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The first-time home buyer tax credit ends November 30th, 2009. Sounds like you still have some time right? Not really. In fact, you need to start looking for a house this week just to ensure you won’t miss the deadline and pay $8,000 more. This is why:

Timeline for Getting the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

You have 77 days before November 30 starting today.

Out of those 77 days – 22 days are weekends. This is significant because although your realtor works weekends and so does your lending company – the government does not. Which means, if you find this amazing cheap house that was a government foreclosure you want to go look at and it’s a Friday afternoon, you have to wait another 2-3 days before getting access to see it. Trust me; it happened to me this past weekend. Oh, and some of the best properties I’ve seen are government foreclosures because they’re valued at half of what they’re worth. Also, your realtor may not work weekends, or has personal stuff going on during weekends.

So now you’re down to 55 days. In those 55 days, take out Veteran’s Day and Columbus Day, because the many businesses are closed or at the very least the government is closed.

In the 53 days you have left, take out 3 days for Thanksgiving. People take half a day off before and usually that Friday after is taken off too for shopping, either way many people take off these days and doing business during this time is nearly impossible.

So in the 50 days you have, you need to find a realtor, find many homes, go to showings to check out all the homes, begin bidding on the homes, get inspections, get pre-approved, get the loan, begin the paperwork, and close the loan all before November 30th. This is assuming all parties are working all of the 50 days, and that your realtor never has a time conflict.

Why You are Running Out of Time

A month and half to do all of this is insane, because you know life, and you know your realtor is going to be busy with other clients, that work suddenly gets twice as busy and the next thing you know – it’s November 1st and you don’t have enough time to close on the loan… if only you had more time, you could have saved $8,000.

According to vice-president of Quicken Loans Stephen Luigi Piazza, “It’s the best buyer’s market in your lifetime, and perhaps in U.S. history.” For more information, check out our First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Video.

So don’t make the mistake by not starting now. Also, if you’re looking at foreclosures or short sales, the process may take even longer so you really have to find a house by next week at the latest. Keep in mind, setting up showings takes 24 hours, so usually if you find a house you’d like to see, it’s a 24-48 hour delay. Also, bidding on HUD homes take 3-5 days to find out if you got it or not.

Moral of the story, when you need to work with multiple parties on a deal, it takes time. Relying on your realtor, the selling party, and the bank becomes a lot more stressful if you don’t have enough time, because there are many aspects you don’t have time control over in buying a home. So stop procrastinating and hesitating, and start the process today.

• Get started buying a home with the Quicken Loans Home Buying Center.
• Get started refinancing your mortgage with the Quicken Loans Home Buying Center.
• Not sure of your credit score? Get a free credit report from Quizzle.

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