The Stimulus! The Stimulus!

Got great news when I woke up this morning: the Senate unanimously passed an extension to the Housing Stimulus Bill. This means that if we close by April 30, we will get $8,000. I am so excited about this. It will give us extra money to purchase furniture, make improvements to the house, and save for a rainy day.

The particulars of this extension are different. The stimulus will be extended to some non-first-time home buyers, and the income maximus have been increased. I am jcrossing my fingers that the bill passes in the House and is signed soon.

Since we are going into the winter, there hasn't been that many houses coming into the market and nothing new for E & I to go look at. I am hoping this announcement motivates some sellers in the off season.

I am also hoping that this announcement does not stir up too much buyer competition: people don't like moving in the winter, right? I'd like to be able to shop for a house without feeling pressured or rushed by competing offers.

The Rush is Almost Over

I feel like E & I are the only people happy that the tax credit is about the expire. We constantly hear about all these people who are rushing to buy a house just to get the $8K stimulus. Thankfully, once Friday hits, it will be practically impossible for someone to buy a house in time to close by November 30th and get the stimulus. We are hoping this translates into a lot less competition in the market and possibly some more negotiating wiggle-room.


For now, it doesn't look like an announcement on extending the credit is coming, but the buzz in the REA world is that it will likely be extended through June. I hope that if extended, it doesn't cause another last-minute rush to buy. Then we can continue take our time looking at everything available and make a decision. We won't complain if we get $8K at the end of this, but we'd rather miss the deadline if it means finding the perfect house.

Here's to hoping that the end of the stimulus and the frigid Pittsburgh winter translates into a less-frustrating buying environment for us.

First Heartbreak

It was bound to happen. I fall in love with the idea of a house on paper and it gets snatched up before we can even go see it! We had an appointment to see a very nice house in a great neighborhood this Sunday. When I checked my listings today, the house was gone. Upon further investigation, the status had changed from Active to Contingent. I hate the "C" word!I guess it is bound to happen to us. It seems people everywhere are rushing to buy a house by the end of this month so that they can close within 30-days and get that $8,000 stimulus payment from the government.

E & I wanted to take our time and look at a lot of houses, a lot of neighborhoods and get a feel of what is important to us. Even if we find the perfect house this month, we don't want to go into contract until December, and our ideal closing date is sometime in early-March. Now I am getting nervous that come October 30th all the good houses will be snatched up by people rushing for the $8K.

Perhaps it would have been a better idea to wait until the end of the year to start looking, but we were too excited when we saw the pre-approval and the nice listings started to come in. What is one to do? Should we join the crazies in rushing the process for the sake of $8,000? Or should we stick to our plan and keep going slowly to make sure we know exactly what we want, knowing that we will likely miss out on great houses?