Homebuyers rush to take advantage of federal tax credit
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The federal tax credit available to qualified homebuyers has the phone ringing more often these days at the Temple office of Arnold Property Inspections.
For more information about the home buyer tax credit, the National Association of Home Builders provides answers to frequently asked questions about the home buyer tax credit at FederalHousingTaxCredit.com.
For information on whether RVs or travel trailers qualify for a tax credit, the IRS has detailed information and answers to these questions at IRS.gov.
Under the
program, first-time homebuyers can receive up to $8,000 in tax credit. Repeat homebuyers, who have lived in their current home for five consecutive years, qualify for a $6,500 tax credit.
According to Office Manager Audrey Arnold, this time of year is usually when things start to slow down, but not this time around.
"We've seen our business almost double," Arnold said. "It's been a 90-percent, to some cases, 100-percent increase."
Records show that last April, the business was conducting 15 to 17 inspections a week. That number has increased from to 25 to 30 inspections a week this year.
"It started in February, and it's just been impacting us really positively all the way through," she said.
The demand for inspections has gone up so much, the business has had to hire an extra inspector.
"It was a necessity, and now we're wondering if we don't need to go ahead and look for another inspector, but we're going to wait until the first-time homebuyers credit is over with," she said.
With a little more than two and a half weeks until the deadline, realtor Margaret Pleasant has seen her days become a little more hectic.
"Showing houses every single day, getting home kind of late," she said.
More and more people are attempting to beat the April 30 deadline to find the perfect home.
"People are just trying to get in and take advantage of it, more than anything," Pleasant said.
This is not the first time the program was scheduled to expire. Initially, the homebuyer tax credit was supposed to end in Nov. 2009.
Arnold said the impact to their business then was less noticeable.
"We really didn't see the rush, I mean people literally calling to get it in before April 30, like we have this time."
Even with a date hanging over buyers' heads, Pleasant said these prospective homeowners are not interested in purchasing just any home.
"We're showing more homes instead of showing two or three like we normally do," she said. "We're showing more because there's so many homes out there and the buyer knows he can get a good buy right now."
It’s an incentive that’s working, at least in Austin.
"I've seen my clients really receive that money and take advantage of it, and purchase the things, or put it back for one of the house payments," Pleasant said.
According to the IRS, homebuyers who enter into a binding contract by April 30, and close on a home by June 30 will still be eligible for the tax credit.