Feb. 9 at 5:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Construction,
Earnings,
Housing,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
As earnings reports from homebuilders have dribbled out over the past few weeks, only one company gave a very specific and very positive shout-out to the Chicago market.
That company was M/I Homes Inc., the Columbus, Ohio-based builder that broke ground on its first suburban Chicago home less than three years ago and just finalized the purchase of its seventh local project, one designed to bring 146 town homes to Naperville.
Nationally, the inventory of new homes for sale dropped to 191,000 in December, the lowest number since 1968, according to the National Association of Home Builders. It dropped locally too, but at year’s end, there remained more than a year of available new homes on the market. Get the full story »
June 30, 2010 at 10:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Taxes
By Reuters
The U.S. Congress Wednesday approved a bill extending the closing deadline for homebuyers trying to take advantage of a popular tax credit. Homebuyers with contracts signed by April 30 who failed to go to closing by the June 30 deadline will now have until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases. Get the full story »
June 30, 2010 at 6:15 a.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Housing,
Jobs/employment
By Dow Jones Newswires
Senate Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday night that once again seeks to extend federal jobless benefits and a homebuyers’ tax credit, a week after a similar measure was defeated by lawmakers as part of a wider tax and benefit package. Get the full story »
June 29, 2010 at 4:15 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Housing,
Real estate,
Taxes
By Reuters
The House of Representatives Tuesday approved giving extra time to homebuyers trying to get a popular federal tax credit by the end of the month.
The House voted 409-5 to extend the closing deadline to Sept. 30 for buyers who met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current deadline requires those buyers to close the transaction by June 30 to receive the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Get the full story »
June 25, 2010 at 2:45 p.m.
Filed under:
Fraud,
Government,
Housing,
Taxes
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Another report is out looking at fraudulent activity related to the homebuyer tax credit and this one’s got a new wrinkle.
Almost 1,300 prisoners in jail – including 241 serving life sentences — wrongly received $9.1 million in credits for home purchases they purported to make while in jail. Another 2,555 improperly received $17.6 million for home purchases made before the tax credit became effective, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, 1.8 million taxpayers received $12.6 billion in homebuyer credits before March.
But that doesn’t mean 1.8 million homes were sold. The agency found that 10, 282 taxpayers received a credit for buying the same home as was used by other taxpayers for the credit. In fact, 67 taxpayers used one house. Auditors said the erroneous credits are likely to add up to tens of millions of dollars.
