Real Estate Blog

On July 2, Pres. Obama signed into law HR 5623, the Homebuyers Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010, which extends the homebuyer tax credit closing date to Sept. 30, 2010, for qualified buyers with a purchase contract that was signed by April 30, 2010. He also signed HR 5569, which retroactively reauthorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into new contracts for flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program through Sept. 30, 2010.

 An estimated 14,830 Florida home buyers missed Wednesday’s deadline to receive an up to $8,000 tax credit on their purchase.

Good thing for them Congress extended the cut off date late Wednesday to Sept. 30. The bill now goes to President Obama.

Homebuyers still had to sign contracts for their purchase by April 30, but now have an additional three months to close the deal.

Nationally, the extension is expected to give about 180,000 homebuyers who signed by April 30 a chance to earn the federal stimulus.

Short sale purchases, which can take several months to close, were hampering many closings.

Buyers “didn’t know when they signed the contract it was going to take the bank four months to close the deal,” said John Sebree, vice president of public policy for the Florida Realtors.

Another problem was the failure of Congress to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, which put the brakes on lender approvals for some loans. That program was also temporarily extended late Wednesday until Sept. 30.

Realtors are lobbying Congress to approve another bill extending the program for five years.

The tax credit was initially for new homebuyers only and expired Nov. 30. It was extended to the April 30 and June 30 deadlines, and also expanded so that some current homeowners could earn up to a $6,500 credit.