First Time Homebuyers Building a New Atlanta Home Need to Act Now

NEWS UPDATE: The $8000 Tax Credit was Expanded on 11/5/09. Now both first-time homebuyers and move-up buyers have the opportunity to take advantage of this Federal program.

The Atlanta real estate market is full of first time homebuyers thanks to the $8,000 home buyer tax credit. However, if your intentions are to build your home from the ground up, then your time is quickly running out. The parameters of the first time home buyer tax credit say that you the home must be purchased on or after Jan 1, 2009 but before Dec 1, 2009 – meaning you have until November 30. Well, in regards to new home construction, having a sales contract is not sufficient for receiving the first-time home buyer tax credit. Instead, the move in date of the homeowners is considered the purchase date.

Professional home builders suggest that building a home from scratch can take anywhere from four to six months depending on the floor plan and location. Of course, Atlanta is full of new home builders that are willing and wanting to work with first-time home buyers to make this deadline, but even so, time is getting down to the wire since November 30 is only seven months away. You must also take into consideration the amount of time invested on the front end – researching a community, builder, location, floorplan, features, etc. The point is, you need to start this process NOW to ensure you will meet the deadline at the end of the year.

It is important that home buyers understand the time requirements and get the process started with a home builder today if they want their new home completed in time to claim the tax credit. More information about the federal housing tax credit can be found at this Web site.