Senator wants to sweeten home buyer tax credit

I think it's unfair to call us greedy for wanting this credit to be extended another year and to include all home buyers.

Some say they did it the right way and without a tax credit X amount of years ago. Well, so did we. And we stayed out of debt. Kept our home. Now our home is worth $40,000 less on the market.

We need to sell our home due to hell problems I am having. I can't handle the stairs anymore. Although we stayed out of debt and are doing ok today, we weren't able to save while raising 4 children. Part of our American Dream was that our house would appreciate in value so when we sold we would have a good down payment on our next home. Not true anymore.

Now people are having to lower their prices down to the rates of the short sale houses or sold as is houses to get them sold. Often the sellers are losing money after investing money to fix up those homes to sell them.

First time buyers averagely are able to get a loan of what? around $225k – $235k – often less. This is causing first time buyers to buy homes in pretty bad shape. What happens when things start breaking down? First time buying ate up all their savings? Do we want them to end up so badly in debt they end up losing their homes causing further crisis? The tax credit is helping some of these issues from happening.

Now we need to extend it to all home buyers to be fair. They paid taxes too.

To the person who said they could use a million and sell their house to their brother etc and then back – think again – you can only get one credit. Spend more time thinking and less time living in ignorance.

Why should all home buyers get the credit? Think about it. We are drastically bringing down the value of homes the way the tax credit exists. Those wanting to sell their homes or to even refinance are losing options because now their homes aren't worth squat due to the short sales and those lowering their prices to sell to the first time buyers. Those who have had a home and held a home for years deserve a break too. If we sell we will lose a large amount of money on our homes. Yet we have proven we can keep a home without debt. Without losing our homes. Why wouldn't we want to promote sales to them and increase home sales further up in market value?

At present if I sell my home at a price someone will buy it I will lose money on the deal and not have a down payment. If I don't sell my house I will suffer in pain traveling up and down the stairs.

We're not beggars asking for hand outs. We are people who lived the American Dream. Bought our first home. Expected it to be a step up in the right direction. Why should just the first time buyers get incentives? We need to increase and expand home sales. And we are not greedy to ask that some of our tax money get used for some good to help people. We give tax money constantly – why shouldn't some of it be given back in bad times?

There was a time when there wasn't any tax in America. We gave when it was needed. Let America help us now in our time of need.

I'll share my personal story… and hopefully it will help to illuminate the fact that there are plenty of people out there who are getting bitten by this crappy economy, not because of poor decisions, but simply in the name of trying to move forward with their lives.

I'm the guy who should be moving up to a bigger, better home – but instead, I'm bringing a huge check to the closing of my condo because I chose to accept a job offer that took me and my family from Chicago to the west coast.

Here's the deal. My wife and I both put ourselves through college. We met in college, and started our marriage off supporting each other through graduate school. We both have good incomes and purchased a condo that was well within our means (mortgage is 1/4 of our monthly income as recommended by most financial gurus).

Here's the deal… A few months ago, I got a job offer from the most prestigious employer in my industry. It was a job I had been gunning for for years… and it was 2000 miles away.

Condo to sell in the worst housing crisis since the depression.

New baby just turning 6 months

No job leads for my wife in this new location (fortunately she just got a good offer)

….I took it.

It was an insane decision, but living with the regret of turning down my dream gig would have been a far worse reality.

Needless to say, even though we put 10% down on our chicago condo back in 2006 – - – well, we bought at the peak and had to sell at the bottom. We're closing in september for 20 percent less than what we bought our place for 3 years ago.

So here's the big slap in the face: I play by the rules, I live within my means, I take a new job in order to further my career and better my means, and I get screwed.

I didn't default on my mortgage and get to short sell it with the difference forgiven because of the economic climate. NO – - I care about my credit. I'm showing up to the closing table with a huge check to write.

I'm the seller who, if the economy was still somewhat decent, should be receiving money at the closing AND who should be buying up for my family.

Not my luck. I'm just a 31 year old guy, at a mid-level in my career, doing my best to get to the top – - – and in the process of playing by all the rules and doing it all on my own – - –

I'm forced to eat some dirt.

I'll eat my loss, and move on with my life. And I'm sure the loss from this move will stop stinging with time and we might even laugh about it someday in the future… But for now I feel like I was duped by an American dream with a false bottom. It's kind of sad when your dreams for success no longer mesh with what is supposed to be American ideals. Hear that? It's our forefathers rolling in their graves.

Exactly! I don't think people are asking to be greedy and for handouts but I think they are asking for genuine help! When you require a down payment of 20% in most cases people just don't have that kind of money. The homes in my area are $150K and up for a decent single family home. So coming up with even 10% of that esepecially right now in this economy is almost impossible. Normally those who did work hard and paid thier bills could move up by selling thier current home and using the money to put down on another home. Today that is not possible! The homes we live in have no value at this time. There is no money to get out of it to put on another home. How are we suppose to move up? How are those homes suppose to get purchased? So your saying that only people who haven't bought before can buy now? Those who did things right and bought and paid their bills and worked hard can't get out because there is nobody buying thier home for the value of it. WE have lost money! We can't sell and move up!

So are we being greedy? I don't believe so! I think we have worked hard and 7 years or 10 years down the road things change, familes grow. If thigns in teh economy were on a normal path we could sell and uprade but we can't sell so how can we buy? Perhaps if we are assisted with a down payment then we can buy. The problem becomes the down payment! People don't have the money! If there is a credit that will allow down payment assistant then we can start buying, which in turn means people can start selling. Things can start moving. Those in apartments can move into starter homes those who have out grown those starter homes can move up to more apporiate homes for thier familes now.

I am sure it has a cost. It sucks that it does but everytrhing in life has a cost. If we can't move up and we can't buy how can we sell? If we cant buy or sell how does anythign change? Somethign has to change! People don't have extra money right now, many people are loosing thier jobs! Those who have money are afraid to use it because if they loose thier job thats all they have to live off of! So yeah I dont think it's being greedy I think it's called trying to survive!

We have some very wise people here. Just work hard, save your money, pay your bills, and buy your own home. Well, that is exactly what we did. My husband went in the Air Force at 17, to Viet-Nam, came home went to college on the GI-bill (sorry, I guess you would consider this welfare too), worked his way up from maintenance technician to Senior Engineer in his 38+ career. Then Feb 2009 he was told he could take an early retirement or face a layoff. He took the early retirement and got a few weeks extra pay and a year of insurance. I have been very ill for several years and in the hospital twice this year. He was lucky he did. Six weeks later they did lay offs. We would very much like to sell our large home and downsize. We've never missed a payment "YET". We told our children they wouldn't have to take care of us the way we had to worry about their grandmother. But, our pension fund has been reduced by almost 40%. We don't have anymore years left to work hard again. We have stock "Ha". Now I'm not going to have insurance and have a pre-existing condition. So yeah, I'd like someone who could afford to buy our home to be able to get the tax credit so we could sell and move. We don't need it!
By the way my 52 year old brother just lost his long term job last week in Arkansas (so Ark. don't be cocky)and he owns his own home and has two children. And my sister's son in south Texas is joining the service because there is no work there. He usually works for his dad doing siding and replacement windows, but, there's no work.
And people from Texas and the Midwest talking about caps of $200,000 to $250,000. That would not be fair to people in the northeast and California, etc.

Wasn't it the '80s that were referred to as the "me decade"? I think that the current level of blind self-interest has far surpassed the '80s, at least among homeowners. Most of them seem to think that they deserve this $15000 gift from the government for producing absolutely nothing. Apparently none of them care about the effect this will have on the deficit, or how it will further erode the traditional American value of earning one's wealth. Maybe they should call this the "greedy homeowner's decade".

I agree! I agree witht his idea of the new increased amount and opening it up to anytime home buyers. As long as it used as thier primary residence. It shouldn't be allowed to those who will just rent or try to make money off of it.

I have paid all my bills and my mortgage faithfully for the last seven years I have owned my home. I have worked hard to do this. I bought a townhome before my husband and I were married. Were now married have two kids and two dogs. We are in desperate need of a single family home and a little bit larger home compared to a townhome. We nave no yard. No parking. No basement. NO garage. And again No yard. That's one of the biggest things when you have kids and dogs. They need room to play and run.

We can't sell our home because of the market. We have lost so much money in equity. So before the homes were outrageously priced in our area and it was hard to get a home loan and move to a single family home because the cost was up so high. On the otherhand our townhome was worth anywhere from $230K-$250K. So event then you were cuaght in a catch 22 and it's the same for now. The home prices are low but we dont have the money to put down on a bigger home and we can't sell our current home. We also can't use equity or sale money to put down on our next home because again we can't sell our current home and even if we could we wouldn't make it any money because the prices are so low now. Also with the first time home buyer I could qualify because I owned my townhome. My husband has never bought a home and is not on our current townhome. It's only in my name and as I said I bought it before we were even married 7 years ago. So we tried to see if maybe he could buy us a single family home and we could use the $8,000 tax credit. The problems we ran into were. First off you couldn't use the tax credit as a down payment and that's one of the biggest problems because people just don't have the extra money for that at this time. The other problem was even though he was an true first time home buyer he didn't qualify for the credit anyhow because he is married to me who owns a home. So were still stuck in our little townhouse. IT SUCKS!!!

