If you're planning to buy a home this year in order to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, don't wait too long: Your home purchase has to close by December 1 of this year. (No, that's not New Year's Eve, it's the beginning of December.)
And if you've been researching this process at all, you know that actually closing a sale can take several weeks after you've made an offer and then you and the seller have signed a purchase agreement. Forty-five to 60 days is common.
So, realistically speaking, you'd want to be in contract to buy by October 1 of this year. it's hard to imagine as you head for the beach, but that's less than three months away.
Meanwhile, for one homeowner's clever idea of taking advantage of the tax credit by having his 22-year-old daughter be named as the buyer, see this Wall Street Journal article.
And if you've been researching this process at all, you know that actually closing a sale can take several weeks after you've made an offer and then you and the seller have signed a purchase agreement. Forty-five to 60 days is common.
So, realistically speaking, you'd want to be in contract to buy by October 1 of this year. it's hard to imagine as you head for the beach, but that's less than three months away.
Meanwhile, for one homeowner's clever idea of taking advantage of the tax credit by having his 22-year-old daughter be named as the buyer, see this Wall Street Journal article.
