First Time Homebuyers tax credit and Previous Home Owner tax credit FIRST TIME HOMEBUYERS tax credit: (cash in your hand) * * * Previous Home Owner tax credit: (cash in your hand) The government's effort to help people buy homes seems to be working. What's not being emphasized is that it is ending very soon and anyone eligible needs to act now. First Time Home buyers (Anyone who has NOT owned a home in the last 3 years - even if you owned homes before) and Previous Home Owners (anyone who has owned their home for at least 5 of the last 8 years) both qualify for thousands of dollars in tax credits (a direct cash benefit) of up to $8000.00. The catch is you must be in contract by April 30th of this year and you must close on the property by June 30th. To put it in perspective anyone who needs to sell their home, buy another one and still qualify for the tax credit must get their house listed NOW. Buyers should be actively looking and should have already made arrangements with their mortgage company to have the loan in place. My three favorite mortgage programs right now are FHA, USDA and VA. All three types of government back loans allow for Seller concessions (where the Buyer's closing costs are contributed on the Sellers' side of the closing); FHA then only requires 3.5% down payment (often the equivalent of the tax credit); USDA is a 100% loan (so it is possible for a Buyer to get into a home with NO OUT OF POCKET cost) and VA which is also a 100% loan guarantee for Veterans (and also possible NO OUT OF POCKET costs). Time is running out. If you know ANYONE who has expressed any interest in buying a home or selling their existing home send me their name and number. I'll follow up with them and make sure they don't miss out