Congress passes unemployment extension bill HR 3548. Obama promises to sign into law

Today, Congress passed a bill that will expand the tax credit that was due to expire at the end of the month. Prospective homeowners who seek to buy a new home between now and April 2010 will be able to take advantage of this $6,500- $8,000 deduction in their taxes. Before, all eligible homeowners qualified for the tax credit $8000 but this is nowrestricted to first-time homeowners and families who haven't owned a home in 3 years.

There were a number of changes to this reauthorized law from the old one. In the old law, families who hadn't owned a home in 3 years were eligible for this tax credit if they decided to buy a new home. Now, families who have owned their home for 5 years are eligible. Lastly, the maximum income you can earn and be eligible was increased to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples from the previous amount of $75,000 and $150,000 respectively. Important to remember is that this tax deduction can only be applied when purchasing a primary residence....(chances are if you can afford multiple homes, you don't need assitance from the American taxpayer) and the value of the house is capped at $800,000.

Economists from the National Association of Realtors estimate that 2 million Americans will take advantage of this.