We desperataly want out! We just want to get into a single family home that will work for all of and give our kids a yard to play in as well as our dogs. Our townhouse community doesn't even have a park or club hosue or anythign for the kids to even play. The only place they have to ride bikes or play is in the street and that's not safe! So I REALLY hope this bill gets passed because then my husband and I can both go into buying a bigger single family home like we really need now. If we have to sell and not make money then that's fine. It sure does suck because we have fought so hard to pay our bills and do things right the last 7 years and it feels like we get nothign out of that.

It does feel like those who have done the right things and work hard to do for themselves get screwed. Those that didn't pay thier bills regardless of why are the ones getting helped out. There are plenty of people who knowinly took on loans they couldn't afford or just didn't care to pay and they are the one's getting the help. Meanwhile you have people who were responsible took what they could afford and struggled to pay thier bills even in tough times and they get no help! It hardley seems fair. Plus we can't even sell our homes now and uprade if we want to because we have no money left in them. It's not right! We deserve a break too. I am not asking to get rich. I am asking to have the chance to own a home that my family needs. I have done things the right way and I have worked hard but I still can't move up. While those who didn't work hard or just let thier bills go are gettign the help. Does that seem fair?

To me the tax credit makes sense. I work hard, I pay my taxes, I pay my bills, if anything I do doesn;t work; it fails and I move on to something newer and more creative. That's the way the market should work. Why should we keep bailing out the people who screwed themselves and now can't or won;t pay their mortgages. Why not help those who will actually stimulate the economy by spending their money and upgrading. Unlike some of the other comments posted, just because you're upgrading doesn;t mean you are rich and can afford to upgrade anyway. Some of us work hard at the things we have and for once, if I get to receive a benefit from the thousands of dollars I have paid over the years in taxes, then so be it. Let me benefit and let me use the money I've paid in taxes (in the form of a tax credit) to better myself and my family.

Based on everything I have read here, many really believe in free markets, and that the spending the government is doing is going to make us bankrupt.

Now for the truth, reverse fractional banking is the system we use that enable us to print as much money as we can without ever going broke. The taxpayer is not actually going to end up paying this bill, because every time we print money it is lent not given.

These bailouts are NOT GIFTS they never were. They were loans, and these companies are being pressured now to run tighter ships thanks to these large loans. The tax credits are really ways for government to focus stimulus into a slumping part of the economy in this case housing. Politicians know this but hope to gain political points for playing the game.

Does anyone really know what truth is, or course not it’s up to you to judge and the status quo society we live in does a dang good job of making sure the majority will follow suit with the Jones and we create our own recessions, because we believe and then everybody reacts and the end result is a real problem everyone can see, feel, and enjoy because if everyone reacts then the real world result will change from good to bad.

Rumors of insolvency are the cause of recessions and depressions, and this form of self fulfilled prophesies is an amazing example of how others can control the world. Anyone can do it, cry wolf; then get enough people to believe in what you say and you control the world !!! With the internet it’s not that hard to do.

The system is designed to handle; via free market any amount of money they wish to print. They hope with scare tactics to get us all to believe otherwise. The goal is one world order and one world currency, which is great for us all because then we will never have another recession or depression again!!! Stop watching the news, get some insurance coverage to protect your investments and live the way you were three years ago and everything will be just fine. The more BS you believe the more you will make it happen it’s elementary.

The market spends when it can, and does not when it can’t but everyone is not doing this at the same time and with new population everything sorts itself out just fine.

Here is some truth which is hard to swallow, the free markets are really giant money fields which when people plant their money and the super wealthy are ready to reap their harvest invest all kinds of crisis to cause an imaginary loss of money to flow from your pockets to theirs. If you look closely at all of the recessions you will see a massive increase in stock investing but the giant casino is designed like any other for the house to win.

Now the question is who is the house? Poor people (fools) invest (plant their money) then the house with all of it’s forces (financial experts) has the job to get everyone to believe there is a problem so that they can reap the profits and start all over again almost every seven years. Rich get richer, and the poor get poorer it’s the American Way….

There is really no problem here, no recession or depression it's all a rumor and illusion. If again enough people believe or live in fear that we have a problem then by virtue of self fulfilled prophesy we do.

This tax credit will actually help a recovery, they have taken the money, now they are planting for the next harvest, GET IT???

How about we all just ignore all the babble from Washington, and Wall Street for that matter, and just do what's right for yourself and your family.
Working harder, and smarter, saving and investing wisely and avoiding debt – these never go out of fashion and will work during all economic cycles.

Everyone's flipping out about how our government is giving away their tax money – well guess what's – there's nothing new there – they've been giving it away since day one and always will. From land grants to the well-to-do that founded this country to land and mineral rights to the robber barons that owned railroads, to tax breaks, etc to million and billionaires, our government has always taken from the middle class and given to the rich ( and a few bones for the poor as well, just enough to keep them from starving or starting a revolution)

So forget the hype and the talking heads on the boob tube and just do the right thing for you and yours. Don't donate to politicians, don't pay bank fees, don't play the lottery, don't abuse credit cards, don't invest in crazy schemes or scam artists. Put your money in index funds, money market accounts and your local credit union. Live debt free and enjoy yourselves, you only go around once.

What we really appear to care about is "home buying" rather than "home ownership". If we really were concerned with true ownership, we'd have programs designed to help people figure out how to pay off their mortgages. That has incredible long term benefits for all involved.

Any type of program that rewards one type of home purchase is unfair. We just bought a house but because I owned a condo (my wife had never owned) and earned too much due to the cost of living in CA, we are excluded from any incentive. We want to stop rewarding people for not saving enough money to actually buy a place as that only leads to problems later. Had many people bought only what they could afford (we put down 40%), we wouldn't need bailouts today.

Awesome! I will "sell" my house to my brother [$15K for him Ka-ching!], he will "sell" me his [$15K for me..ka-ching], then I will "buy" back my house from him [another $15K for me...ka-ching!] and he will "buy" back his house from me [another $15K for him...ka-ching].

At $30K per swap for each of us, we could repeat this every two weeks [to give time for recording and possession rules to play out], and cash out $30K*26 = $780,000 this year!

Pass this law…I really could use the million…

We didn't get a tax credit when we bought my house 14 yrs ago, we had to do it the old-fashioned way….save! Why is it ok to give first time homebuyers a tax credit but not everyone? Saying that we're all "well-off" and can afford it anyways is extremely presumptuous!

One more thing, I have seen comments asking how this tax credit is a subsidy. The definition of subsidy from Webster:
"a grant or gift of money"; " a grant by a government to a private person or company to assist an enterprise deemed advantageous to the public "
Basically this credit is a gift to homebuyers which the government deems advantageous to the housing market. How is it not a subsidy?

It's OK to spend billions of taxpayers dollars to help GM, AIG, BoA and others but it's too expensive ($35 billion) which pails in comparison to the amount we spent on AIG alone. When are we going to step up and help the tax payer? This bill is worth supporting. Rich people DO NOT need this tax break to buy a house.

I would like to respond to an earlier comment from Tom in Marietta, GA stated "So any tax credit proposed by a Republican is BAD. And anything that President Obama proposes that increases the Government’s size and power and decrease the state’s and individual rights is GOOD.

Do I understand that correctly?"

It has nothing to do with whether this guy is Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, or anything else… This credit goes against the free market/capitalistic ideal which our economic system is based on. Anybody who thinks the free market is the best way for an economy to run (which is one of the common themes of the Republicans) should think this credit is not a good idea. Why? Because it is a redistribution of the wealth… Those who don't pay in $15K/year or more in taxes will get money from those people who pay in >$15K/year. Socialism at work. Anti-republican & anti-free-market thinking. The republican senator who proposed this needs to rethink his political affiliations if he really thinks it is a good idea to rob Peter to pay Paul.

