Deadline to Close Extended on First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit…
As many of you may know, the deadline to close in compliance with the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was extended through 9/30/2010 on July 2nd 2010 when President Obama signed the bill. There has been a lot of confusion floating around and I wanted to set a few things straight.
The primary being:
If you are not currently under contract that is dated prior to 4/30/2010 this extenstion means nothing to you.
Statistics from the National Association of Realtors claim that nearly 180,000 homebuyers will be affected by this extension providing more time to close and relieving the stress placed upon Title & Escrow companies across the nation.
The leading culprit to delayed closings is the ever present Short Sale. A short sale (with relation to real estate) is defined as the sale of a property in which the proceeds do not cover the liabilities against the property. In most cases, lien and mortgage holders on the property are asked to take a reduced amount to settle the debts often being less expensive for the banks to resolve the issue than foreclosure.
Short Sales can take up to 3-6 months to complete, although our average is around 90 days on most traditional 1 or 2 mortgage properties.
I can imagine there are some very relieved agents out there with the passing of this extension…
