The government, in their effort to help move our housing market, has decided that a first time home-buyer can get a tax credit of up to $8000 if purchasing a home from January 1st to December 1st of this year.  It also has to close no later than December 1st, 2009. Their definition of a first time home-buyer is someone who has not purchased a home in the last three years. There are also some income restrictions that come with this tax credit. You cannot get the full credit if you make over $75,000 per year as a single person or $150,000 a year per couple. The credit will be shaved down as your income goes higher.

The credit is up to 10% of the house price but no more than $8000.  The best news is that if you do not move for at least three years, the credit does not have to be paid back. Obviously, it is always best to check with your accountant as this news is just filtering down and should be clarified for each particular case. It is definitely a good step in helping some of those first time home-buyers in West Bloomfield today make a decision to buy now and not to wait until next year.  Even if the pricing gets a bit more depressed, they have a good incentive to balance the scales.

The previous tax credit from last year was limited to $7500 and did have to be paid back over a 15 year period.  Hopefully, some new legislation will change that to make it more fair for the people who did buy and close last year.

There are a lot of homes on the current West Bloomfield market with fabulous pricing.  Now a first time home-buyer may also get this tax benefit making for a win-win buying situation. Actually, with the interest rates so low that is even more reason to decide on purchasing in West Bloomfield now. Let me know if I can help!

Posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under First Time Home-Buyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.