SellAustinTexas

On Saturday, the Austin Statesman wrote about first time homebuyers taking advantage of the tax credit. The group includes many young professionals who may not have made a home purchase without the incentive, like 25 year old Helen Rodriguez, who says, “it’s the cushion that made me comfortable making this purchase at this point in my life. Without it, I don’t think I would have been comfortable buying.”

Others also include some artists and other creative entrepreneurs, like Tim and Carli Price. They had been house hunting for two years but “could never find anything in our price range that wasn’t ready for a bulldozer,” he says. But after the tax credit, they were able to find an affordable home that met or exceeded all their expectations.

Mortgage companies in Austin are reporting on how many first time buyers the credit is bringing in – about 45% of Sente Mortgage’s loans were to this group, according to Vice President Kenton Brown. “That’s a majority of the purchase activity we’re seeing now.” He says the credit is “creating a trickle-up effect,” that is, allowing home owners to sell their starter homes and move into larger ones.

“Not only does it get first-timers in the market as homebuyers,” says Don Reed, senior loan officer at Integrity Home Mortgage in Austin, “but the tax credit acts as a boost to consumer spending when they get their refund check from the IRS.”

For all the benefits of the tax credit, buyers need to be aware that the deadline is coming and action needs to happen now to take advantage of it. “Don’t dawdle — it takes at least four to five weeks to process a mortgage application and hold the closing,” the Statesman writes. Also, a bump in interest rates is looming: some experts say to expect it next summer, some say sooner. Ed Solter, president of Presidential Mortgage Co. in Austin, is expecting a 1% bump in the first quarter of 2010. Even if legislators were to pass an extension or even expansion of the tax credit, it’ll come paired with higher rates. Now is the time to start your home hunting if you also want to take advantage of these great deals.