National Association of Realtors’ move:
This spring, many homes were sold prior to the April 30th expiration of the home buyer tax credits and the market took an upswing, but many fear that because these homes must close by June 30th, some buyers will not be granted the tax credit given that the timeliness of the lending process isn’t consistent.
Last week with news of improving pending home sales, we reported that the NAR has “asked Congress to provide flexibility on the deadline for closing” to help the buyers keep the tax incentives and Realtors can keep their deals from falling apart under conditions they cannot control.
Mixed reviews:
The news of NAR urging congress to take action has received mixed reviews with some bloggers crying foul and others supporting the move.
Real estate blogger Tom Royce said, “The reality is that when a business needs the government subsidies to function, it is not in a really good place. We all want the housing market to rebound. Agents, homeowners, potential homeowners, everyone.”
Despite how this extension makes the real estate sector appear, others are supporting the move for the sheer fact that loan officers are up against unprecedented difficulties in getting loans processed and most of it is outside the control of Realtors and their clients.
Most have strong feelings about NAR’s asking congress to extend the closing period for home buyers’ tax credits- do you support the move or do you not? We welcome you to comment below with your thoughts.
CC Licensed image courtesy of sheep purple via Flickr.com.
NAR needs to encourage the government to stop meddling in, manipulating and generally screwing up the real estate markets. Simple.
The tax credit was a short term fix that eroded consumer confidence, skewed pending sales numbers, and delayed market stabilization. Now the Realtors and Mortgage companies, who led the cheers for the credits are whining that they don’t have time to get the loans closed. Are they admitting that the real estate / mortgage industry cannot even plan 60 days into the future?
I vote with Jim Duncan, above. Government should stop meddling in the markets.
Embarrassing.
At this point in the game what’s the difference if we extend the closings that are needed due to circumstances beyond control of the buyer? It seems some underwriters and processors are behind. We need to let the rest of the market fall together with good old supply and demand so we can get Uncle Sam out of the real estate business.
Close what is already under contract, but no more hand outs from Uncle Sam! Our “Uncle” needs to see if this baby can walk, and we need to run as far away as we can!
At this point, underwriters are tooooooo slllooooow. It was unrealistic to expect closings to happen within 60 days. Since this is not permitting NEW tax credits from entering the system, I really don’t see the problem. There are a lot of sale pending that need to close with the tax credit. The bottom line is the disruption to buyers and sellers a like should many closings be disrupted due to a log jam with respect to underwriting.
What I’m hearing through the rail line is that closings delayed due to lender or other reason are still going to close, buyer wanted the tax credit but it wasn’t the reason they bought. I’m with Jim – let’s ease Uncle Sam back into his hole and let him stay there until we really need the massive lumbering government aparatus for something like, say, a little oil spill perhaps?
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Make of this what you will, but NAR’s Gov’t Affairs staff hasn’t posted anything about this request to Congress to any of its web pages at Realtor.org.
Moments later…
varealtor.com/news/2010/06/extension-on-deadline-to-close-claim-credit-in-the-works
Here’s a message from NAR Vice President and Liaison to Government Affairs, Vince Malta on this issue:
voicesofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2010/06/11/pitching-in-posted-by-vince/