Home » Frugal Living Forums » Let's talk! » Personal Finance

Was the Home Buyers Tax Credit a good thing?

3 replies
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 14:55
Kay's picture
User offline. Last seen 4 days 8 hours ago. (Offline)
Joined: 12/19/2008
Posts: 1073

Not everyone's convinced that the credit, which was for up to $8K, did any good. It expired in April.

"The tax credit did distort the home sales patterns over the last year," says Celia Chen, director of housing economics at Moody's Analytics, a research firm. "The credit had a limited effect, just pushing forward buying rather than increasing demand. You can see the influence of that in the severe drop-off of home sales after the credit expired."
Over the long run, the credit may even have made things worse. Some sellers may have been misled into thinking conditions were improved and that therefore they should put their homes up for sale, contributing to the problem of excess inventory.

 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129574881
What do you think?


The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash. ~Author Unknown

Top

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 19:40
#1
bringmeroses's picture
User offline. Last seen 7 hours 54 min ago. (Offline)
Joined: 03/07/2009
Posts: 876
Re: Was the Home Buyers Tax Credit a good thing?

I think this is right. It was nice for the people that got the credit but in the long term, how does that help them? They could have jumped in and bought a property they wouldn't have just to get that and now it's gone. They still have to come up with the mortgage payment every month whereas they might have stayed where they were and continued renting.


When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a rose with the other.

Top
Sun, 09/05/2010 - 10:56
#2
cookiefan's picture
User offline. Last seen 1 day 5 hours ago. (Offline)
Joined: 12/24/2008
Posts: 825
Re: Was the Home Buyers Tax Credit a good thing?

All it did was fudge the numbers as far as I'm concerned and make the housing market look in less trouble than it was.
Some banks are now offering government and non profit groups a headstart with foreclosure properties by letting them know about them 48 hours before anyone else. I don't think that's fair at all! Why shouldn't you and I get the chance to get a bargain at the same time as they do? Families need a break too.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-09-01-local-groups-foreclosures_N.htm


Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.
- Samuel Johnson

Top
Tue, 09/07/2010 - 21:57
#3
greenmachine's picture
User offline. Last seen 4 days 11 hours ago. (Offline)
Joined: 12/20/2008
Posts: 921
Re: Was the Home Buyers Tax Credit a good thing?

Cookiefan, I can see why they would give them a fair crack of the whip if it would give a whole section a boost, like a half empty mall and they planned to fill several slots.
 
For ordinary domestic properties though, we could buy them the same as they could and it would have the same effect of preventing a neighborhood from being dragged down by too many empty homes. We could probably get the go-ahead faster too. 
 
 


Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are. - Alfred Austin

Top