Scott Cowan, a Realtor with Keller Williams and a blogger at ClassicHomesNorthwest.com wrote a great post about taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. If you’re not ready, or you just can’t find the house you want, disregard the urgency of this message. But if you’ve seen lots of places that could work for you and you’re committed to taking advantage of the credit- pay close attention:
If you have not had an offer accepted by a seller by the end of this week October 18th. 2009 the chances of you closing on time to receive the tax credit are just about nil. If you do not have your financing in place the first thing you must do is to call a lender MONDAY OCTOBER 12th. and get them all of the information they need ASAP so that they can tell you if you are qualified to buy a home and how much you are qualified. If you are going to try to use USDA financing you are most likely out of luck as the USDA loans take longer than 45 days to close. VA buyers you are really, really cutting it close as you will need the VA appraisal to be taken care of quickly and they are running upwards of 3 weeks now.
He goes on to give time frames for different transactions which are pretty spot on. Remember to check with your own lender as closing times vary from place to place. My experience with bank owned properties is that they have been pretty cooperative with getting a deal closed in 30 days- the only trick is getting it signed around in less than a week.
For a refresher on how the tax credit works watch this video.
