Northern Virginia First Time Home Buyers and the Soon to Expire $8,000 Tax Credit!
There are still Northern Virginia first time home buyers out there looking to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. Yes, even though the tax credit expires December 1, 2009, and we are past the mid point of October, Northern Virginia first time home buyers are still out there competing for that place to call home. And as time ticks by, the choices are getting extremely limited.
Since the mid-summer, short sales have not been an option for Northern Virginia first time home buyers looking to capitalize on the $8,000 tax credit. Those sales can take up to three months, if you are LUCKY. Looking to settle on a house in six weeks time or less, short sales are out.
Bank owned properties, more commonly known as foreclosures, are also questionable at this point in time. Why? When banks repossess properties through foreclosure there are often title issues in the transfer from the defaulting owner to the bank. Or, a previous refinance that the defaulting owner did may have been incorrectly recorded. Title issues are the probably the most common reasons that banks can not settle their properties on time with home buyers. And with that hard deadline of having to be settled no later than November 30th, this is no longer a guaranteed sale. Some banks are forthcoming about their doubt in settling by November 30th. Some are not. Either way, if you feel your home purchase MUST qualify you for the $8,000 tax credit, foreclosures are out.
New construction sometimes offer spec homes that are done and ready to go, but those are hard to find these days. And heading into the cold winter months, new construction you contract to have built today, will not be ready until Spring at the earliest.
What are you left with? Regular sellers that are able to vacate their homes and settle by November 30th.
Need help finding those Northern Virginia regular sales? Give me a call.
Chris Ann Cleland, Realtor, Licensed in Virginia, Long & Foster
703-402-0037, chrisann@LNF.com
Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com. Or you can visit her website: www.nvarealestate.net.
Header is a combination of photos from the Bristow, Gainesville & Haymarket areas, taken by Chris Ann Cleland.
Chris Ann: Yes... it's getting down to the wire. The number of homes available to close by November 30, 2009 is very limited. Obviously, the longer a buyer waits... the less chance they have of putting a very easy $8,000 into their pocket... just by buying a home. I would suggest that buyers in your area call you as soon as they read this.
Karen Anne: I'm sure there are still a few buyers out there that haven't even hired a Realtor. My car is gased up and ready to go.
Hi Chris Ann-So many people wait til the 11th hour and then wonder why it doesn't work. Have a great week my friend. <SMILE>
Chris Ann:
Nicely written. Good luck with getting as much mileage out of this as possible. It may be extended...
I just had a commenter on a recent post of mine about this subject say that we have "beaten it death." That's okay. I still find all of the talk about the tax credit, the expiration and all of the possible extensions to be interesting. We will have to stay tuned.
In a lot of cases it's to late to take advantage of the credit. If someone is considering a short sale or foreclosure the chances are it will take longer to process than the time left. Then there's the fact that November 26th through November 29th is a long Thanksgiving weekend and with capacity constraints everyone won't be able to close on the 30th.
Chris Ann
Karen Anne is right ...they had better contact you today if they want to get er' done....or it won't happen. Many of the deals we have had involving the tax credit have been FHA. FHA doesn't happen in a week or two.
Sharon: The clock is ticking and the inventory that works for a tight time frame purchase is shrinking too. But for the truly motivated, there are still homes to choose from. Beggars just can't be choosers.
Claudette: I feel that the $8,000 tax credit has over shadowed the tried and true reasons for owning a home. The mortgage interest tax deduction and having a place to call HOME.
Alan: I heard that Title Companies are already complaining that they are having to work through weekends to get these foreclosures to settlement on time. Boo-hoo. Now they know how it feels.
Trey: If you have a local lender with local FHA underwriters it can. Just need to know the folks to go to. I have a listing sell in just over two weeks that had FHA buyers. Now is not the time to try out a new lender and see if it works. Use the old standbys that always get the job done and have proven themselves.
I think we might just see this extended... I hear that for Military is is almost there.
your friend in Charlottesville Virginia!
Charles: As soon as the banks are not able to sell their listings, which is happening right now, I think their voices will get this done. Sometimes the voice of the little people gets overlooked, but never the voices of those that fund political campaigns.