Danielle Lazier

Carpe Diem – How to get up to $18,000 in State and Federal Tax Credits for Buying a Home in San Francisco

Carpe Diem – How to get up to $18,000 in State and Federal Tax Credits for Buying a Home in San Francisco

For a very limited time, certain San Francisco first time home buyers will benefit from up to $18,000 in tax credits. Not a first time buyer? You may still be eligible for up to $16,500 in combined tax credits.

The deal is that you need to be in escrow by the end of April 2010 and close escrow by the end of June 2010. Three weeks doesn’t sound like a lot of time, does it? Yes and no. For those of you who are serious about buying a home, three weeks is enough time to catch up on the existing homes for sale and zero in on the right home for you. (It helps to work with energetic and responsive San Francisco real estate agents who will help you narrow down your search to the best homes meeting your criteria and then help you see them quickly. Yes, like us. Duh.)

Of course, the timing needs to be right for you and your situation. A tax credit alone does not mean you should buy a home! If it makes more sense to wait, then wait. But if you’ve been procrastinating and have been afraid to pull the trigger and make an offer on a house in San Francisco, maybe this extra dough in your pocket is just the incentive you need.

Zephyr Real Estate and our amazing new SF real estate website has been promoting this golden ticket opportunity but we’re not along. Check out the SFGate article on San Francisco Bay Area home buying, “Good timing could reap double tax credits.”

“Getting both: Both credits require you to buy the home as your primary residence. Both define a first-time buyer as someone who has not owned a home in the three years prior to purchase. In short, to get both credits you must be in contract on or before April 30 and close between May 1 and June 30 – and meet all other requirements.” Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/01/BU9G1CNTVN.DTL#ixzz0kiWPYQwZ

Just want the facts?

Courtesy of May Montana* and all of the great mortgage brokers at Guarantee Mortgage, here is a Matrix explaining the 2010 Home Buyer Tax Credits:

2010 Home Buyer Tax Credit Matrix – PDF File

More info:

1 Bedroom 1 Bath Condo with Parking For Sale Mission Dolores

• Dolores Plaza 1 Bedroom Mission Dolores Condo for Sale -
  • FHA-Approved for 3.5% Down Payment AND
  • Union Bank – Approved for 10% Down Payment with NO mortgage insurance and great interest rates.
• Federal and California Home Buyer Tax Credit and other reasons it may be the right time to buy a home in SF.

* May Montana is an excellent mortgage adviser. Check out our other recommended lenders and San Francisco mortgage brokers. Why do we recommend them? Because we know they are experienced, trustworthy, reliable, competitive with rates and fees… We have NO financial relationship with mortgage brokers. That would be illegal, unethical and totally not worth it. We just like working with these folks and know you will too!

Tags: CA Tax credit, Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit, home buyer tax credit

California Home Buyer Tax Credit, Assembly Bill 193, Signed Into Law by Governor Schwarzenegger

Today, the Governator or Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 183, the Home buyer Tax Credit legislation, into law.

More details to come but here are the basics:

• First Time Home Buyer Program
• Must buy a principal residence, i.e a home to live in and owner-occupy.
• Must live in the residence for the next 2 years at least.
• Tax Credit is the lesser of either 5% of purchase price or $10,000
  • Credit given in equal installments over 3 years.
• Must close escrow between May 1st 2010 and December 31st, 2010 OR enter into contract before December 31st, 2010 and close escrow by August 1, 2011.
  • In other words, you need to be in escrow in 2010 to qualify.
• This time around, the home buyer tax credit is for either new construction or the resale of existing homes.
• Warning: The state’s previous home buyer tax credit program was so successful that it ran out of tax credits by the end of June 2009, eight months before it was set to expire.

From the California Association of Realtors, “AB 183, formerly SB 4 of the sixth extraordinary session (Ashburn), is part of a package of four bills, passed at the request of the Governor, designed to help stimulate the economy and create jobs.  The bill allocates $100 million for qualified first time home buyers of existing homes and $100 million for purchasers of new, or previously unoccupied, homes. The eligible taxpayer who closes escrow on a qualified principal residence between May 1, 2010 and December, 31, 2010, or who closes escrow on a qualified principal residence on and after December 31, 2010 and before August 1, 2011, pursuant to an enforceable contract executed on or before December 31, 2010, will be able to take the allowed tax credit. This credit is equal to the lesser of 5% of the purchase price or $10,000, taken in equal installments over three consecutive years. Under AB 183 purchasers will be required to live in the home as their principal residence for at least two years or forfeit the credit (i.e. repay it to the state).”

Tags: AB183, CA Tax credit, home buyer tax credit