Time Running Out

The tax credit for first-time home buyers expires Nov. 30. Because deals can take up to 60 days to close, now is the time to buy.

Real estate agents almost always advise that now is the right time to buy a house.
For first-time buyers hoping to seal the deal before the government's $8,000 tax credit expires Nov. 30, that advice is timely - and right on the money.

From contract to closing, real estate transactions typically take 45 to 60 days. But you cannot claim the credit - 10 percent of the purchase price up to $8,000, with specific income caps - if you have not made settlement by November's end.

Despite tighter credit and lenders' demands for more and more documentation, "it still can be done in six weeks," said Re/Max Town & Country agent Lynn Ayers in West Chester.

But buying sooner is better than later, observers in the Philadelphia area market say, since housing prices appear to be stabilizing, even rising, as are 30-year fixed mortgage rates (now about 5.14 percent), both of which threaten to make houses less affordable.

"I've been looking seriously for about a month," said Tisha Miller, 30, a counselor for the Family Training Program in Philadelphia, who has been renting in Center City for nine years.

"I'm hoping to have everything completed by November," said Miller, who wants a two-bedroom house with outdoor space for about $300,000, assisted by money inherited from a grandfather.

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