What is the purpose of this credit? To get houses moving or just to hand out money? People have said that it is a great idea because they are getting their own money back to buy a house thus they think it is a tax cut. A BIG problem with this thought: If you don't pay in $15K per year in taxes, then you are getting somebody else's money. As far as helping the housing market: if there aren't anymore people in the market who don't have homes to sell first, then we won't do anything to help the market. People are saying this credit will allow them to upsize or downsize, but my guess is that most of them will have to sell their homes first. I'm sure these people will go looking for homes, which will give the impression of there being more buyers out there. But until they sell their homes, if they see something they like, they'll have to put a contingency contract in place. It could then turn into a vicious circle. Everybody has homes under contract, but nobody can close the sale because the buyers all have to close on their homes first. If everybody has to close first, then how does the circle get broken? By somebody entering the market who doesn't have to sell a home first. How does this happen? By houses being affordable & potential buyers having the impression that if they wait, it will cost them more money to buy a home. I don't know about anybody else, but if I think that houses will continue to get cheaper, I will wait it out before I enter the market. But, now that interest rates are going back up, I might decide to jump in so I don't have to pay more for the same home. Rates going up might actually get the market moving more than anything else, because those who have been sitting on the sidelines will be afraid that it will cost more to buy a home if they wait much longer.

We bought our home during the boom 5 years ago. Homes were selling after a day or 2 on the market. We had to move for job reasons, so I felt that we paid an inflated price. With both of us having new jobs we were afraid to overextend ourselves so we bought a home in an area that was not our first choice. Now we are doing well in our new jobs and would love to move to the areas that we really like and can afford the upgrade. The problem is that our house is worth 10,000 to 20,000 less than we paid for it now that the bubble has burst. We also have to cover the agent's commission for selling our home. In order to have enough down payment on our next home we have to price our home higher than we probably should. If we had this added boost we could drop the price 10,000 and probably sell our house easily. Then the price would probably fall within the reach of the first time buyers that have been looking at our home but can't quite afford it. So someone could get our house and we could upgrade. I think this would help the economy a great deal. I think there are a large number of 28-34 year old Americans like us that have good jobs and can help this economy. I think it would work better than only trying to help 22-28 year old Americans that might not have been able to establish themselves in the workplace yet.

My Wife and I bought Two houses ten years and one of them is paid for.
We statred with $.32 in our pocket in 1961. We also have two other houses , one that we live in , in Camarillo , California and another in Fair Oaks , California which we rent .Most people try to "live too high on the hog " The other two houses are in South Lake Tahoe , California which we also rent out during the summer mostly .We pay cash for most items and live on a budget .We pay off our credit card (only one ) each month . I will be glad to tell any and all how we got to where we are financally .

I am now a fundamentalist. Fundamentally, a house is a place to live in. If we are going to have the government assist people in buying houses, then it should stick to the basics and keep it about not having large sections of the population living outdoors.

p! U! Can you smell it? It's the smell of huge mounds of rotten government cheese! Jeepers, we should all help those who can't (through venues of our own choosing, and not so much so the government), but I am Da*n tired of the government telling me I have to help those who WON'T. Get off your dead as* and work!

To Joe in Albuquerque,

If you bought your house after April 8, 2008, and before December 1, 2009, and your income meets the threshholds, then you qualify for the credit. You can either amend your 2008 tax return to get the money this year or you can claim it on your 2009 taxes.

As someone who has seriously looked into becoming a first time buyer the tax credit would be nice – but the new rules make it so difficult to ACTUALLY go through with a loan. First time buyers need help with down payment, not next years taxes. As time goes on rates go up, prices go up as described by other comments and then it's all that much more out of reach for me. This whole tax credit issue I feel is backwards.

The 1st time home buyer gets $8M and the existing homebuyer gets $15M? Just remember, if you have no equity in your existing home, this $15M will make no impact on you because you are unable to retire the current debt on your existing home at closing. And by the way, why is it that we offer the $8M credit to the UNPROVEN borrower anyway. In my opinion, once again, the government is providing incentive for the purchase of a home to the riskiest borrower – the 1st time home buyer. It's about time to put money in the hands of the prudent borrower/consumer rather than the unproven borrower/consumer.

I'm looking at the comments and nobody seems to mention that the $15,000 will have NO EFFECT ON SALES VOLUME. All it does is artificially raise home prices by $15k. It just shifts the demand curve up by that much. Obviously sellers will react by raising asking prices (or at least not lower then like they otherwise would). This will give many people a way to get out of underwater loans when they get more $ for their home than it's really worth, but it's fixing a bubble by keeping it brom bursting. LET IT BURST – that's the only way to get growing again.

If something like this does get passed, I hope they improve the situation for 2008 home-buyers. We got screwed compared to the benefit for 2009 home buyers.

With all the tax money that we taxpayers are going to have to cough up to get us out of this mess, all I want is my piece of the pie. I'll make the move up as a 2nd time homebuyer, collect my $15,000, and invest it so I can supplement myself for any future tax hike that is of the inevitable.

This plan is just a way for investors to make more money which I am fine with but we need to help the first time home buyers because when they buy a house then the person moving out is going to buy one. To fix the real estate market we need to get first time home buyers on the market.

I do not understand how a Tax Credit becomes a subsidy. All you are doing is paying less tax for the opportunity to invest your own money in real estate for your benefit. You either give it to the government or spend it on yourself. Wich do you prefer? Sounds like a tax cut to me!!!

Great Idea!!!

Do I hear $8K for all instead?

So any tax credit proposed by a Republican is BAD. And anything that President Obama proposes that increases the Government's size and power and decrease the state's and individual rights is GOOD.

Do I understand that correctly?

Why is housing considered some special-case purchase that should be subsidized? The only thing that happens is that prices rise by whatever you subsidise it with, effectively giving away the money not to the ones who buy, but to the people who sells. Every time you "save" somebody that already owns a house by artificially inflating prices more than salaries increase, you prevent somebody else from entering the housing-market at reasonable conditions. You also widen the gap between the people who owns and the people who does not own. The fear of becoming a second-class citizen who cannot ever afford to own your own home is what has fed this frenzy, along with the tax incentives on interest-rates and now this proposal. Ironically they were all made in the name of making housing more affordable. Who has ever gained from these subsidies and incentives? ONLY the people who owned properties BEFORE respective incentives took effect! (And that also goes for the tax-incentives that were established long ago.) Do people who create these incentives have anything to gain? Sure looks like this guy would!

Let's get back to the basics. The reason we're in this mess is because a lot of people borrowed more than they could afford, cheered on by banks looking to make huge profits. That caused a bubble. We're now in the middle of a correction from that bubble. If you are caught up in the middle of this, my heart goes out to you. But the idea that we should pay people a $15,000 incentive to "move-up" is ridiculous. Now is the time people need to take a close look at their finances and their lives. Maybe some will finally say something like "wait, we don't really need a 5 Bed/2 Bath house for the two of us" or "we're already up to our necks in debt, we should consider buying a less expensive house". The market will continue to correct itself over time. In the mean time, everyone should focus on living within their means (i.e. create a budget), building an emergency fund, getting rid of debt, start saving for retirement, and then saving for a house. If living within your means causes you to buy a smaller house, then I applaud you for making a conscious decision to be money smart. Just imagine a world where everyone saves so much money that they can buy whatever they want because they have more than enough, as opposed to a world where everyone's spending money that isn't theirs. The latter is a recipe for disaster.

If they kept the income caps and did away with the 10% limit then it would still prevent people who make a considerable amount more than most from taking advantage of it but it would truly benefit people in lower priced markets, people wanting to trade down to a smaller home, or new home buyers.

There is immense opportunity for fraud. Who will monitor that? If my parents 'sell' me their house do I get to use the credit? …let free markets do their work and avoid the unintended consequences.

I think its a great plan to increase the credit to $15,000. I'm in the market to buy another house in the $200,000 range, but the $8,000 is just not enough of an incentive to buy at this time. Hope the bill pass!

WAKE UP, PEOPLE!

The "government" doesn't HAVE any money to give anyone. They can (and do) only take money away from some people, now or in the future, and transfer it to some other more "deserving" group of people. Most of the comments boil down to "I want someone else to pay for my house". I already pay for my house: I have no interest in paying for yours also. And I don't want the "government" forcing me to do so.

When did this country become about entitlement & not working to achieve the American dream. Why does anybody think that they should be given money for nothing? It's no wonder all the jobs are going overseas. Our workforce has turned lazy and is overpaid for the laziness. The jobs are going to people who are willing to do the hard work. Tell me, if you were a business and were given the choice between an employee who did the bare minimum and felt they were entitled to their job or an employee who wanted to excel for the same amount of money, which employee would you choose. Now, say the one who wanted to excel would do it for less money than the one who did the bare minimum… Doesn't seem like that difficult of a decision to me. Stop feeling entitled people & get out there and show the world that you're ready to revive the American dream. Help to keep this the greatest country on Earth!!!

This huge credit seems to be aimed at bailing out the speculators who have been buying up cheap distressed properties – these speculators need someone to sell to, but the potential buyers aren't buying.

Consider this – calculate $15,000 divide by 6% equals $250,000 so for a house costing that much or less you have covered the real estate broker's commissions.

That might be one reason the Republican Senator is pushing this tax credit, it's to provide jobs for the brokers, who, if they work solely on commission or are self-employed, probably don't get unemployment compensation. No real estate sales means no income. And that means reduced donations to the Senator's re-election campaign.

