I received the following email from NAR this morning and felt it would be good to post it on my blog.  It’s message is timely in that the $8,000 first time home buyer’s tax credit will be expiring soon and buyers will need to be under contract by October 15, 2009 to safely close by November 30th, 2009 and receive the tax credit.  Importantly, I will lift my voice to join many other realtors in NAR in explaining to Congress that the housing recovery is not yet completed and we are asking for an extension of the tax credit to 2010 for first time home buyers.

Realtor Action Alert, Oct 7, 2009, NAR Government Affairs

A recent Washington Post article pointed out that many of the housing indicators are pointing in the same positive direction. Several analysts attribute the improvements to the soon to expire $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, historically low interest rates, and rock bottom prices in many areas.

But the article continues to say that “If the first-time homebuyer tax credit expires as scheduled on Nov. 30, many analysts expect a drop in home sales and prices, though they disagree on how big the drops will be. The situation looks even more dire once swelling unemployment numbers and related delinquencies and foreclosures are factored in.”

The $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit will end soon.  As the law stands today, eligible buyers will actually need to get under contract almost immediately in order to be able to close their transactions in time. The law requires that closing must occur by November 30th for buyers to actually take the credit. 

The housing market is stabilizing and improving, but the housing market crisis won’t end this year. We can’t wait until late in the year to see what happens.