Senate Passes Tax Credit Deadline Extension

It isn’t through the house yet, but apparently some Senators or their kids haven’t closed on their new house yet and they saw that thousands of people would lose out on the stimulus tax credit if something wasn’t done. While I love to sardonically suspect self interest, I don’t care what the motivation was, because we are halfway toward an extension which will have plenty of home buyers, including my own clients, exhaling in relief.

Often, delays are not the fault of the buyer, especially in lawyer-laden New York, where some attorneys don’t mix so well with deadlines. I shouldn’t pick on attorneys (although I can’t resist), because other delays could be lax agents, short sale red tape, and mortgage issues. If passed, the extension will be for 90 days, putting the closing deadline bat September 30, 2010.

Frankly, I don’t see a reason why they only gave people 60 days from April 30th in the first place now that I think of it.

Why have a deadline at all? What’s the harm in extending the credit for anyone who was under contract on April 30, 2010?