Stimulus Package Changes to First Time Home Buyer Credit
Since is appears the stimulus package will now pass, I’m looking at how it will change the first time home buyer credit. At one point, it was supposed to be increased to a $15,000 credit that didn’t require repayment.
With a little bit of searching, I was able to find the Final version of the bill (PDF) that contains the actual changes that will signed into law. There is too much speculation and too many summaries floating around online, so I thought it best to read the bill myself. The text for the homebuyer credit starts on page 24.
These are the significant changes that I believe apply (at least the ones that I’m concerned about)
- $7500 credit is changed to $8000
- Home must be purchased before Dec 31, 2009 (instead of July 1, 2009)
- For homes purchased during 2009, you don’t have to repay the credit (Under the original deal, and still for home sold during 2008, you have to pay back $500 a year for 15 years - starting 2 years after you take the credit)
- The credit now applies to those who finance their home with mortgage revenue bonds (although I have no idea what this means)
The IRS hasn’t made any changes on their site yet. They have a note saying that there will likely be changes, but haven’t changed anything yet. I suspect that they will modify form 5405 (PDF) to compensate for the new amounts. For now, I’m doing my taxes and replacing the $7,500 with $8,000.
