Congress Fails to Include Housing Credit in “Stimulus Bill”

A few days ago we reported that Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia had added an up to $15,000 federal tax credit to the so-called “Stimulus Bill.” I just check Senator Isakson’s website, and here is the bad news:

“This economic stimulus bill is yet another example of Congress throwing money at the symptoms but not getting to the root of the problem. This economic decline began in housing and it will only end when the housing market rebounds,” Isakson said. “I’m extremely disappointed the members of Congress negotiating the final package decided to eliminate my $15,000 tax credit for all Americans who purchase a home. I will continue to pursue my proposal as stand-alone legislation. We have historical precedent that shows this idea works and there has been so much public support for it. I believe my colleagues will go home next week and their constituents will ask them why a tax credit for all buyers and all homes wasn’t included in the final stimulus bill. I’m optimistic it can still be done.”

We advised that you delay your closing in case the bill passed. Sadly, it did not. I’m not very political, so I’m not going to get on a soap box, but as Senator Isakson said, there was historic evidence that such a proposal would work, while much of what’s left in the bill has historic evidence that it will not work.

The bill would have been positive for the housing market. Let’s hope other initiatives to stimulate the housing market will come through in the next few months. We definitely need some stimulus to clear the excess of Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach and Port Orange Homes from the market.

There have been some other signs of positive news in the past week:

• Retail sales were actually up by 1% in January
• Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s, predicted that home prices will stop falling later this year.

Some positive news in the sea of bad news is good. I also had two contracts accepted by the lenders this week. Daytona Beach real estate is selling at a better rate than last year. We are up 77 properties over the same time last year.

Technorati Tags Daytona Beach Real Estate, Housing Tax Credit, Port Orange Homes

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