Can updated tax credit stoke housing?

Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

The primary reasons first-time homebuyers have been driven to considering a home purchase during the past few months are the attractive loan programs targeting first-timers and the generous $8,000 tax credit offered by the federal government.

Recently, the tax credit has been loaded with new angles allowing first-time buyers to add it to their down payment after the required 3.5 percent of the purchase price has come from their own funds. As of May 29, 2009, the $8,000 federal tax credit can be used as "an additional down payment or closing costs" for buyers who apply for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration before Dec. 1, 2009.

A first-time buyer, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service, is anyone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. For married taxpayers, the law tests the homeownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse.

For example, if you have not owned a home in the past three years but your spouse has owned a principal residence, neither you nor your spouse qualifies for the first-time homebuyer tax credit. However, unmarried joint purchasers may allocate the credit amount to any buyer who qualifies as a first-time buyer, such as may occur if a parent jointly purchases a home with a son or daughter. Ownership of a vacation home or rental property not used as a principal residence does not disqualify a buyer as a first-time homebuyer.

In addition, first-time homebuyers must purchase the property from a source unrelated to them. For example, they cannot purchase the house from a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or acquire the property by gift or inheritance and obtain the tax credit.

Lenders are sorting out how all the details will work but hope that the impact of the news and the implementation of the program will be a huge boost to the regional housing picture. ...CONTINUED

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