of NC really didn't get the crazy inflation and consequently dosn't have the fallout as bad w/ so many people hurting.

Yeah it may seem rediculous to take a $250k loan when you you only make $50k/year, but when that's the cheapest that's you can get, and rent just keeps going up - what else do you do?
 
JCMINIS said:
Sweet my dream house came on the market a few days ago as a foreclosure,and im hoping and watching to see if it comes down some,as its about 50k more than im ready to pay for it.
Just hping some rich loser dosent buy it up !! LOL
Click to expand...


a foreclosure will rarely come down much, much les $50K. Make an offer thats fair and you'll likely get it accepted so the bank can move it. It's prob up for a short sale right now before is is actually a foreclosure, which would be sold at the courthouse
 
RatLabGuy said:
These numbers make me laugh.
$90k? $130k?
Up here, $400k is fairly normal for middle/upper-middle class. Small old houses in crap locations start at $250k. Cracktown is $190+.
Click to expand...

This is so true. The crack houses in Charlottes worst neighborhoods sell for those kinds of numbers......
 
rockcity said:
ok. question about last year. first time home buyers get a $7500 credit on taxes if purchased in 2008...
What if the home my wife and I purchased in August is my second home and my wife's first since we married after only I purchased my first home 6 years ago? Technically, its her first home purchase and my second. Would filing as married seperate returns work where she gets the $7500 credit?
Click to expand...

Nope, married is the defining rule - so since you fail the test she could not take advantage of it.

If you had not gotten married / but bought the house together..yes, she could have gotten it...kinda screwed up, but the gov't is involved so that is to be expected.
 
SHINTON said:
This will ONLY work if you are unmarried (at time of purchase - have not looked into after..but if holding off till 2010 at least I would not worry) But if married before 12/31 you are considered married for the whole year.

You could buy the house jointly / allocate the credit 100% to her, she gets the $8k.
Click to expand...

let's say i already own the house and sell it to her.....and then finance it jointly? and get married jan 1 2010?


oh...and can i then claim it as a loss on my taxes...and come out ahead on both of our taxes?
 
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