Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) voted with his colleagues in the House of Representatives in support of H.R. 5623, “The Homebuyers Assistance & Improvement Act,” legislation directed at amending the Homebuyer’s Tax Credit, a major Recovery Act initiative. This fully paid for legislative action aims to extend the time frame for processing so that thousands more applicants can receive this critical funding.

“This bill makes an important amendment to the homebuyer incentive, which is good news for both our neighborhood and nation’s economy,” said Congressman Higgins.  “It provides fairness for Americans who purchased a home before the April 30th deadline in order to secure the tax credit, by making sure they are not unfairly punished because their closing date has slipped due to circumstances beyond their control.”

In November 2009, Congress passed the “The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009” which extended the successful First-Time Homebuyer Credit Program to include home purchases from Nov. 30, 2009, to April 30, 2010. The law provided that if a buyer enters into a binding contract by April 30, 2010, the buyer has until June 30, 2010, to settle on the purchase.  Due to the high volume of buyers, this most recent legislation further amends the law to extend the processing date to October 1, 2010 so that all qualified homebuyers will be included.

Through this tax credit program, “first-time homebuyers” may receive up to $8,000.  Additionally, the law provides that “long-time residents,” who have owned and used the same house for at least five consecutive years, may receive up to $6,500.  The National Association of Realtors estimates that approximately 9,190 home sales in the State of New York would be delayed beyond the June 30 deadline.  Furthermore, without Congressional action to extend the program date, up to 180,000 homebuyers nationally will lose their tax credit through no fault of their own.