No, really..we’re serious! SIKE!
For some time now, NAR and the government have been screaming and yelling, “You’d better hurry up and buy a house before the tax credit expires Nov 30!” Yet, before the deadline even hit, the tax credit was extended and expanded.
You know what this says to all the folks who jumped through hoops to buy and settle on a home before Nov 30? “SUCKERS!!!”
I’ve had buyers take vacation and sick leave and sneak out of work early to preview properties just so they could get into a house before November 30. They saved every last penny for a down payment and money to fix up the property and call it their new home. They were stressed out and frustrated because they felt the clock ticking and November 30 approaching quickly.
But now, they realize that they could have waited…
…and saved vacation and sick leave for an actual vacation or when they’re really sick. They could have gone out for dinner or to a movie all those times they didn’t because they now have an extra 4 months to save money. They could have saved themselves from all the stress involved with rushing to find and buy a home by November 30.
From where I come from, it goes a little something like this, “Let the early birds/adopters reap the greatest benefits because they were the first to react and took the biggest risk in doing so. Those who waited to see what happened took on much less risk and therefore, should reap fewer benefits.”
But that’s not the case here. Those who waited and didn’t jump to make the November 30 deadline will get the exact same amount of tax credit as those who jumped through hoops to get in before November 30. That just doesn’t seem fair.
Adding insult to injury
And to add insult to injury, many of the folks who recently bought their first home, but could not get the tax credit because their incomes were above the limits as the guidelines originally stood would qualify under the new, higher income limit guidelines.
If the tax credit keeps getting better, why would anyone jump on the tax credit now? The government is rewarding those who do not buy and wait until the “extended” tax credit comes out (again) rather than those who already did. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of the tax credit in the first place – to stimulate the housing market by enticing people to buy now rather than wait until…?
What should have happened?
If they kept the tax credit going (whether they should have or not is a totally different discussion), they should have waited until after November 30 to come out with the news and should have significantly decreased the amount of the tax credit and kept the income limits the same, if not lower them. This would reward the people who jumped through hoops through November 30 and shown the ones who didn’t, “See… When we say you had better take advantage of something before the deadline, we mean it!”
But I guess that makes too much sense and is way too fair…
