Your paper isn’t due until April 30, 2010

Well the tallies are in and both the House and Senate voted to extend the first time homebuyer tax credit through June 2010 — so long as buyers sign a contract by the end of April. This is a huge development in the national real estate market — practically everyone in the real estate and lending sectors have been speculating about the possibility of this extension for months. The House voted 403-12 (1984 election, anyone?) to approve this bill, which at present costs $1 Billion per month to fund. With this new extension, some qualified homebuyers who already own homes can receive a $6,500 tax credit. Now that the bill’s basically in place, what’s going to happen on April 30th? I wonder if there will be a fury of people signing sales contracts like a run on George Bailey’s bank or students asking for the professor’s permission to turn in that blue book after spring break. The real application is that a lot of qualified people will be able to buy homes, especially if they combine this credit with a low down payment loan through FHA. Tighter lending guidelines (and people “talking” and speculating about tighter lending guidelines and what they really mean) cause a lot of people to assume that they could never buy a home, even though they’re probably qualified and well-prepared and just don’t know it. With this in place, even more buyers who qualify under more rigid (and better) lending guidelines will be able to jump into the market.  And that’s a good thing, as systems continue to repair and rebuild themselves to restore a global trust in the American housing market.