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15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

Good.  To a certain extent I'm glad they killed it.  You aren't really inticing people to buy a house by giving them 15k.  You're just giving them money.  This bill was a slap in the face for people who already have houses and are busting our butts every day to pay our mortgages.  We've got the same struggles to pay our bills.  We could use $15k to help with our mortgages too.  We did just as much to earn a $15k tax credit.  How would you feel if you knew you were living next to somebody who has the same comparable home to yours and paid $15k less not because the house price was down but because tax dollars that you helped pay we just handed to them.

 

Now all that being said I have no problem with a government loan with no interest for people buying now to help them get into the market.  I just don't like the idea of free money, especially when they had to do nothing for it, when at least part of that money came from my pocket.  If they want to give $15k out to people buying houses then they need to do something like letting people in houses already write off up to $15k of the loss in value that their homes have taken since they bought it.  BTW, I'm lucky and haven't lost value below what I bought at but at least this is a fair deal for new buyers and existing owners I can live with.

Message 11 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

I'm going to try and remain civil in my response.

 

A $15,000 tax credit may not be a motivating factor for all home buyers, but to say $15k wouldn't act as an incentive to potential home buyers betrays a complete lack of economic understanding.

 

You feel you 'deserve' a tax credit? For what? Did you buy your house in a very risky declining market? Did you buy your house during a period of very high unemployment? Why should you be given a credit retroactively, when you already made up your mind to buy a house? The people taking advantage of this credit will help put a floor under declining house prices by buying now, instead of when it's safer. This will help stabilize the economy.

 

As for fairness, think of all the poor renters out there who don't get the deductions you do as a homeowner. How do you think they feel about you benefitting off their backs? 

 

Stop celebrating other peoples misfortune. 

Message 12 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(


@Anonymous wrote:

How would you feel if you knew you were living next to somebody who has the same comparable home to yours and paid $15k less not because the house price was down but because tax dollars that you helped pay we just handed to them.



I dunno ... considering the alternative? Having the house next to you continue to stay on the market and continue to decline in value (therefore making YOUR property value sink further and further into the toilet)?

 

Considering that the house next door to us has been on the market for about 6 months, has been vandalized (and this is a GREAT neighborhood) and stripped and is pulling down our property value, I'd be thrilled if someone bought it -- even if it required some of *my* taxes going into the buyer's pocket. I just want the fricking thing bought.

 

While we *did* just close on our home, the reason we were able to get
it at such a steal is *because* of that house. That house contributed
to a $100K decline in the area.

 

Hell, *I'LL* give them $15K, just so's my value doesn't plumment any further. It's fallen $18K since we closed (according to Zillow) last MONTH.

 

But bottom line: I do think that buyers in this economy need incentives (any incentives we can give them) to buy. Everyone I know has uber job security (Fed Gov employees -- you have to REALLY screw up to lose your job) and even THEY are scared crapless about the economy. Anyone (and I'm d@mned proud of us for being one of those people) who's willing to risk buying a house in this crappy economy deserves a pat on the back.

 

Every freaking day I wake up and wonder if we made a huge mistake. Whether we should have waited just a l-i-t-t-t-t-l-e bit longer. That kind of reluctance = continuing property value declination to you.

 

So I don't see the $15K as being an incentive, per se ... but I sure as heck see it as being a much-deserved reward. My two cents.

 

And BTW, we're just getting the $7500 interest free loan. I didn't just "lose out" on the $15K credit.

Message 13 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(


@Anonymous wrote:

I'm going to try and remain civil in my response.

 

A $15,000 tax credit may not be a motivating factor for all home buyers, but to say $15k wouldn't act as an incentive to potential home buyers betrays a complete lack of economic understanding.

 

+1!

 

You feel you 'deserve' a tax credit? For what? Did you buy your house in a very risky declining market? Did you buy your house during a period of very high unemployment? Why should you be given a credit retroactively, when you already made up your mind to buy a house? The people taking advantage of this credit will help put a floor under declining house prices by buying now, instead of when it's safer. This will help stabilize the economy.

 

+2!!

 

As for fairness, think of all the poor renters out there who don't get the deductions you do as a homeowner. How do you think they feel about you benefitting off their backs? 

 

+3!!

 

Yup. I've been paying taxes for years so homeowners could continue to take their tax breaks for ownership. Thanks for saying this -- you said it oodles better than I ever could!!

 

Stop celebrating other peoples misfortune. 

 

I really don't think anyone's celebrating anyone else's misfortune. I think it's just a matter of wanting the same breaks as anyone else. I mean, who **couldn't** use a $15K "discount" off their taxes?!




