When Is the Contract Acceptance Date?
For the first-time and long-time homebuyer tax credits, the IRS Instructions for Form 5405 (used to claim the credit) state that the buyers must enter "into a binding contract before May 1, 2010, to purchase the property before July 1, 2010." Therefore it is clear that there needs to be an accepted offer by 11:59 p.m. of April 30, 2010. See the IRS instructions online at...MORE

Extended and Expanded Homebuyer Tax Credit
Here is more information about how the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream...MORE

Tax Credit Could Boost Sales
The National Association of Realtors reported that home sales in the Midwest are up compared to last year, and a change to the $8,000 tax credit could boost sales even more....MORE

Buy vs. Rent
A home is an investment. When you rent, you write your monthly check and that money is gone forever. But when you own your home, you can deduct the cost of your mortgage loan interest from your federal income taxes, and usually from your state taxes. This will save you a lot each year, because the interest you pay will make up most of your monthly payment for most of the years of your mortgage. You can also deduct the property taxes you pay as a homeowner. In addition, the value of your home may go up over the years.

$8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
In 2008, Congress enacted a $7500 tax credit designed to be an incentive for first‐time homebuyers to purchase a home. The credit was designed as a mechanism to decrease the over‐supply of homes for sale.

For 2009, Congress has increased the credit to $8000 and made several additional improvements. This revised $8000 tax credit applies to purchases on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

Mortgage rates drop to lowest since the '50s
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 10 basis points, to 5.19 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.91 percent; four weeks ago, it was 5.45 percent.

U.S. mortgage applications jumped in mid-March as record low interest rates spurred a surge in demand for home refinancing loans, according to The Mortgage Bankers Association. Seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, increased 32.2 percent to 1,159.4 for the week ended March 20. Refinancing accounted for 78.5 percent of all applications.

Source: Bankrate.com, Mortgage Bankers Association

First-time homebuyers want to buy 
More than three-quarters (78 percent) of potential first-time homebuyers say that now is a good time to buy a home, despite widespread concern about the economy, according to a Century 21 First-time Homebuyer Survey. Out of the 1,000 prospective U.S. first-time homebuyers surveyed in early March, 68 percent think now is a better time to buy than six months ago.

Prices are the driving motivation for potential first-time homebuyers with more than eight of ten first-time home buyers (85 percent) saying they consider current home prices affordable and 73 percent citing that taking advantage of current prices is a major factor in their decision to buy. Interestingly, potential first-time buyers are still split between “being willing to consider an offer now” (42 percent) and “waiting for prices to go down before they seriously consider making a purchase” (48 percent).