Home builders, others try to gain president-elect’s ear
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Home builders are off to a quick start, urging president-elect Barack Obama and lawmakers to get moving on a second stimulus package during the lame-duck session.
From a statement released today by the National Assn. of Home Builders:
To provide short-term targeted incentives that will help put a floor on home prices and encourage Americans to buy homes again, NAHB is urging Congress to provide: -- A 10% home buyer tax credit up to a maximum of $22,000, depending on the FHA loan limit in a given market. Available to all buyers who purchase a home over the next year, the tax credit would not have to be repaid by the buyer and would replace the temporary $7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit due to expire on July 1, 2009. -- An interest-rate buy down on conforming loans for all families purchasing a home through the end of 2009. The plan would reduce the interest rate to 2.99% on 30-year mortgages for homes purchased through June 30, 2009; the interest rate would increase to 3.99% on contracts closed between July 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009.
But the builders weren’t the first to get their oars in the water, the Alliance to Save Energy on Wednesday urged the president-elect to fulfill his campaign promise ‘to make building a sustainable energy future for America a key priority upon taking office in January’ in a statement from the coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders.
-- Lauren Beale
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