As always, LoanSeeker, AWESOME post.

I just wish I could give you a gazillion "kudos!!" Smiley Happy
Message 14 of 42
SanDiegoEngineer
Regular Contributor

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

The truth of the matter is that the Senate's version of the tax credit (15K, all homebuyers, non-repayable) really wasn't going to be an effective stimulus (though I certainly wouldn't have let that interfere with taking it myself).

 

Most of those who would qualify were probably going to buy a house anyway.  Yes, it would have gotten some people off the fence, but of those who would have been eligible and claimed the credit, I suspect it would have been a small minority.  I know that, while I was hoping (for purely selfish reasons) that the 15K credit stayed in the bill, neither it nor the $7500 credit was going to be a decisive factor as to whether I bought a home this year.  For those who were going to buy anyway, it would just have represented a windfall - and windfalls generally don't get spent dollar for dollar (especially in times like these, the majority of the credit would probably just go right into the bank to shore up the rainy day fund just depleted by the down payment, which means it wouldn't help stimulate the economy at all).  Sure, some of that money would get spent, which would act like a stimulus, but much of it would not.

 

Moreover, targetting it at first time buyers makes more sense, stimulus wise - one problem with the housing market is simply too many houses on the market (overall, and including the hidden inventory - it's no good simply having 6 months supply on the MLS when you know there's another 6 months sitting in the wings in bank portfolios already that simply hasn't made it to market).  First time buyers can eat up that stock.  Someone with an existing house is simply going to exchange one house for another on the market.

 

Other forms of stimulus come much closer to getting a dollars worth of effect in the market for a dollar spent.  For instance, providing more funds to build/maintain transportation (building highways, retrofitting bridges, etc) is a very effective economic stimulus.  Almost all of the dollars allocated to that type of a project will wind up immediately back in the economy as either wages for the construction workers or materials for the projects, and it's targetted at a industry that is in severe recession with probably the largest amount of layoffs.

 

Of course, again, for purely selfish reasons, I'd rather have had the 15K, but it's understandable why it's going away in favor of other things.

Message Edited by SanDiegoEngineer on 02-11-2009 04:01 PM
Message 15 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

I'm with Briandor on this. And yes, I bought a house in a declining market. And yes, I bought a house in a period filled with unemployment. And I paid rent for 15 years in ridicoulous markets like Santa Monica and New York City, which also have insanely high sales and income taxes.

 

I do not believe giving people $15k at the cost of $40 billion of taxpayers money is the right answer. I disagree less with giving people a tax-free, interest-free loan, or offering other homebuying incentives, but $15k of free money will not spur the economy any more than a $500 temp tax credit that would cost more to implement than it would help in the long run.

 

Everyone needs a tax cut, not some temp $500 tax cut or $15k of free money to a limited resource. I'll keep paying my mortgage regardless.

Message 16 of 42
rivernh
Contributor

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

I'm under contract for a house, and its only natural I would be happy to have a 15K tax credit. I may or may not get a tax credit in this purchase at all. (I'm not income eligible for the 7.5K previous credit)

 

Sure, I would like the credit, but in all honesty....the point of this isn't to help any individual homebuyer. Its an economic stimulus.  Its designed to help shore up the slumping home market, and stimulate spending by new homeowners.   I will be much more likely to immediately invest in some home improvements instead of waiting for a couple years.  If I do get it, I'm likely to hire a contractor to redo a bathroom.  If several homeowners do the same thing, that contractor is likely to hire an extra guy to help him, and both of them will be paying more in taxes and spending more.  Their spending will filter on through the marketplace. 

 

I really hope I get this.  But I might get shut out....but it doesn't mean I think its a bad thing.  I would think it was an excellent idea no matter what my status of home buying was.

Message 17 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

like i said before,

 

I am buying  a foreclosure , close next week. Instead of 15k going back into the economy (work on house) only 7500 will be. Im not complaining but all im saying is it would have been going right back out. 

 

Message 18 of 42
granny031350
Established Contributor

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

A proposed $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers was reduced to $8,000, Baucus said.
Message 19 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 15000 tax credit for homebuyers wiped out in compromise :(

Honestly, it's housing that needs to be addressed in a stimulus.  They're trying to treat the symptoms instead of the root cause.  I don't know what these clowns are doing.  With all the pork they have in this bill, they couldn't afford $30 or $40 billion to increase buying activity and increase home values?  They even cut Obama's $500 a year tax credit to $400... not that $8 a week extra in one's paycheck is really going to help out that much... but come on, where's the stimulus money going?  Obviously not to anything constructive, like stimulating economic growth.
Message 20 of 42
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