The tax credit allowed first time home buyers purchasing their primary residence to receive a tax credit of up to $8,000. With the expiration of the program many feared that home sales would declined and a market recovery would be further delayed.

Initial reports are that the Senate has not only approved an extension of the first time home buyer tax credit, but an expansion that would allow current home owners to also be eligible for a tax credit on a new home florida purchase as well!

Sources within the Senate have indicated that there is a preliminary agreement to extend the so called “first time home buyer tax credit” until the end of April 2010. In addition they intend to expand the program to include a tax credit of up to $6,500 for home buyers that already own a home. The senate sources indicated that one requirement on current homeowners looking to buy a new home and get the $6,500 credit is that they must have lived in their primary residence for the last five years.

It appears they will attempt to attach this new home buyer tax credit extension to the unemployment extension bill. It’s still unclear as to when the extension will come up for a vote, but this initial report is incredibly positive news for the housing market.

Thousands of families have already been able to purchase a home and take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit. This five month extension and expansion will allow countless thousands more to take advantage of it as well.

One point of frustration for many home owners is not being able to access the tax credit early and use it as part of the down payment on their purchase. While HUD has approved the use of the tax credit as down payment, lenders as we have seen all too often, have not gotten on board with it and widely ban the use of the tax credit for down payment. Third parties had been advancing borrowers money to use as down payment in some reported cases. This is still not widely accepted by lenders and borrowers have had to wait until tax time to receive their credit.

If you have been in the market to buy a home it looks like you will have until the end of April to get a Government check to do so!

This program has been a huge advantage to first time home buyers (technically classified as anyone not having owned a home in the last three years) that had previously been on the fence wondering when the market was going to hit bottom.

With the recent Federal Reserve Treasury Secretaries announcement that the recession is finally over, we think it’s wise to point out that this market has probably reached it’s bottom. There has been over a year for investors and first time home buyers to soak up some of the rock bottom priced foreclosed homes on the market. New construction has not even played a factor in the housing market since late 2007.

Now this excellent incentive is ending as of December 1st of 2009. Since economic indicators are beginning to look favorable it is not likely that this program will be extended past the December deadline.

This means that any first time home buyer looking to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit must close on their home prior to December 1st. Since it can take up to 30 days for the finance process on conforming and Government loan programs, that means anyone looking to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit needs to be under contract by November 1st of 2009. That is only six weeks from now!

If you have been on the fence. If you have been waiting for home prices to come down. If you have been waiting for interest rates to fall to a certain price to jump into the market… we STRONGLY urge you to act quickly so that you can claim your $8000 tax credit this year! Time is running out very quickly.

Mortgage rates are still VERY low, below 5% today. If you have been considering purchasing a home in the near future or know someone who has, please have them call or apply online so that we can get them pre-qualified as quickly as possible and ensure they get their $8000 tax credit.

Many states have found ways to use the $8000 tax credit as a downpayment, but Florida is not one of those states. Lenders in Florida are not currently allowing the $8000 tax credit to be used as downpayment, however a gift from family, friends, and work are still allowed. In addition all programs allow the seller to contribute to your closing costs!

Obtaining a Florida conventional or Florida Government loan requires a 620 middle score, two years of employment in the same line of work, and documented income sufficient to cover your mortgage and other expenses monthly. If you meet these basic guidelines you are on your way to being approved to purchase a home and receive your $8000 tax credit. In order to determine how much of a home you qualify for we must look at your total income versus your total debt obligations. With those two figures we can calculate how much of a home you can qualify for so that you can get under contract by October 1st.

This is an extremely rare Government program that we don’t expect to see again in the near future. We hope that anyone that is prepared and was looking to buy soon will act quickly and ensure that they receive their $8000 tax credit this year as well as a low priced home with a low fixed interest rate!