Almost official: Homebuyer $8000 Tax Credit ($6500 for existing homeowners) to be signed by Obama today

Well, it's almost official; President Obama is poised to sign a bill, that passed Congress this week (the Senate and the House of Representatives, for those that a quick reminder in government civics lesson) that will extend the First Time Homebuyer Non-Refundable $8000 Tax Credit to April 30, 2010 and opens the credit to existing homeowners as well.

The quick skinny on the new bill:

• The bill, awaiting for Obama's signature, will extend the existing tax credit to existing homeowners as well
• In addition to first time homebuyers, as long as homeowners looking to purchase their next home have owned and lived in their current home for 5 years, they too will qualify for $6500
• First time homebuyers will still qualify for the full $8000, in relation to the new income limits, which has been increased...
• Income cap has also been increased from $75,000 for individuals to $125,000 and for joint filers from $150,000 to $225,000
• New Deadlines:  Contracts need to be signed by April 30, 2010 and the sales need to CLOSE (and likely need to FUND, meaning money from buyer/lender needs to arrive in escrow's hands) by June 30, 2010.

What does this mean for Washington and Oregon homebuyers and homeowners?  The government just agreed to "print more money" in an effort to continue to stimulate the housing industry.  If we continue to see housing sales increase through the 4th quarter of 2009 and now through the first half of 2010, the government hopes we can move a little quicker out of this recession.  Time will only tell, though...

On a sidenote, it was a little disappointing to see so many mortgage and real estate professionals spreading news earlier this week on blogs, Twitter, etc, that this bill had already passed and the tax credit had been extended when it fact, it officially had not. 

Well, these real estate and mortgage professionals were wrong in spreading the news of the tax credit being extended, when in fact, it takes the President to sign the new bill OFFICIALLY into effect.  Yes, it's likely to be passed, but let's not spread incorrect news and information to consumers, until it's official.  Let's be careful on how we share news until it OFFICIALLY HAPPENS. It misleads the consumer and our customers when we should be sharing information that is accurate and helpful. Just my two cents... :-)

At least there were some folks like @jaypapasan (official trainer with Keller Williams) & @PhxREguy that had the news correct, on the potential passing of the tax credit.  Hopefully I can amend my blog post and make it official, that President Obama has signed this extension officially.

For a reminder of how a bill makes it into law, here's a video from our friends at Scholastic Rock.

Schoolhouse Rock- How a Bill Becomes a Law