Snow-in-the-MD-SuburbsThere are two types of people in the world:

  1. People who actively have their home on the market or are looking to purchasing a home.
  2. People who are thinking about becoming #1 people.

In today’s world, the US Government is trying to help #1 people achieve their goals.  They have the Home Buyer Tax Credit in place — $8,000 for the first-time home buyer and $6, 500 for the current or “move up” home buyer.  Both first-time home buyer and current home owner are a little over simplified since there are loopholes in both definitions but you get the general idea.

The home buyer tax credit helps the home buyer by providing a financial incentive that makes home buying more affordable or, at the very least, provides a little cash back to make home improvements or buy a nice big flat screen TV.  On the home selling side, it provides the seller with a slightly larger buyer pool.  More buyers = better chance your home will sell.

So What Does Snow Have To Do With It?

The catch is that home buyers need to have a fully executed (i.e., ratified) Contract of Sale no later than April 30th.  They need to have settled on the home of their dreams no later than June 30th.  The monster snow storms that have paralyzed the MD Suburbs is taking up valuable time that might otherwise be used to look for homes and initiate the negotiations leading to a ratified Contract of Sale.  In short, every day that passes by is another day lost.  The great countdown clock continues to click.

After all, the tax credit applies nationally.  There are large parts of the country where our snow doesn’t matter.  I’m thinking Florida.  I’m thinking Arizona.  You get the picture.

So, whenever we get a chance to finally dig out and start looking for homes, again, it’ll be important to realize and fully accept that time is limited and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it.  Wait.  I take that back.  You can get out there and make a decision: take the home buyer tax credit or blow it off.

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