Is there any movement in Congress to extend the $8000 home buyer tax credit?

[bluestateguy]

Is anybody talking about extending it, or are they planning to just let it expire?

I am just asking, not taking a position on the issue.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Time for renters to get some kind of break. nt

[BadgerKid]

5. Also check with your state.

Eons ago when I paid rent in Wisconsin, I got a state tax break.

[katanalori]

2. Here is what I have heard:

NO plans to extend it - it appears that it WILL expire on April 30.

Short sales are being encouraged, govt. $$$ to be given to banks (and a little bit to homeowners vacating). This will be expensive, so I wouldn't count on any extension of the $8000 tax credit.

[Lost4words]

3. this is a plan thats helps people who can get credit for a home.

I would say they are doing a good deal better than those living under a bridge. Just like cash for clunkers, it helped the auto cos and people doing well enough to buy a new car.

Neither plan did shit for those of us that needed help the most. I trying to see a difference between Obama and Bush but it is negligible. Both seem to favor industry.

[Cal Carpenter]

7. Same with the Making Home Affordable program

I refinanced my mortgage a couple months ago to lower my rate. It was at 6.75% and I knew I could get it lower, and any closing costs would pay for themselves quickly.

I was not 'underwater', nor was I at risk of missing payments. I have equity. I am (thankfully) employed and living modestly, affordably. I just wanted to lower my payment by one or two hundred bucks if possible.

So I went through the whole process to get refinanced - worked with someone at a local bank who a friend referred me to. Had all my papers in order, got locked in at 4.25%. All was well.

Two days before closing, I was told in an offhand way that I was in the Making Home Affordable program. Didn't really think or worry about it, but later I looked it up and realized this is the program that is supposed to be saving people from foreclosure. I still don't know why I was enrolled, if it helped me get a better rate or what...I've looked all over the website for it and I still don't know.

But what it shows me is that people being 'helped' by these federal programs aren't the ones who need it the most. It's crumbs for the middle class. I'm sort of irritated that I count as a 'success' statistic for this program. Cash for clunkers is another example of this. Is it helping the single mom with three jobs get around faster so she can spend more time with her kids? No, she's still spending hours a day waiting for the bus just to pay the bills, and her credit's no good so no car dealer is going to give her a loan with or without a little federal check.

Whereas even the programs that are really 'supposed' to reach the neediest people don't work, in my experience. I'm associated with a nonprofit in my area that works with a lot of at-risk teens. Part of the stimulus was supposed to fund programs like this one to create paid internships for these type of kids. So this organization signed up to participate, and they were given about 2 weeks to line up the kids and get all the paperwork in order. Well, these are street kids, ya know? Real rough backgrounds. And these kids needed to have certified birth certificates or original social security cards in order to get into the program. Are you shitting me? Like these kids even have the $15 or whatever to pay for the copies of things, and to get bus fare to get to the office. These are kids who have no parents to speak of, no advocates. Well, the organization did it's best and managed to get 3 or 4 of the kids qualified in time, and ended up paying out of pocket for the other 10 or 15 kids because they didn't want to have to kick them out of the internship program. The feds won't reimburse the money to the organization because they didn't have the paperwork ready in time.

I know these are just anecdotes but I haven't heard anything to imply that my experience is an exception.

It's more rhetoric and crumbs than it is any sort of expanded opportunities for the people who really need it. These programs only sound good to people who don't need them.

[sandnsea]

4. It was extended from Nov 30

I haven't heard anything else. I hope so because I think there are going to be a lot of people who will have to move for work and this would help a lot.

[SocialistLez]

6. Nope but what would be nice

is if we could get banks to work with people and not foreclose on their homes.
Let people pay the mortgage on the WORTH of the home.

It's stories like this that show the banks are behaving stupidly.
"AFTER YOU made an offer to repurchase the house, which was rejected, and then forced to move out, the bank sold the house. How much did they end up selling the house for?

IN MARCH 2009, they sold it for $175,000--less than what we had offered to pay."

(Emphasis mine)
Source:http://socialistworker.org/2010/04/02/when-we-fight-we-win