Homebuyers rush to take advantage of tax credits

April 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

Real-estate agents are working seven days a week, builders are staying open late, and homebuyers are scrambling to get their offers in as they rush to take advantage of tax credits that expire at midnight today.

To qualify, buyers must have a signed contract in hand by the deadline and must complete the deal by June 30.

The tax incentives — offered to both first-time buyers and some current homeowners — are fueling a strong spring selling season and helping home prices stabilize. Real-estate agents hope the burst in activity, along with the lifting of general economic gloom, will propel the housing market for the rest of the year.

“It’s been a great thing for us,” said Andrew Dielmann, owner of Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty in St. Louis. “I would love to be a first-time homebuyer right now.”

In Houston, transit mechanic Stan Henderson, 51, is buying his first home, a three-bedroom, $104,995 house from builder KB Home that is still under construction. Affordable prices and low mortgage rates were part of the draw, he said, but the tax credit “was the straw that stirred the drink.”

Congress included the temporary tax credit in the $787 billion stimulus package signed into law a month after President Barack Obama took office last year. The idea was to bring the housing market back to life. Lawmakers, after intense lobbying from the real- estate industry, agreed last fall to extend it until April 30.

Nearly 1.8 million households had used the credit as of mid-February.