$7500 Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers------Good or Bad?????
By Alan J. Heavens
RISMEDIA, August 22, 2008-(MCT/RISMedia)-So I get a phone call from an angry reader who complains that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act’s $7,500 tax credit to first-time buyers is a sham.
“It’s just a zero-interest loan!” the fellow shouts loudly into the receiver, as if I’m responsible for the actions of Congress. “The least they could have done was given us a gift!”
“When it comes to the overall bill, part of it is very good and the other part of it is just a band aid. I’m always hesitant when the government gets involved,” says Charles A. McDonald, associate broker at RE/MAX Assured Properties in Charlottesville, Virginia. “But for a first-time home buyer, the tax credit is a good thing because it’s really not a tax credit; it’s really an interest-free loan. If you look at it from that perspective, it’s a nice incentive for the first-time home buyers or people that need some assistance in purchasing a home.”
Yes, the tax credit technically is a zero-interest loan that you will repay to the government over 15 years, starting two years after the credit is claimed, at $500 a year.
This article goes on for awhile. Please give me a call or email and I will happily send it to you in its entirety.
Bottom Line....it is a GOOD thing!!
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