The Federal Tax Credits Blog

Archive for February, 2009

Question: How long will it take for me to get the first time home buyer tax credit?

My boyfriend and I will be closing on our first home in January. We plan on filing for the tax credit at the same time that we do our return for 2009. What is the wait time to get that return back? Also, we both file separately since we are both married so do we but request $4,000 or does one of us request the full $8,000 credit?

Answer: You each claim half the credit if the purchase is in both names.

Allow four months for your refund.

Come Buy With Me And Be My Love

Chuck Haberstroh, 30, and Jacque Horelik, 28, haven’t set the date, but they have bought a home. “We may never see such a buyer-friendly environment again,” Ms. Horelik said.

First Time Home Buyer $8000 Tax Credit Commercial

Since the advent of the credit crunch, two odd years ago, the home loan indusrty has lived through the most dire period in it’s history. The once buoyant secured loan industry has been brought to it’s knees. Many secured loan lenders have withdrawn completely from the homeowner loan market, and it is unlikely if any of them will resurrect in the near futiure or at all. A large percentage of secured loan, mortgage and remortgage brokers have closed their doors. Some of the more fortunate of these homeowner loan brokers have reinvented themselves and reopened as letting agents. The rented property market’s recent growth is a sign of the chaos in the home loan sector with many people who would previously have bought their property being forced to rent instead.

This has been caused by the tightening up of underwriting criteria and the success rate of mortgage applications has been decimated. Many individuals who would have been accepted for a mortgage in the past are now surprised to frequently see their application being declined.First time buyers have been hard hit by the mortgage turmoil, and this is due to a large extent by mortgage lenders now requiring a 25% tp 30% deposit from first time buyers. This means that even if a first time buyer wants to purchase a relatively cheap property of £100,000, a £25,000 deposit or even more would be required, and not many people have this amount lying in their bank account. Compound this with legal fees, survey fees etc., and a sum close on £30,000 would be needed to buy your first home.

Interest rates for mortgages and remortgages seem to change in an almost daily basis, with one week fixed rates mortgages and remortgages being very favourable , and then the following week the rates rise, and standard variable rates become more attractive, and so on and so forth.

HSBC has just introduced what appears to be and “appears” I feel is the operative word, an amazingly low rate mortgage and remortgage rate of 1.9%. This is however a discounted variable rate for two years, but the rate could of course rise at any time. Also the maximum loan to value is 60% which rules out a large percentage of people from being eligible. The worse feature of this mortgage/remortgage plan to me is that there is a £1,119 unrefundable booking fee, and yes I did say non refundable. This means that with the current economic climate, a good percentage of those applying will be declined and will simply lose the sizeable sum of £1,199. Another bad undesirable feature with this mortgage is that there are no free legal or surveys fees. Therefore all considered, this so called low rate is at the end of the day not as desirable as it appears at first sight. Again it is a sign of the continuing turmoil in the home loan sector.

http:/www.championfinance.com

What the new year and new decade will hold for housing market

Every year at this time, I peer into my crystal ball and attempt to determine the future of housing for the new year, if not the new decade.

Q&A on the latest about the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

Question: does my husband have a right to the child tax credit money i get?

Hi, my hubby works full time and earns enough, he pays the mortgage,bills, council tax, everything apart from the shopping, the kids clothes and shoes and my own personal shopping, i don’t take any money off him nor does he give me anything, he gets working tax and i get the kids child benefit and child tax credits for 3 children, he has started to argue that i should pay towards some of the bills and that he has some right over that money , fine he pays all the bills but i pay for my own keep and the childrens need and the household food shopping, please tell me who is right or wrong and what should be done, many thanks
sapphire

Answer: Greedy tosser isn’t he. No real Man should argue over money when it comes to family. tell him he’s a greedy sshit from me.

Unemployment fraud buster retires in a flurry

When Vince Iturbe retired just before Christmas after 34 years as a state benefit payment control expert, he did so knowing his staff had caught hundreds of unemployment scam artists and returned millions of dollars to state coffers.

Hypocrisy: McCain Voted AGAINST Bush Tax Cuts 4/11/2004

Question: Do t-mobile give t-mobile gift checks to their employee’s as a bonus? scam or no scam

so recently i was searching for a sidekick 2008 on craigslist.com. I found some one who sells them at a reasonble price but there is a catch. This is what she sent me in a email..”i work for tmobile..so what i do is add credit on to ur acct of 350 with my tmobile gift check that i get as bonuses..once i add the 350 whichs pay for the phone tax and express shipping..once the credit is in and u verify it you call tmobile to order the phone….they give u a order number..so u wont think im scamming you….u pay me when u verify the credit and the phone is ordered”. and the onle thing she need is my phone number. you tell me what you think of this??

Answer: It’s possible but I wouldn’t trust it. I received the SAME exact email from somebody that I was gonna buy a t-mobile phone from so it’s likely a scam. I do know people that can do this though..

Michigan continues tax credit for donated vehicles

Michigan motorists who donate vehicles to charities can continue claiming a state tax credit.

Salt Lake City Deserves Clean Air

Question: Are you eligible for the 1st time homebuyer tax credit if you purchase from estate of relative?

I am going to buy the home of my deceased grandmother that is currently owned by her estate. I am not a beneficiary of the estate, but the executors are my mother and aunt. I have read that you are not eligible for the $8000 tax credit if you buy a home from a close relative, but don’t know if my situation qualifies. Have any of you tax/real estate gurus out there come across this situation? I do plan on contacting the IRS to get their opinion beforehand but wanted to see if anyone had any real life experience with this. Thanks.

Answer: o my knowledge the IRS has not ruled on this specific issue. If you can prove that you bought the home at Fair Market Value and the opportunity to purchase the home was open to others I would take the credit and let the IRS tell you otherwise.

JER Investors Trust Inc. Provides Company Update and 2009 Annual Statement of Affairs

read more

Can you use the 8000 tax credit toward your closing costs with regard to real estate?