What You Need to Know About the New Real Estate Home Buyer Tax Credit (Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads)

filed under: Buyers, Short Sales posted on November 8th, 2009

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Hampton Roads first time and move up real estate buyers receive good news and a good deal.

Tax credit for real estate extended

Quick facts:

1. A one-time extension of the credit for homes purchased or under contract by April 30, 2010. However, the law also allows home sales occurring by June 30, 2010 to qualify, provided they are due to a binding sales contract in force on or before April 30, 2010.

2. A credit of up to $8,000 will apply to qualifying first-time buyers, and a smaller credit of up $6,500 will now apply to families that have lived in their homes for at least five years and wish to step up to a new home. If you are selling a home you need to have it on the market now.

3. The new law extends a similar credit until May, 2011 for members of the uniformed services whose duty takes them overseas.

Call it bail-out, charity, or fix the real estate problem, President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 into law Friday. The legislation significantly expands the first-time home buyer tax credit that was enacted in February and adds a new provision for current real estate home owners seeking to potentially become move up buyers in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads.
Some important facts you need to know with this new home buyer real estate legislation:
First-time real estate home buyers: The credit remains as high as $8,000 and the new legislation extends the deadline by which first-time home buyers must make their purchase complete to receive the credit. The credit extension also puts Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads “short sales” back in the picture as these homes were largely ignored by those hoping to take advantage of the previous expiration of Nov 30. The House previously had recommended Military personnel be able to receive the real estate tax credit as there was concern that active duty military personnel serving oversees were not able to take advantage of the tax credit. If qualifications are attained, the extension applies to those military personnel who spent at least 90 days of 2009 oversees. Many military personnel in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads may take advantage of this initiative. It now expires for them May 2011.
Remember, a first-time home buyer is anyone who has not owned a principal residence in the three years prior to making the purchase. Home buyers must have a signed sales contract before May 1, 2010, but actually have until the end of June to close the transaction.
The new law changes the annual income limits raising it from $75,000 to $125,000 for singles and from $150,000 to $225,000 for married couples.
Big Change – current home owners: This new law makes most current homeowners eligible for a tax credit of up to $6,500 when they purchase their next primary residence. Current homeowners must have lived in their home for five consecutive years over the previous eight to be eligible. These home buyers can obtain the credit on real estate purchased between Nov. 7 and the end of April 2010. That means they need a signed sales contract on a home before May 1, 2010, but they have until the end of June to close the sale. The income limits for current homeowners are the same as those for first-time home buyers.
More Important Information: The credit only applies to primary residences purchased for less than $800,000 (that would be most of us common people).

The real estate property must be used as a primary residence for three or more years after the purchase and buyers don’t have to pay it back.

So, are you ready to buy now? If so, lets get started.

Virginia Beach Real Estate News For Buyers And Sellers
600 Lynnhaven Pkwy #206 Virginia Beach, VA, 23452 USA
[email protected] • 757-343-4949

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posted by Dennis Blackmore

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Buyers, Short Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.