Tax credit for home purchase could rise......

[Sukie]

to $15,000 and include anyone who buys a home.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-06-22-homebuyer-credit-may-be-extended_N.htm


"Lawmakers and businesses are calling for expansion of a tax credit for first-time home buyers that has helped spark home sales in an otherwise dismal real estate market.

With the tax credit scheduled to expire in fall, some business groups say the amount of the credit, now capped at $8,000, should be raised to $15,000 and applied to anyone who buys a home."

[here_is_to_hope]

1. We close today on our new house...

We bought only because of the 8k credit, 15k would be nice too...

[CoffeeCat]

2. Crap like this is nonsense...

We need real jobs that pay well. We need companies to stop outsourcing jobs, and we need
to stop incentivizing those companies to outsource.

If people want to, and they're financially equipped, they'll buy a house. We don't need to go balls
to the wall--pushing people into $200,000 and $400,000 purchases.

Do we really want to play "lure the consumer" when this economy is still bleeding jobs?

Crap! Did we learn nothing from the mortgage crisis?

The ONLY demographic helped by this---is the banks.

Why do I even get up in the morning and read the news?

[here_is_to_hope]

3. I think that most people buying now

are stable in their jobs or income, as we are.
The house we bought was 92k and we simply bought out someone who was getting behind on payments.
The 8k did make a difference to us, lower middle class demographic.

[CoffeeCat]

4. I do agree that there are responsible...

...people out there, like yourself, who are making responsible decisions--and everything will work out ok.

We have friends who purchased their first home and were helped with these incentives.

I'm not disagreeing with giving homeowners these breaks. I would like to see breaks like this become universal.

The major problem I have--is that I see very little change or solutions--when it comes to growing the economy with
REAL, long term solutions. I'm seeing short-term schemes that will create a few temporary bubbles here and there.
We're not building our economy. We're not changing anything or reversing the damage that got us here. Why are
we still throwing money at companies who take jobs from Americans and send them overseas?

Furthermore, I think it's inappropriate to be dangling these carrots--during a very tumultuous economic downturn.
Anyone could lose their job tomorrow. Wouldn't it be more prudent to focus on keeping jobs here or creating jobs--
instead of trying to solve the problem with more consumer spending?

I would rather see a program like this implemented after we have seriously changed things--and when the economy
isn't losing 600,000 jobs a month.

[Dappleganger]

5. In agreement

and it will only make people not want to lower the prices of their homes back down to realistic levels after factoring in these 'bonuses'.

PLUS, I still think people should be saving up more to put down for their deposit in most circumstances.

Bottom line, none of this is helpful unless we have JOBS to pay the mortgages.

[county worker]

6. People don't lower the price of their homes, comparable sales in the area determine the value of a

home.

We first listed our house at $450,000 2&1/2 yrs ago. We are selling it next week for $255,000. That is the value now based on sales in the area.

Go to www.zillo.com and put in an address and you can see what the market values are in any area.

[northernlights]

7. A $15K tax credit won't lure people into $200K+ purchases

and to keep people who can't afford to buy, the mortage companies need to do their jobs and require down payments.

The tax credit, especially if it's open to everybody, will motivate people who want and can afford to buy to do so, and will help sellers who need to sell actually do so.

I just wish, if they're going to expand the program, they would do so NOW, instead of talking about it for the future. Frankly, it should have been $15K for all right from the get-go, if it were to truly have an impact.

I just put my house up for sale -- I will be taking a loss of several tens of thousands of dollars. But I need to sell; it's the lesser of two bad options at this point.

One of the realtors I interviewed showed me the data for our area for the last 2 years. Not one house in the $200K+ category has sold. Not one. In two years. Happily, due to the crappy market my house isn't in the $200K+ category. It was there briefly at the very peak of the market, but now is back close to what I paid for it -- except I've sunk $30-40K in improvements into it.

And personally, I need to sell by September if at all possible, or my losses will be a heckuva lot worse. If I sell now, I can avoid student debt. If I don't sell now, I'm forced into large student loans even while my property continues to lose value. I don't need to have potential buyers holding out for a better deal for them, which would mean a significantly larger loss for me. And selling mid-winter in the north would be a nightmare move for all concerned.