Consider this – assume a 6% mortgage. Calculate $15,000 divide by 6% equals $250,000 which is your first year's interest on your mortgage, much longer if the property costs less than $250,000.00

But what I want to know is different. I could be a first-time home buyer, but I want to buy a piece of bare land and build on it. Would I qualify ?

As a first-time buyer and potential investor I think that the Tax Incentive is a great idea. Of course i'm a little biased, but this definitely lit a fire under me and is encouraging me to buy a home ASAP. I'm trying to buy one this year instead of waiting until next year. The only problem is that the selection of houses, inventories have already dropped so its tough to find a good deal now. I put an offer in on one property above the asking price but I was one of Six people that put offers in.

The idea with the credits isn't to be fair, its to encourage spending and and a certain behavior. That behavior may be encourage higher prices or spending. Who is more likely to spend new money? Someone under water or someone who is buying a new house and changing things around?

Why should someone who bought more house than they can afford or someone who is an adjustable rate mortgage be helped? They got themselves in this situation, and we would be rewarding bad behavior.

I do agree that an income cap of $200k or $250k may be appropriate. Giving new homeowners the credit is a great way to stimulate the economy.

The stimilus is best spent on new homeowners, not only do they benefit, but they will also spend the money (as they change things and furnish their homes), create jobs, and push prices up. Even if someone is selling a house and buying a new one, they will spend money on the new house to fix it or to fix their old house before selling it. Higher prices mean that people who are in short sales or underwater may no longer be underwater and may be able to get out of their current situations with some equity.

This is a horrible idea…it would only re-inflate the housing bubble that caused the collapse of the entire economy. For those who criticize that people in sub-prime mortgages bit off more than they could chew…I agree…they did. But those same people say that the sub-primers should have been more responsible. Guess what, ANYONE who sold a home in the last 10 years and made off with terrific gains is also to blame. When you sold your home, you didn't care how someone paid for it (even if they were sub-prime) because you walked away with a pocket full of inflated equity that was overvalued. Now that the market is returning to rational pricing levels, you are complaining because you can't sell another house and make another false profit…you make me laugh! Our housing market has 2 problems…sub-primers who bite off more than they can chew…and the rich who walked away with unreasonable profits and are now complaining cause the devil is collecting his dues. GREED is an ugly thing…now you can pay up too!

At least this approach allows me to see a tangible target for the stimulus money. I still don't see where the current $700 billion has made an appreciable difference – aside from being squirreled away in bank coffers and witheld from the majority of Amercians who need those funds. Just take the estimated $35 billion out of the $700 billion. I'm confident the majority of readers here would make better use of it than the feds.

Great idea!Finally the government can give money to the people who deserve it,the tax payers.For those who say it cost too much they must remember that its a tax credit so the money comes from the homebuyers own income.This would help everyone from builders to landscapers.

Who will pay for that 15K incentive? Tax slaves or future tax slaves?

By handing out free money to business and selected individuals the govmt has started a snowball rolling downhill. Many of the comments reflect an attitude of "where's my piece of the pie?". We are rapidly approaching the point where our system is no longer perceived as fair. I think we all know that it's going to end VERY badly.

I sold my home and lost some equity and am trading up and this would help me tremendously.

Many people's comments (including this writer is completely missing the point). Once we figure out that we need the "well-off" to help us out of this mess, the sooner we'll get out of it. If someone owns a $800K home that they need to sell, and they have no equity, are they well off because they live in a $800K home?? They need their houses sold too. Whatever your situation, if you need your house sold, you need people with money to buy it!! One way is to give these "well-off" folks enough incentive to lend money to their kids to buy it from you, or to buy a 2nd home themselves, or downsize because they're older. "Well-Off" people are well-off, because in many cases they are good money managers. The credit works for EVERYONE!!

Several comments include the words 2nd homes and investment properties. This incentive would only qualify for "Owner Occupied" properties, come on people? Lets spend more money on education, please. First time home buyers need to come into the market period, good for them if they receive a credit. and yet I consistently read/ hear, "what about me?" Yeah i see those homes that are now "affordable" and have bigger squarefootage, but i bought my home to live in it (isn't that what people do anymore?). We live in the greatest country in the world. Who could dream of such a thing, get paid to buy a house. that is power. We need equilibrium in the housing sector. If you want to seriously help out, tell your niece, nephew, brother, sister, cousin, neighbors kids to buy a house – IF THEY ARE READY TO. No matter. Play with your kids, work hard, play hard, go on those two vacations per year, "rub" your wife's feet every two weeks if you know what i mean and keep the engine of this great country moving forward. "God Bless America" -notorious quote of my father when ever he was working his ars off and sweat dripping down his forehead. We all know poor character rich people, and we all know poor character poor people. If you want to move up the socio-economic ladder you need to work for it, you are not entitled to it, But this is the country you can do it in. God Bless America.

I think this would help people like us who have lost a job. We lost a great job without warning three months after we bought our house. If we find a job in another city, we are going to lose a lot of money in closing costs and realtor fees. This would offset that cost. Since we are homeowners now, we aren't eligible for the current credit which would even be helpful.

Why should I line somebody else's pockets? I won't be able to take advantage because I have to sell my house first – like the majority of existing homeowner's out there. It's a matter of supply & demand… We will create more demand with this credit, but we will also create more supply. Are we trying to help the housing market or just rob Peter to pay Paul? There are too many empty homes out there & until they have occupants, it doesn't matter what we do, the housing market will remain depressed. We should let the market correct itself & everybody will get discounted prices (new owners, existing owners, investors, etc) that will probably equal more than the $15,000 tax credit. There are already lots of bargains out there for those who don't need to sell a home, so people will start entering the market (if they can secure financing, which is another issue entirely) & it will turn itself around. If people have to sell their homes at a loss (I did), they will be able to buy a home that already has been discounted due to the market conditions, so it is a wash in the end for those homeowners.

Not everyone is in the market for a home!

I agree with B from Kingsport, TN.

If this credit goes through & I as an existing middle class homeowner am able to use it, that won’t help the housing market. That’s because I will need to sell my existing home in order to buy a new one. 1 house sold + 1 house for sale = 0 change in unsold inventory. There are two ways for the unsold inventory to get better: 1)people who don’t have to sell a house buy a house (i.e. first time buyers & people who can afford multiple homes); 2) sellers to take houses off the market altogether.

To keep it simple: If there are only 10 homes, and 9 homeowners with the 10th home being on the market, a tax credit is put in place that encourages 4 of the existing homeowners to go look for a home. But, they can't afford another home until theirs is sold. So now, you have 5 houses on the market (one still empty) with nobody being able to buy any of them unless somebody comes into the market that doesn't have a home to sell. For most existing homeowners, they would have to sell a home to buy a home (except those who have lots of money & are looking for 2nd or 3rd homes or are looking for investment property). Therefore this credit wouldn't help the market much or the so-called middle class that Obama is claiming to want to help.

This is a great start, good point the problem is in the move up market. Artificial bubble? This whole mess was caused by the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially high in order to "prick the housing bubble and let the air out slowly for a soft landing." Remember the experts saying housing is only a small portion of the economy and this would be a good thing to force a correction in the housing market. Well it seems the typical household is impoverished when idiots force a correction that wipes out all or most equity in the typical households largest asset. Yeah, people will continue to buy luxury items, when their basic need of housing is in jeapardy. Thank you Federal Reserve! Thank you GWB and Dick for the 8 years of destruction, while you were distracted or focused on making a great market for oilmen.

Nice unbiased reporting here Carla.

I think the government should buy everybody a house. That would definitely help the recession in housing market. It's just insane. No need to create extra budget deficit. In a free market, house prices will come down $15000 and people will start buying houses if $15,000 is incentive enough for them to start buying. Government just needs to make sure that there is enough liquidity so that banks are willing to lend to the responsible ones. Rest will take care of itself. House prices need to fall as much as they should. Creating an artificial bubble around house prices is not going to solve anything.

A $15k credit for all buyers (not just 1st timers) would be a HUGE incentive and a much needed shot in the arm for the markets. Something like this would encourage and enable so many people to take advantage of depressed prices on available houses and help reduce inventory thus stablizing prices.

It will work wonderfully if I´m allowed to use this credit for my second or third house

The credit is a great idea, let's say you are interested in buying some of the Bank owned properties as an investment, you can do that with the credit that will help you with cost of rehab. Guess what when you rehab you need a contractor let's say to do a roof, who buys from a supplier, both of which employ people, the money will flow downstream as it should.

When are people going to learn that there is no free lunch? Get $15K now but for certain you are going to pay it back with interest in the future. Just let the market work and forget about the incentives.

Why should only first time buyers be the ones who benefit. We had to sell our house because we relocated and when we sold it we took a lose. We're now preparing to buy a pre-owned house and the tax credit would help off-set the lose we took on our other house.

