There’s been a lot of talk about the first time home buyer tax credit being extended past the current December 1, 2009 expiration. The talk in congress has gone beyond just extending the tax credit, but also increasing and/or expanding it. According to Realtor.org post yesterday, aides are hinting that it will be extended. Here’s the content from the post yesterday:

Aides: Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension Likely
Extending the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, due to expire at the end of November, is high on the Democratic Congressional to-do list, legislative aides said.

After Wednesday’s meeting with President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released a statement that the government should “continue efforts to strengthen the housing market by extending the home buyer tax credit.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, who is a consultant to Democrats in the administration and Congress, is advocating extending the credit through August and making it available to all home buyers. He said failure to extend the credit just as more foreclosures enter the market will push housing prices down.

Also, on Thursday, the House is expected pass legislation to extend the credit through 2010 for people who have been out of the country in the military, intelligence, or foreign services.

Source: The New York Times, Jackie Calmes (10/07/2009)

This is encouraging news for home buyers, but as I wrote about earlier, there are no guarantees when it comes to politics.

What are your thoughts? Do you think extending/expanding the tax credit will help or hurt in the long run?

I was just thinking of how much time was left for the first time homebuyer tax credit. Appropriately, I  just received this email from Illinois Association of Realtors…

“62 days and counting for first-time homebuyer tax credit. Remind your first-time buyers that time is of the essence if they want to take advantage of the federal tax credit worth up to $8,000. Buyers need to be moving now to find a home, secure financing and close the transaction before the November 30 deadline if they want to use the tax credit. The same deadline applies to the Illinois Home Start Tax Credit Advance Loan Program, which allows qualifying buyers to use the tax credit toward their down payment.”

62 days is just about the amount of time to close a normal loan these days, but 62 days is to November 30. Remember Thanksgiving weekend is just before the 30th (as mentioned in this post). You really only have about 51 days to comfortably close, which is still very doable. Only if you don’t start now and act quickly.

The home buying process is probably the largest purchase of your life, so don’t rush into it, but if you’ve thought about it and are ready, don’t wait another minute.