After two weeks of delay, The Senate voted to pass a seven month extension and expansion of the tax credit for homebuyers. The legislation should reach President Obama for his signature this week.

The current homebuyer tax credit is scheduled to expire on November 30th. This new bill would extend it until April 30th of 2010. First-time buyers who are in the process of making a purchase will still qualify for the $8000 tax credit even if they close after the November 30th deadline.

The expanded tax credit will allow more people to qualify for the credit. Move-up buyers do not have to sell their current homes to qualify, but the money must be used to buy a primary residence, not a vacation home.

The new legislation included provisions to address complaints of fraud. The IRS is given greater authority to oversee the the process to root out fraud, and provisions are added in response to past abuses of false sales or underage buyers.

The new legislation should continue to fire up the housing market and continue to bring new buyers into this fast-paced market.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Buyers, First-Time Buyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.