If this credit goes through & I as an existing middle class homeowner am able to use it, that won't help the housing market. That's because I will need to sell my existing home in order to buy a new one. 1 house sold + 1 house for sale = 0 change in unsold inventory. There are two ways for the unsold inventory to get better: 1)people who don't have to sell a house buy a house (i.e. first time buyers & people who can afford multiple homes); 2) sellers to take houses off the market altogether.

This is insane. Let's see, can you say "Housing Bubble"? Forse the banks to write off the debt? That is so un american. Why not force the Car Companies to lower Prices? Force the oil companies and OPEC to lower oil? It" supposed to be a free market. I am all for the banks to forgive some debt to help out homeowners but only if they want to. The Govt should never have bailed out anyone and we as voters better remember that we voted these guys in and we can vote them out. When interest rates sky rocket to pay for all this barrowing we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Perfect plan to create another artificial housing bubble. Are these idiots brain dead?

I am a home owner and I know the pain for watching your home loose value in a market like this. The $15000 credit will surely help prop up the market and benefit existing home owners to realize gains in their home price, which otherwise is hard to come by.

The housing market doesn't have a problem. There are plenty of people out there that can now afford a very nice home at a very low price. Unlike some of us that purchased at the height of the housing boom and have lost over $150K in equity, at least folks puchasing today, won't have such a disparity. I think the government still needs to MAKE the banks holding those upside mortgages write-down negative balances so that more people can stay in their homes and not lose them to foreclosure. Its as clear as day of a solution, don't know why everyone else doesn't see it that way. If we level-set, less houses go vacant and communities continue to prosper. My two cents.

To many, this bill is a no brainer, if you help people buy homes, all the vacant homes sitting out there will be purchased, plus, it will help more people get hired in the mortgage industry, will get the banks the business it needs etc. The tax payers already have to pay a ton, so why not add a few more cents to it to help the current market for now.

By no means is this credit fair. It's not fair because not everyone is in the market for a home! I bought my house in December of 2007. As a result of me "doing my best to prop up the housing market" (tongue firmly in cheek), I missed out on the $7,500 interest-free loan incentive. Then the government added insult to injury with this $8,000 credit.

To expand it further would simply cause my best friend and I to buy each other's homes, then sell them back to each other. Voila!

So, now that you see how this system can be gamed (with a mere 5 seconds of thought on my part), the more fair solution would be to subsidize mortgage rates. That way, those in the market for a home and those not in the market for a home have something to work with.

Wait! Someone without a mortgage is complaining. They have their house paid off? Well, even this system wouldn't even be fair to them!

Bottom line: The only truly "fair" system is to give tax credits to everyone based upon what proportion of income taxes each person paid last year.

I think they should be extending the tax credits to current home owners. If they are struggling it may save them from forclosure if not they can use it for improvements or to refi into a better loan. If we stop the forclosures the housing market will corect itself and have a true value.

When you transition from a $200k home to a $400k you jump start the local economies for many people…that is the intent of this bill as I interpret it. This will help the carpet guys that install all the new carpeting, the painting companies that change the wall colors, the appliance companies that sell the new frig., etc.,. In Georgia, that transaction would also generate $2,100 in taxes for the state and local governments!

This is a really great idea . . . But if the idea is good it's sure to be shelfed. The government is notorious for putting plans into action that don't work. That's what they are good at doing, nothing that works.

Whether there is an 8K or 15K credit or no credit, my problem with the policy is that it does not account for cost of living adjustments in different parts of the country. Sure, you may be rich making 200K in the rural part of Oklahoma for example. But 200K is barely making it in expensive areas like NYC, Boston and Washington D.C. Try being a first-time home buyer in those areas with the current prices, which are still high even with the drop. I just makes me so angry when politicians use a blanket statement that all people who make that kind of money are rich. Phewey.

I think they should offer ALL home owners a credit on their tax return for up to $15,000, BUT make it repayable on their tax return over the next 15 years. The government loses the just the interest.

It sounds good in theory but, should be capped at the 200,000 dollar household income. That to me is the true area where the market (housing) credit will have the most impact and limit the high price tag on taxpayers.

It's about time the government gave something back to the responsible taxpayers. We live inside our means and as a reward, we have our tax dollars given away to the less responsible, not the less fortunate.

Me and my wife are looking to "trade up", but we can't sink all our savings into a closing (that's being responsible/living inside our means). If we could replenish that savings with a $15,000 rebate, we could get a house more suited to our income. We have both been working our whole lives, paying into the system and never taking anything back.

It's about time we got a repayment for supporting others and breaking our backs our whole lives just to pay more and more taxes.

The credit is fair because it applies to EVERYBODY! The entry market is taking off because it is stimulated and those buyers typically have no house to sell. If you are considered rich you still are probably looking at a jumbo loan which has higher rates and points, and will require at least 20% down. Even though the loan is more, the buyer qualifying is typically much more stable financially than a first time buyer. That is why debt ratios are used.

If you make 100k annually and buy 300K house at a lower rate with 10% or less down, why should you not be able to do the same if you make 300k and buy a 900k house with 20+%down and pay a higher (jumbo) rate? You think this buyer is more likely to walk away from this house with that much down?
The foreclosures are not occuring in the higher end on primary residences. They are occuring on the lower end where lending standards were made lax by the government. Those buyers went underwater faster because they were allowed to over borrow. Those buyers should never have been buyers, they should have been renters.

How does this help the rich? 15gs is 20% on a house that is less then 75gs. 10% for a house of 150gs. So, what is the definition of rich? We have preached the need for a middle class in any democracy. Most middle class houses range between 100-200 thousand even in smaller communities. Wouldnt this help those of us who make decent money and some money? I do not understand how people clamer that this will help the really wealthy. I said earlier that I do not like the goverment taking money and redistributing it cause it is an imperfect system, but if they are going to do it, then lets make it as fair as possible. This will at least do that.

Why not have the banks that have already received TARP money use that to give buyers and refinancing customers credit toward buying a lower interest rate and doing loans with no closing costs? 100 billion in mortgages giving every customer 3 points would only cost the mortgage company 3 billion. Didn't Bank of America get 65 billion in TARP $? Give it back to consumers!!

This won't actually decrease the inventory of homes for sale… All it will do is get existing homeowners to buy a different home. It will just re-distribute the houses, not decrease inventory. How is this helpful. Plus it gives false demand that will then decrease when the tax credit expires. False demand is what got us here in the first place.

I am completely against this type of socialism. However, I find it hilarious that our socialist congressman is not smart enough to know that talking about a $15,000 tax credit, while the other tax credit is still available, is simply going to put more people that are looking for a house right now back on the sidelines. . .

Here is an idea, buy a house around 120K, pay around 5G down payment (FHA) and some closing costs, DO NOT pay the house, live mortgage free for around a year while dealing with the bank and modifications, etc and still profit 10G.

if the government is going to do anything at all, it should subsidize interest rates for everyone to a fixed number, like 4.5%. this will take one level of uncertainty out of the market, and will benefit both current homeowners and first-timers.

Another dumb idea in a hope to return to the same situation that caused all the problems. Right up there without combating to big to fail by consolidating banks (ie making them bigger). Housing needs to self correct. We should not seek to return to those unsustainable levels. People who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. How about flipping that credit so that someone who sells at a loss gets a $15,000 credit or the amount of the loss if it is lower? That way we get prices that people can afford on their own (novel concept I know) and we cushion the blow to those who got nailed by the correction. Pop the bubble and help those who fall out don't keep blowing air into the bubble.

I am no economics expert but wouldn't it be better to spend that money creating jobs? It seems to me that the focus should be on reducing unemployment and helping people stay employed.

Weak housing prices are a symptom not a cause of economic weakness. In the years 2001-2008 gross domestic product annualized growing 2.2%. That is the weakest 8 year pace in 55 years. If you just look at private sector growth it was the weakest since The Great Depression. Truman had a weaker record but cut Federal spending from 31.5% of GDP to 14%. The private sector grew rapidly.

To rebuild wealth and prosperity there should be tax incentives for investing in productive capacity and hiring people. Housing is more like consumption than investment. Government diverting more resources to housing through tax credits does nothing to enable greater production of goods and services or enables us to turn the trade deficit around.

This is a great idea and should have gotten approved last time. Wasting $787B to those bandits, yet arguing about $35 billion credit to taxpayers like us. Hey, we are helping the economy. What kind of government is this? Has anyone watched the documentary “Breaking the bank”? I strongly recommend it! You will be disgusted how corrupt the system is. You will see how those bandits, Henry Paulson (government) and investment bankers have wasted the bailout money.

