Erie Real Estate

1.4 Million Have Taken Advantage of First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

More claims are expected.

With the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit deadline quickly approaching, the IRS recently reminded potential home buyers they must complete their first-time home purchases before Dec. 1, 2009 to qualify for the special first-time home buyer credit.

The credit of 10% of the purchase price, up to $8,000 is generally available to home buyers with qualifying income levels who have never owned a home or have not owned one in the past three years.

If you have not made a purchse yet and are considering doing so, here are some details about the first-time home buyer credit.

Have you received your credit yet?

Grant to remove lead paint from homes

More than 200 property owners in Erie County will benefit from a new $4 million federal grant to control the hazards of lead paint in homes.  It’s being run by the city of Erie -- but the offer is open to any county resident.

Erie County was one of 15 communities nationwide to share in $48 million dedicated to removing hazardous lead from homes.  

The Erie Redevelopment Authority received such a large piece of the funding -- 8 percent of the total -- because it included both the city and county in its grant proposal.

 

The Redevelopment Authority and the city have received $6 million in two federal grants for lead abatement since 2006, but those funds were restricted to homes in the city. Lead-abatement work has been done on about 325 properties with that funding.

The city still has enough of that original funding to complete about 100 more homes by the end of 2010, said Jorge Alvear, who administers the program for the city.

To qualify, households must have a child younger than 6 and have low to moderate income. The homes must also have been built before 1978, the year lead-based paint was banned.

 

Lead Safe houses 2008.

PHFA tax-credit loan program out of funds

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s (PHFA) popular Tax Credit Advance Loan Program has run out of money.

According to Kate Newton, director of Homeownership Programs for PHFA, homebuyers took advantage of the program which provided an interest-free loan of up to $6,000 to use toward down payment and/or closing costs.

PHFA funded the tax credit monetization with $5 million of its own funding and cautioned homebuyers loan availability was limited.