Home Buyer Credit

[Gail in Virginia]

Does anyone have the lowdown on the extension of the home buyer credit until September 30? Is it only for people whose contracts were in place before April 30 but were unable to close by June 30? Does it apply to first time home buyers only, or does it also apply to long0time home owners? A Google search seems to bring up articles that contradict each other....

[Lion EA]

Lawmakers later approved, by a 60-to-37 margin, an amendment to HR 4213 that would extend the deadline for closing home purchases in order to qualify for the first-time homebuyer tax credit. The current deadline for purchases that would qualify for the tax credit is June 30, 2010. The amendment would extend the deadline to September 30, 2010.

By Jeff Carlson, CCH News Staff

My understanding is that no final vote has occurred.

Only the closing date is being amended, so doesn't the amendment leave all the other qualifications in effect as is? If so, then the contract date, qualifying as first-time or long-time, etc., will still stand if and when the bill is passed by both houses and signed by the President. I think the rationale was that due to overwhelming the mortgage industry by the sudden spike in home buying to beat the 30 April deadline, contracts that met that deadline will not be closed by the 30 June deadline due to paperwork back logs at the mortgage lenders.