YES…..! 

Congress voted yesterday to extend the tax credit deadline through 9/30/10, great news for home buyers who have been struggling to close escrow on a property as the previous deadline expired 6/30/10. 

Prior to the extension, the guidelines to take advantage of the $8,000 first time home buyer credit or the credit of $6,500 for previous homeowners purchasing a new primary residence required them to be in contract on a property before 4/30/10 and close escrow before 6/30/10.  This left home buyers only 60 days to close escrow, a small window of opportunity especially for a buyer purchasing a short sale property. 

The high volume of short sales the lenders are processing gave home buyers seeking this credit a very tough deadline to gain short sale approval and close escrow before the end of June.  To clarify, this tax credit extension would still require the home buyer to be under contract prior to the 4/30/10 deadline.  This extension simply gives them an additional 90 days to close escrow which can be very helpful for both buyers and sellers who are still waiting to receive short sale approval on a property.

Related posts:

1. “NEW” Homebuyer Tax Credit extension and additions – formerly the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
2. Short sales and your credit
3. Short Sales and Your Credit
4. Stop Your Foreclosure With Short Sale
5. Property Tax Appraisal