The President of the Washington Realtors, Greg Wright just shared this interesting article on Facebook. I know, he’s so hip!
Answering criticisms that all of the relief for the housing and economic crisis have been targeted at big banks and other large corporations, lawmakers are working on a bill that would make it possible for buyers to apply their $8,000 tax credit to their downpayment.
The proposal would make a federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers go farther by allowing it to be put toward the actual home purchase. A provision of the federal stimulus package offers a credit of up to $8,000 to buyers who haven’t owned a home in the past three years — buyers must also have incomes of no more than $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for a married couple to qualify — but it’s a refundable credit. In other words, you don’t get the money until weeks or months after the home purchase has closed.
A budget proviso authored by the state Treasurer’s Office and pushed by Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens) and the state Realtors would set up a mechanism to get the tax-credit money to buyers at closing, removing the lack of a sufficient down payment as an obstacle.
This is really exciting news. The article goes on to talk about how the state will be ensuring that they get their money- but I thought this was interesting:
The state Realtors would put up $400,000 as security against unforeseen losses.
Now I know why my Realtor Dues are so high. Ah well, that’s a good use for them!