In theory a good idea, but what needs to be done is give some relief in 2 areas: 1) limits on loan-to-values at 90% & access to mortgage insurance in states stamped with "declining market" like FL where I am, are limiting conventional (FannieMae & FreddieMac)activity, when in other states 97% LTV is still available, and 2) the huge difference between Conforming and Jumbo interest rates, up to $417,000 and $417,050 and above. It used to be about a 1/2% difference, now its about 3% plus a much lower LTV. How many people can afford or will accept an 8% mortgage just because they are borrowing over $417,000?

PS: I've been a Mortgage Broker for 25+ years and I never designed a loan program or underwote a loan … that's what Lenders do and how we got here.

I'm getting a little tired of this. My wife and I have been in our house for 12 years, paid our mortgage on time. Keep up with our bills, and get hit by ever increasing taxes. While many seem to be getting a tax credit for this and that item, we cannot even take education tax credits for the college tuition that we pay every year and any deductions that we have are negated by the "alternative maximum tax". While others get to drink from the government money stream, we and I'm sure millions of others at the core of the economy, pay our taxes and somehow manage to pay our bills on time get no consideration.

Enough is enough…..or better yet keep it up….we'll probably meet you in the soup kitchen.

Of course I am for this tax credit – I want sell my home and move-up! Why shouldn't I get a piece of this pie – especially since it is essentially coming out of my own pocket (because I pay my bills and taxes). My husband and I are empty-nesters who want to move to a newer, one-story home. We are entering that "age" that we need to remove the stairs in our lives and our current home is a two-story with basement. It is also not a home that most first-time home buyers would purchase, so a tax credit might help it sell fast. Just my thoughts….

This is a great idea! It would directly affect my family.

My family and I relocated to Washington, DC(after having to sell our home at a loss in VA Beach) where the avg home price is much higher than what we are used to. As a result we had to rent for over a year to save up for the down payment during that time our house hold income was around $225,000 per year. Because we didn't have a mortgage interest deduction we paid $14,000 more in taxes for 08. We recently bought a new home and because we are not a first time home buyer and we owned a home in 2007, we didn't qualify for the $8000 credit.

Even at our income level, because of the Washington, DC market, we are barely able make it work. Were really hoping the interest deduction for our new mortgage will help!

This credit will be well recieved in my household!

This article and the author's predisposition are indicative of one of the most significant hindrances to economic recovery. The common thread in 99% of the reporting I see is that "stimulus is okay, as long as the only ones who benefit are not well off." I can't understand the jealousy of the left. How many $80k jobs did Bill Gates create in building Microsoft? Warren Buffet with Berkshire? Sam Cathey with Chick-Fil-A? It's capitalism and it's good. It has made us the great nation that we are and it, in fact, employs and funds the very bozos who write this drivel.

Here's a novel idea…why don't we make the government go back to protecting our borders and leave everything else alone? It has no constitutional responsibility to create the social or economic framework of our country and is ruining it in the process of trying.

I agree with the bill for wider tax credit. Govt's goal should not just be to help first time homebuyers. Insterad, it is to puts a floor on house prices so current financial malaise gets taken care of. In fact, inordinately incentivizing homeownership for first time home buyers could lead to similar financial crisis in future. There are some part of population which are only suited to rentals and unnecessary incentives would push them in homeownership which could lead to problems down the road..

I'm a first time homebuyer. Althought the $8000 tax credit had made me want to rush and get a home purchased this year, it did not overall make it my deciding factor. I simply could afford it now after graduating from college and home prices and interest rates were already low enough…..the credit was just icing on an already good cake.

In fact the only reason I like it, is because I'm benefiting from it. The whole idea of the credit in itself is rediculous….if the whole idea of the credit is to boost up housing…what happens when you take it away?!…..guess what you just created another bubble because you drew in people that would have purchased a home a year or 2 down the road and got them to purchase it this year….when the credit is gone all those people are already locked up in homes and the market is once again will struggle for the next 2 years (perhaps longer).

All this is, is a short term bandaid.

The real root of the American plunge is Energy prices and Healthcare prices.

You make a good dent in bring prices down in either or both of them and the rest of the economy will follow.

The author's sarcasm is amazing..and he is lost. For once a proposed program for the middle class ..but he's against it. God forbid – that those that have exercised responsibility and financial restraint should get a break. In the author's mind – only the idiots that spent wreckless should get a break…only the idiots that ran up their credit cards and then realized that you do have to pay back the bank and then went running to BO for "protection" from themselves. This credit would get the market moving….it would allow many to move up and even those like myself to scale down as I get older …..but no – God forbid that the middle class that carries this country should finally get a break….It should have never been taken out of the last bill…..Like many comments – its not for the rich…their already OK…Itss for the middle who are on the fence because of the economy…..and those that say just trade w/ my neighbor….c'mon – get a clue.

finally, a good idea. i am sick of the so called "rich" supporting everyone. how is it fair to give people 8k if they make less then 75k. I make about 90 and would be a first time home owner in Chicago, and what do I get….NOTHING…..and can't buy anything for less then 300k……

As long as we continue to live in a FIAT economy, all this tinkering with tax incentives, incomes, home prices, what people say people can afford etc. doesn't solve anything. We'll have these same blog conversations 50 years from now except that you can replace all the numbers with 2x it's value. So today's $15k tax credit will be a $30k tax credit 50 years from now. You can't solve the problems of inflation with more inflation. $50k was a lot in 1980s, now I see people calling themselves HENRYS with $100k. When does the inflation end? Why doesn't anyone just address the underlying problem? Just stop printing money and let the banks collapse. Then we'll see who can survive.

Someone please try to enlighten me. How do “well to do” home owners trade up if this is only available to 1ST TIME HOME BUYERS?

Posted By DH, New York: June 17, 2009 9:07 am

*****
I hope you read the article, as it pertains to –ALL– homebuyers.

This article does not provide much information to the oversight that will be provided for this proposal. OK, so give a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers…and how is this going to be protected against those people who cannot afford houses, as we saw in the most recent housing buble pop?

On the surface, this looks enticing, but in actuality, there are many more details that need to be provided in order for someone to make a genuine conclusion.

I am in agreement that there are Americans that couldn't benefit from the $8,000 tax credit, but in all honestly, that was guided towards a different market in hopes to speed the recovery of the housing market.

@David

Just because people can afford to upgrade doesn't mean they will thumb their nose at $15k. It's more likely that they will find a way to abuse the system and pocket a rather large chunk of change out of the deal.

The only thing this bill will do is temporarily inflate housing prices.

NO! Enough already. We have to get the budget in balance and this is more money we do not have. Let's try to live within out national means already. Our grandparents did it without all these kickbacks and we can to.

This is exactly what is needed to stabalize house prices. House prices keep going down because their are too many houses on the market (supply is greater than demand). Stabalizing house prices helps everyone, not just the rich. I am certainly not rich, but I'm not going to be against something that might help me and my family just because someone with more money than me might also benefit from it.

Doesn't seem like a good idea to me…I would prefer to see some incentives for people who improved their homes with local contractors. I recently moved from New Mexico to northern Virginia and although I only lost 20K on my house in NM, I was able to pick up a foreclosure in VA. However, because of tightening lending standards (a good thing) I used almost all of my available capital. Furthermore, since it was a foreclosure and it was trashed I also spent 40K fixing it up myself or using local contractors. The end result was an 65K assessment increase which I obtained when I refinanced after the improvements. Which helps the real estate market in my neighborhood versus bringing it down. I truly believe that I stimulated the housing market and the economy with these improvements, but there are no incentives available for people like me. Meanwhile, I am watching first time home buyers barely qualify for trashed foreclosures with the 8K tax credit and then using ALL of their credit cards to fix them up because they didn't understand the expense of renovations. I believe that some of these people are going to default on either the credit cards or the homes again.

I like the idea of a for-all incentive to stimulate both the demand and the supply in the housing market.

However, I am not convinced that a $15K incentive will do the job. In addition, I am not crazy about the $35B price tag on the tax payers.

Housing market, unlike an equity market, is not fluid; therefore, it will take some time for the market to reach its new equilibrium. It will be painful and slow but it will get there.

So going back to the idea of a new tax incentive, why don't we just leave the market alone and just sit tight for a while?

This is another case of just transferring money. People who bought homes a couple years ago and people who aren't going to buy homes for a couple years will end up funding people who buy houses now. Why should everyone in the country be forced to give money to people who buy houses in 2009?

Damn communists. Why in the world should I subsidize some idiot who wants to buy a house ? Should I subsidize a car for him ? Perhaps a European vacation while we're at it ? Nobody _needs_ to own a house.

This is a terrible idea. At first I thought this would help us buy our first home but what is this bill really doing?

Consider this, my wife and I make over 180K a year and live in a major city where average home/condo prices are still over 500k. We are not looking for anything fancy or grand, just a modest three bedroom home outside the city. That said, if we, a supposed "high earner", still can't easily afford a home near the place we work (an hour of commute) then the housing market is still inflated and needs to come down further.

