|
Tax Credit
Procrastination
A Bird in the Hand
There has been a lot of news lately about legislation
concerning the $8000 tax credit for First Time Home Buyers.
You may be thinking that you might get a better deal or a
bigger tax credit if you wait to purchase a home. The problem
is, if you wait too long, you might not get anything at
all.
Although there are a handful of bills and a lot of effort aimed
at extending the existing tax credit for home buyers or to
create brand new incentives, the truth is that Washington moves
very slowly. Sometimes things come to a complete stop.
Take advantage of what we know you can get and not what you
hope to see come out of Congress.
That’s the message I’m getting from NAR analysts. The issue
isn’t the tax credit itself. From everything we’re seeing, the
credit enjoys broad bipartisan support and, as our chief
economist Lawrence Yun has said, the credit is a bargain when
it comes to economic stimulus. You get a lot of bang for the
buck, and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of lawmakers
realize that. Certainly Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) does. He’s
the lead sponsor of a bill to extend and increase the credit,
and he’s been a champion on what the credit can do for the
economy.
The problem, rather, is far more prosaic. It’s an issue of
timing-even workload. Congressional leaders in both houses are
determined to get something out this summer on health care
reform. That’s a huge undertaking. There are five major bills
in the works and all of those approaches must be merged somehow
into a single bill. What’s more, different pieces of different
bills are under different committee jurisdictions. It’s a
tangled web that Congress weaves!
The good news on health care reform is that lawmakers generally
recognize the need to help small business owners and the
self-employed. That’s something else I’m hearing from NAR
analysts. So, there’s reason to be optimistic that whatever
comes out of Congress will recognize the tough conditions faced
by REALTORS®.
But the downside is the precious little time this process
leaves for other matters.
Bottom line: With Congress, you never know what’s going to
happen. Sometimes legislation moves at a glacial pace; other
times it gets turned around in an instant. It’s impossible to
know beforehand what legislation might get put on a fast track.
But, if you let your customers know about the uncertain
prospects for any legislation, not just the tax credit
legislation, they can make their own informed choice. Certainly
they’ll appreciate that you let them know the potential
consequences of waiting.
People who drug their feet on the Utah $6,000 Grant were very
disappointed the funds disappeared and they missed out.
When it comes to the tax credit, a bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush. If you hold out in the hopes of getting a
richer credit, you could see your chance of getting any credit
disappear.
by Linda Bills - 07-14-2009
Back
to Top
###
Source: http://real-estate-salt-lake-city.com/
| 
