Tax Credit Extended – Sort Of

Oops! You missed the June 30 deadline to close on the purchase of your new home and lost the federal home buyer tax credit. It wasn’t your fault, right? You had a contract in place by April 30, as required and you did everything you were supposed to. But the appraisal took too long, the bank kept messing up the paperwork, or the seller got cold feet. Don’t fret – you got an extension.

Source: National Association of Home Builders

The government extended the deadline to close deals to September 30. So breathe! You still have to have had a contract in place by April 30. This will only affect a very small number of people, but for those who met the April 30 contract deadline but missed the June 30 close deadline, this is a huge relief.

This is not likely to affect the broader market and it isn’t clear yet just how this will affect the real estate markets in Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon and the rest of the Tri-Valley. Some neighborhoods are seeing somewhat reduced demand while others are still going strong.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “With no new tax incentives, the market is already feeling the pain. A pending home sales index tracked by the National Association of Realtors plummeted a steep 30% in May. No longer spurred on by the credit incentive, potential home buyers seem to have pulled themselves out of the market. “

The local market is doing much better, and many neighborhoods have not seen a significant drop off of demand. We’ll know better in the next couple of months.