This proposed housing credit will only help to continue prop up still hyper inflated housing prices.

At $35 Billion I think this may have a better impact on getting the market moving vs. some other plans that have a price tag of 10X this amount. I am in the real estate business and one of the biggest problems facing the housing market is the backlog in the lending process, there have been some changes implemented over the last 30-60 days such as HVCC where brokers are not allowed to order appraisals directely insteat they are channeled through a 3rd party management company who is jacking up prices and finding the cheapest incompetant people to do the work. If people can not get financed they are not going to be able to buy, if people cant refi to lower rates they may lose thier home which starts the problem all over again. Yes we gave people loans who should have never gotten them but Im talking about people who have good credit and a little bit of downpayment money….they are still having a hard time buying. Im dead against dishing out free money to people who dont deserve it. Lets fix what we have in front of us and cut out all of the red tape and get the pipeline moving.

That's a great idea! Reinflating a ridiculous bubble is sound economics, the kind we're used to from Washington. The sad thing is that all our economy is reduced too is serial bubble blowing. Anyway, I hope this legislation passes to I can sell my home into the next bubble.

This is a great idea and will help clear out the excess housing inventory & stabilize the housing market. Doing that will help all of us.

This bill would simply create a new entitlement program. The last thing that we need is a new "temporary" entitlement program that gets extended indefinately. Entitlements need to stop. I would personally benefit greatly from this program, I rent, I want to buy a house, and I have the money saved to do just that. I make $75k a year and my fiance makes about $42k, so we will still qualify for the first time home buyer credit after we get married next month. The current first time homebuyer credit will benefit me, but this would be icing on the cake. The problem that I have with this bill is that it is welfare. I am constantly trash talking our welfare system. I don't like handouts and entitlements given out by our government ad infinitum. I don't want the government to hand me a house. I think that a home should be something that you earn through hard work and dedication. Why should anyone reap rewards when they don't play the game?

This is again a move by wealthy politicians to assist themselves and their wealty friends. My wife and I make 70k since my layoff with our new business and we have 20k without the current 8k plan to put down, a credit score of 727 and no one will lend me money for a 150k house because I'm a credit risk as I'm now self employed(the "dead" American dream). Housing is finally affordable in FL and all out of state investors are buying up the cheap property. I hate to be a sore loser, but I hope the recession only hits the wealthy harder and collapse of many major corps. I should declare bankruptcy and wipe out my "minor" debt, but i have integrity unlike many of our decision makers.

Opppps…I paid too much and I can't get up. The real fix will be another 25% drop in housing and even then it really will not be all tha affordable for the wage earner

The author doesn't understand the fundamental problem: that many homeowners are underwater and therefore can't refinance. Anything that helps turn around the real estate market will help these people and thus the banks. The majority of the real estate market is not 22 year old first time home buyers, it is those greedy trade-ups with lots of cash to which the author refers. We greedy trader-uppers (yes, I'm one of them) are sitting on the sidelines with our cash hordes until the real estate market bottoms out. If I had a $15K tax credit, would I jump back in? Hell yeah!

DH- try reading the article. the credit would be available to anyone. s my d.

I have to agree with Steve. I've been fortunate to have a steady, reliable job that offers me income over $100,000 a year. You’ll be hard pressed to hear me complain about how the stimulus package is being used because I’m able to make ends meet and I know there are many people out there who can not. I too have $1,100 of student loan payments a year and live in an area where rent on a one bedroom averages $2,000 a month. Although I'm trying to save and scrimp for my down payment and to cover closing costs, it's not an easy thing to do when you live in higher cost areas. I'd love to help out in this crisis by making my reliable income work for us as a country, but I'm unable to do so at this rate. I’d truly appreciate any help available because in the end I think we will all win by getting this market and economy moving.

Please keep in mind that in certain areas – even in this market – $400,000 will buy you a 1 bedroom (possibly 2 if it’s older) and is still considered a first time buyer option. Sad, but true! Coming from the Midwest, I still cringe at the insanity, but it’s a reality that we live with out here.

I am shocked no one has said this yet: The money for a home, while large, is only PART of the homebuying equation. When you purchase a home, odds are you have to move (costs money), and you will likely be looking at getting it cleaned, or cleaning it yourself (more money). Then of course, there is painting (Lots of money). Oh, and those windows need treating (gobs of money). All of those things take place AFTER closing, yet require a ton of cash. THESE are the things that help an economy: Goods and services associated with a purchase.

As someone who has recently moved (to stay employed), I can honestly tell you that the costs associated with occupying a new home are not trivial. I have already surpassed that $15k just in the move alone!

Great idea! Finally something for responsible citizens. I didn't buy when everyone was buying because I happened to be an old fashion guy with 20% down & 30 years mortgage. Now, I'm sitting on $100,000 down payment, and still I can't find a decent home in DC area. I work two jobs to save up the money – not to bail everyone out.

Whoever wrote this article is a joke. If you have a lot of money, a 15G tax credit isn't going to sway you one way or another. But I make 70G a year and could move upgrade if I got 15G's. Heck, it would almost pay for two years of mortgage.

This is why writers need very little education, because they know nothing about anything….

I think the author is very wrong in his judgement that the bill will only benefit "folks who are already in good enough shape to be able to trade up anyway". I am a salary maker of $150,000 for a family of 4, but I have lived in an apartment for two years after moving from one state to another, since I can not afford to buy a house in the new location while my old house can not be sold. With the help of $15000, I can use it to pay the huge transfer taxes form the SELL and the BUY transactions, and broker fees, among others. I think the existing $8000 credit for the first-time buyers are very unfair.

I find it somewhat funny that some of you are complaining that you will not get to reap the benefits from such a law. The truth is, we will all be able to benefit from this. If this gets people buying homes, and not just first-time homebuyers, then it will jump-start the economy. Even if you don't plan on using the credit or buying a house, nobody can tell me that they will not benefit from an improved economy right now.

When people upgrade their homes, that gives more options for the first-time and lower income buyers to pick from. If someone can now afford to leave their $200,000 house and move to a $300,000 house, then a cheaper home is now available to a first-time buyer or lower income buyer. Plus, as discussed by others, people will furnish their homes and stimulate the economy that way. Builders will be back in business and we will be purchasing raw materials to create new homes, further stimulating the economy. By people buying all of these new furnishings and having new housing starts increase, more jobs are available and there is more consumable income in those workers pockets. I can tell you that the construction workers and furniture makers are not going to throw that new income into a rainy day fund, they are going to spend it, further stimulating the economy. You have to step back and look how this is going to trickle down through the economy over the long term.

More bailout mentality.

Helping those that made bad decisions, encourages bad decisions, helping those that can afford it wastes resources. The gov't helping ANYONE distorts the market, creating the bubble we saw and killing any recovery that may happen when it finally bursts.
There's no fixing this the easy way. This recession is pretty severe, but it ain't nothin yet. Wait till all the fixes that Obama and Dems have put in place destroy what's left of the economy…Just wait.

Same thing here. 75K maybe is a generous cutoff for Oklahoma, but here in Boston, it's just way to low for a first time buyer.
As 2-bdrm here is still in 400K range, I will sit on my cash for now and watch market to melt further.

great idea for all Americans, the stimulus will more than pay for the program in the long run. Why limit to some people.

It appears CNN's problem with the proposed legislation is that it's being proposed by a Republican rather than a Democrat. A $15K tax credit for all buyers would go a long way to stimulate the housing market and the U.S. economy. Even under Obama economics, $15K is more than $8K.

Can't imagine anyone abusing this, could you? This would be bubble 2.0 and would effectively subsidize the cost of housing by $15,000. That's it. And when it was ended, it would cause another housing depression.

You think you wouldn't see real estate agents frothing at the mouth and 'trading houses' then trading them back pocketing $30,000 of your money each in the process? This is just dumb. Dumb, dumb dumb.

You can sum up the intelligence of this argument with the following: FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE!

Whatever happened to owning a home because it provided shelter for you? People shouldn't worry too much about housing values, but rather whether their roof leaks or their furnace breaks.

I have a nice home. Eventually I want to trade up to a nicer one. But I want it to be on my time-scale…not on Congress's time-scale.

Be wary of a Congressman who was once a real estate agent. This is who he is really looking out for.

There is only one good reason to encourage such a thing; to help people who are "locked" into their homes and cannot relocate. This has, and as the economy improves, will increasingly create problems for employers looking to hire more educated and experienced employees. Unfortunately, I believe the downsides outweigh the upside. How much more money is the Democratic controlled government going to spend that we don't have? The check is going to come due and some point and it is going to hurt badly.

This is a great idea. It's about stimulating the house market and the economy, not helping the poor! You cann't count on the poor to save the economy. Rich people deserve a break too if they are contributing to the economy. Why do some people think the only right rich people have is to pay more taxes.

