Home Buyer Tax Credit

My parents first house pictured above was purchased with the benefit of The G.I. bill. A cozy little house with no frills; just the basics. Government programs have a history of helping first time homeowners to stimulate the economy. Lots of fond memories thanks to the program that allowed my folks to purchase their first home.

The good news is First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit has been extended and broadened. First time home buyer credit will help many young couples (or singles) as well as those wanting to move up. The extension allows for tax credits up to $8,000.00 for all first-time buyers who purchase a home on or after January 1, 2010 AND on or before April 30, 2010; (closing date deadline is June 30th).

Qualifying income limits have also been broaden to $125,000.00 from $75,000.00 for those filing single tax returns; and to $225,000.00 from $150,000.00 to married couples filing a joint return. Clearly this opens this benefit to more perspective buyers. Tax credits of $6,500.00 for current home owners wishing to move up are also available, with some restrictions about how long you've owned your current home.

Two most commonly asked questions are probably-- what's the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction, and if the credit is up to $8,000.00 how do I know how much my credit will be?

• A tax credit reduces the amount of tax you owe, while a tax reduction lowers the income base you pay tax on. It's important you understand this difference.
• The credit is 10% of the purchase price of the home, up to $8,000.00.
  

A friend of our daughters did this instead of watching rent fly out the window. Had our daughter not been moving at the time, we would have suggested she do the same.

File IRS form 5405 with your Federal Tax Return to take advantage of this program, and happy house hunting.

It's always something

Hubby's hand you see with screwdriver in hand working on the vent for the light/fan combo vent in the bathroom. Our bathroom is small, so venting it a huge deal. Very necessary in fact to try and stay a wee bit ahead of mildew. Our fan was making noise like a hurt animal. It was awful, made that noise when you turned in on and off; though once it got going it calmed down. In years past when this needed to be replaced, it was pretty easy screw off replace, screw on. No more, apparently. Our vent whole is a different size than those now made, and since ours is a combination light and fan outlet that too presents problems for those replacements that only one or the other. No doubt due to the age of our house this has become an issue. But, hubby's pretty hand and took a fan off one unit and put on another...or at least I think that's what I understood him to say.

Thanks Hubby, it sounds sooooooooo much better.

Does anyone ever feel like everything is done at their house? Seems just as you get one item taken care of, another needs your attention. He always says, "The joys of home ownership."

Snow fun when you're Young

Let me show you how to do it Mom
This shovel's heavy
I can run with it
She's taking my picture
Some of you might recognize my cute little guy. He's growing and so helpful around the house. lol I took these photo's looking out my window having fun watching him in his p.j.'s shoveling the drive. Kids are sooooooooo much fun.

Snow Days are Different

Schools are closed today, (or were the day I took this photo). This is a schedule post, so the day was a few days ago. We've gotten fresh snow every day now for a couple of weeks. It's pretty, but very cold. This was taken out my dining room door window. Right through the glass before I even had my first cup of coffee. Can you feel the cold? The snow isn't so much why the kids had the day off from school, but the strong winds which made the chill well below zero for kids standing waiting on a school bus.

I remember how excited my daughter would get as a kid when there was a snow day. Our routine then was to bundle up, and go for pancakes a local old dinner. She was out of school the day before this when St. Louis got socked with even colder temperatures then we had here in Ohio. That's pretty weird, normally they're warmer. She's now a school teacher; some things never change. She was still pretty excited to have a snow day. lol; though she spent the day grading papers, writing lesson's plans and getting a bit done from home.