South Lake Tahoe real estate first time home buyers now have an extra incentive and some help with their down payment. According to Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.
Secretary Donovan said that important changes, which the National Association of Realtors has been calling for, will help consumers purchase a home. “We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer
tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment,” Donovan said. According to Donovan , the FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.
Donovan also goes on to say that the housing market appears to be stabilizing and that the rapid decline in home prices starting to abate.
This information was provided by the National Association of Realtors.
Enabling first time home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as part of the down payment on FHA loans should bring more buyers into the market. I would also agree with Donovan in that the real estate market is stabilizing. There are currently 82 houses in South Lake Tahoe that are in escrow out of 469. With 17% of our current housing inventory is in escrow, this is the highest percentage that it has been all year. There are also 27 foreclosure listings in South lake Tahoe, and 19 of them are in escrow. We are once again seeing multiple offer situations on foreclosures and short sales.
For more information regarding South Lake Tahoe real estate, foreclosures in South Lake Tahoe, and the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit, call Brent Johnson today!
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