Once again, a journalist shows a complete lack of understanding of economics. It is the people that are sitting on large chuncks of cash that can help this economy recover. It is not the "folks" in good shape that got us into this mess. It is all of the people that made poor decisions with underfunded resources & encouraged by the lack of rational lending guidlines that got us where we are. Obama still cant figure out how to get "us" to reopen our wallets. This would be a big step in the right direction. But ultimately, this will not pass because in the spirit of true liberal socialism, they will opt ot tax it out of us and give it to people who will again make poor decisions and squander the opportunites presented.

I am a W2 wage earner and making 100,000+ too much to take advantage of any tax breaks but not enough to take advantage of loopholes. I'm paying all the taxes and not getting a break on anything. I've worked hard to get where I am and stay where I am. It's about time someone incentivized me to spend some money.

Someone please try to enlighten me. How do "well to do" home owners trade up if this is only available to 1ST TIME HOME BUYERS?

This is a horrible idea and really I find it ludicrous that someone even proposed it.

(Must be NAR flexing their 'muscles', none of which are inside their skulls)

For example, anyone looking to buy a $400,000 home does not need a $15,000 handout from the government. I'll keep my taxes down, thank you.

Housing isn't "broken". It was broken and over priced for the last few years. The current pain is simply the "fix" of the market correcting itself. The correction in housing and the economy as a whole was/is necessary. These programs are simply a government substitute for the easy credit environment of the past to distort the market.

I think this is a great idea! There are many buyers, like myself, who do not qualify for the first time home owner incentive because of divorce. 3 years of not being in a home is a long time to be considered a first time home owner. It would provide people looking for a home the incentive to move forward without as much fear of loosing equity in the next few years thus encouraging many to buy some of foreclosed homes that are flooding the market and dragging prices down.

Imagine if a universal $15,000 credit does become a law. What would keep me from switching houses with my neighbor just so we could both collect the $15,000 bonus? Every homeowner in America would have incentive to switch. All this would accomplish would be people who already own homes switching houses with other people who already own homes. Bad idea.

This is a brilliant idea. Those who don't think so don't understand economics. When the wealthy do well, everyone does well. When the wealthy tighten their belts, we all suffer. This is not pretty, but it is a basic truth, throughout history.
We do indeed not have a recession in 1st time homebuying. We have a problem with the housing market as a whole. This bill/law would stimulate the market like nothing ever has, and the impact on the economy would certainly offset any cost to taxpayers.

This idea is another attempt to recreate artificial demand, and delays the inevitable; not to mention the debt that will be incurred with no real pay-off plan. We don't need to recreate another housing bubble – haven't we already gone down this path? I would think lesson's would have been learned. We need to let the oversupply of homes return to a level that people with real incomes can afford on their own without subsidy's tax credits etc. This isn't easy for people under water in their mortgages, but that is life – we need to let the fever pass, and get the housing supply and demand back on the level naturally

Great Idea – if the folks that "have", as someone previously indicated, cannot sell their home because nobody is buying, that means the home market is stagnant. Even at 10% unemployment, 90% are working. Those 90% may be able to buy an affordable home to them and thus buy goods to furnish and decorate that home stimulating the economy – even if they do it at a reasonable cost. No homes sell, no subsequent buying and the economy stalls. Homes have typically been a solidifying force in a downward economy. But homes above $250,000 are not moving and those buying under $250,000 might be able to afford a home but may not be able to afford the furnishings and decorating that typically goes with it. I don't like the govt bail out but typically housing keeps the economy moving. Limit the mortgage to what someone can really afford, don't give the $15,000 as a down payment option nor allow it be used to qualify, but give the credit so that those people who can buy will. Right now, those folks are saving. Give the people who "have" a reason to spend, and I bet you see more growth than you have now. People are making better decisions than ever before but they are scared to do anything even if they can afford it.

A great idea, its about time someone rewarded people who followed sensible paths. People who bought affordable houses, paid their mortgage, saved money, and pay their credit cards. These responsible people have gotten nothing from the big givaway except future tax hikes. Now its time for the Responsible Person to get a piece of the pie

Wow, could this be a more awful idea? Hey, let's encourage people to upgrade! (*sarcasm) I think the homes in this country are too big. I frankly can't find a nice home (not run down and not in a bad neighborhood) with less than 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. All I want is a 2 BR, 1 BA home. I can afford more, but I don't want more. I want something small because I have no kids and no unnecessary stuff. Nor do I want to buy more stuff just to fill-up the space that I would have in a home that is too big for my liking.

Secondly, why are we encouraging higher mortgage debt/interest? Frankly, I think it's a bad thing that we allow tax deductions for mortgage interest – that's a tax deduction designed for the wealthy. I never buy the idea that the deduction helps home ownership in America for the lower and middle class – they don't make enough for their "mortgage interest deduction" to amount to enough to beat the standard deduction.

This is perhaps the WORST idea ever. If it isn't, it's because Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of America takes the cake. Regardless of rank, these two things are number 1 and 2 as bonehead moves in recent U.S. history. That Nebraska Safe Haven law might make it close to this list too, but that's less of a money-related foolishness and more of a morality-related foolishness.

Why stop at 15,000? Why not have the govt buy houses and give them away for free?

Its not about helping people in foreclosure who got there for not reading the fine print and biting more than they could chew. THEY ARE ACTUALLY THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!!!. Screw them. This is about getting the real estate market moving and values of homes stabilizing. Obviously the only people that can buy a house are the ones with cash/equity. I would hate to see people that are in foreclosure go buy another house, take the eye flaps off people! If you sweeten the deal some people may trade up to mansions, others to the smaller houses the rich are selling, others will buy homes as investments. All of which will keep the values growing, market moving and ECONOMY STABILIZING, which is what we all want isnt it? I would rather have the tax money being given back to people here than to build Dick Cheney a new oil pipeline in iraq with the blood of our soldiers!

Rusty, I'd say you're sitting on 200% equity because your 400K house is really only worth 200K. Let the market work. Until the average worker starts to move ahead, this economy will remain stuck in the ditch. Sorry but welfare for the wealthy is not the solution.

Finally, something that is fair. I am tired of being responsible and not benefiting when the government gives away money. I don't really agree with any money going to someone but if you are going to do it, do it fairly. I have been very responsible and am not in trouble financially. If a program exists it should be fair and across the board, otherwise don't do it.

A good idea – but make it refundable to teh government if the house is later sold for a gain.

This is an absolutely ridiculous idea. The $15K can easily be turned into $150K of purchasing power via 10:1 leverage. That means property prices will rise for a while until the program runs out. After that they will fall unless government ups the dosage, maybe in form of a $30K tax credit or $50K or $100K etc.
Anyway, if this becomes law I am going to unload my home on some unsuspecting sucker and stay in cash until the next housing bust. All this program does is generate the next wave of defaults. In the long run housing prices will get in line with incomes, no matter what the government does. It's the worst way to spend tax dollars. Simply burning the money would cause less damage to to our economy.

This is the only part of Obama's stimulus that STIMULATED the economy. The $35B would be returned in multiples. The housing market is the single area of the economy that could immediately effect all areas of the country.

This is not a good idea!

This is a terrific idea that will help people dubbed a HENRY. That is a High Earner Not Rich Yet. I make over $100,000 per year. However, my student loan payments are almost 2,000 per month. Do the math, and that takes me well below the current maximum income at which the first time home buyer tax credit phases out. Some people will say, like the author of this article, that I should not receive any benefits because I am already well to do and can clearly afford a home. However, I beg to differ. Living in a high priced area while hampered by student loans means that I am stuck renting at the moment. The proposed $15,000 tax credit would benefit many like myself, and also incentivize the few that are well off, to move their money, and purchase a home.

You are wrong saying only those who already can afford to move up would use the program. I'm sitting on a $400K with 100% equity, but until someone buys my house, I'm not moving even though I lots of equity. I would be a fool to buy a new home until I sell my current home. We need to free up the real estate market so those of us who are retired and want to move to FL can find a way to sell our homes up north to buy new ones in the south and west to stimulate growth again in the housing market!

I don't agree with Johnny Isakson about much but on this issue he is right. This recession/panic of 2008 started in the real estate market, rippling out to construction, mortgage banking, and anything else touching real estate. It will only be over when we have "fixed" the housing market–which the Senator's proposal would do–and the credit market–which is still dysfunctional and in deep denial.

With the amount of money that was wasted in the original "stimulus" package, at 35 billion this could have easily been included in the original bill and we would have been looking at a stabilized housing marketlong ago and healthier banks with pouring billions more into propping them up. Unfortunately the ineptness of Congress prevented something from happening because God forgive if everyone should get treated equally in this massive income redistribution equation. What a bunch of idiots.

Why can\'t something like this be reported on without the reporter\'s opinion being stated? Why can\'t CNN let me decide for myself who the \"big winners\" would be? Please be impartial and don\'t lead your readers…