It’s pretty difficult to tell. Some very official sources announced the idea of using the $8000 tax credit as a down payment. Then, on Tuesday, the 19th, a reporter for the Arizona Republic published an article saying that the down payment issue was reversed.
And, that article got recycled all over the Internet. However, they’re the only news source I can find that has the story. I did find this post at the HSH website, stating that the author had contacted the original reporter for more information.
So, I figure I’ll track the progress on his blog.
About the same time on Tuesday, CNN published this article describing the use of the tax credit for a downpayment.
I do wish folks would get their acts together – it’s very confusing for the rest of us!
4 Comments
May 21st, 2009 at 8:18 am
Hi Kathleen,
This is Tim Manni from blog.hsh.com. The current state of the program is that it is in purgatory if you will — it’s neither been nixed or implemented. After HUD made the speech which announced the program, the document which detailed the program (Mortgagee Letter 09-15) was pulled from their site (we have an official copy of the document on our blog).
What really surprises me is that HUD hasn’t come out and said anything about the program. The confusion, both internally and externally, is causing the real problems. I think the internal confusion is over what lenders can offer the program. The FHA has specific rules regarding down payment assistance — I’m wondering if that’s what caused HUD to delay the program and study it more.
I’ll be sure to keep you posted on whatever else I hear, if you could do the same that would be great.
Thanks,
Tim
May 21st, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hi Tim,
Thanks for stopping by. I agree – this is silly. HUD or someone should at least announce something – tell us they’re not sure but they’re working on it… anything would be better than this void.
I’ll be sure to let you know if I hear anything, but right now, I don’t know who to contact!
Thanks again,
Kathleen
May 21st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Hi Kathleen,
Here’s the latest (http://blog.hsh.com/?p=4005): National Association of Realtors published this from a HUD spokesman:
News reports that the federal government is backing away from its plan to permit eligible borrowers to monetize the first-time homebuyer tax credit are off the mark, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says.
“The technical details are still being finalized and will soon be published in a mortgagee letter and posted on our Web site,” Lemar Wooley, a HUD spokesperson, told REALTOR® Magazine Wednesday afternoon.
Not much, but as of now HUD says the program will be out, but as usual, we don’t know when.
Thanks,
Tim
May 21st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Tim – Thanks so much for the update. I’m glad they’re going to do something about it, and I can understand that it might take some time to finalize the “technical details”.
Hope that gets accomplished sometime before the tax credit expires!
Kathleen