Cash For Clunkers has already expired. But there's still one big government credit you can cash in on.
The tax credit for first-time home buyers (or those who haven't owned a home in three years) expires on Dec. 1. First-time home buyers stand to claim $8,000, or 10 percent of the purchase price. (There are income limits, however -- single tax filers must have an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less, married couples should have $150,000 or less). But experts say if you want a piece of the pie, the time to jump in is now.
"You've got to get into the game now," Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, told WSJ.com , because it can be 45 to 60 days from the time you get approved for a mortgage to the day you close on the sale. Because of the credit crisis, lenders have tightened their standards, which could mean that loan approvals take longer.
"There's always that chance you will have that extra week or couple of weeks going back and forth trying to get documents at the last minute," Steven Fischer, president of the Georgia Association of Realtors, told USA Today .
Even if you want to jump in, there's another potential challenge -- inventories for those shopping in the lower price range are shrinking. Money.com writes that the number of reposessed homes in Whitter, Calif., for instance, are dwindling because these are the homes the bank wants to get rid of the quickest. So the next best option for many first-time home buyers, price-wise, are short sales. But because these properties require sellers and lenders to agree on a price that's less than what the sellers owe, the sales typically take longer.
"That's why there's such a sense of urgency now," Irma Tapper, a Century 21 real estate agent in Whittier, told Money.com. "The banks have to approve short sales, and they're taking three to six months to do that."
There is a chance that the deadline for the first-time home buyer tax credit will be extended. But don't count on it -- USA Today reports that Congress has a busy schedule when it returns from its August recess. But the real estate industry argues that for real recovery, the housing market needs to extend the credit and even extend it to non-first-time home buyers.
"We need to stimulate the move-up buyer," Century 21 CEO Tom Kunz told Money.com, "so it works its way up the pricing food chain. That's what we need to get inventory moving again."
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