I’d love to have a link to an IRS advisory that says getting your downpayment as a gift from a family member influences your eligibility for the credit. If you have one…please post it. If not, then it is not a “legitimate point” in response to Mike’s comment.

Perhaps there is a provision addressing this issue that I am not aware of, so please do post it if you think there is such a requirement.

Simply being angry at someone who is eligible for the credit is not “a legitimate point”. Being angry at the credit, but not the person. That is a main rule on every blog…attack the issue NOT the person.

The guy made a legitimate point.

No blog that I know of permits one comenter to attack another personally. I thought it was more important in this case to figure out why b thought Mike was “gaming the system”. If you are eligible and honest, you are not “gaming the system.

You should borrow b’s avatar David. It suits you

It is interesting that you thought about deleting the b comment. It shows a bias of this site.

Why do people think an agent gets “6% of it”? That is SO not true. You would be wise to check your facts before getting so bent out of shape about things that aren’t true. You’ll be a happier person if you do.

“It is to spur new home buyers from the fence with a subsidy for their housing.”

Mike is a first time home buyer. If the parents were going to live there, you would be correct. But if Mike is going to live there and make the monthly payments, and it will be his home as far as his parent’s are concerned, then all is well with the world. It’s obvious he is buying the house…no one would be as happy as he is if he weren’t the one buying it. No one is that happy to help their parents do anything

As to the rest of your comment, the gaming is about the gift tax due on the gift for downpayment, not the $8,000 credit issue. Last I looked parents can gift $10,000 each to Mike without gift tax. If the 20% down is more than that, then maybe they are skirting the gift tax laws, but not the $8,000 first time buyer provision. If you were harping about that…I’d be more with you.

“Would you prefer I talk about this with a smiley face avatar?”

Absolutely, yes, anything but what you are using. A dog, a cat, a big hairy monster…your avatar creeps me out and adds a negative tone before we even see what you are saying. Please, please change your avatar. I would very much appreciate it.

“an anonymous invester loaning the money…”

No problem. Who cares who is financing the purchase? Private 3rd party loans are fine. You are too hung up on how Mike is able to buy it. The fact that he is a 1st time buyer, buying a home, is the purpose of the credit.

If he meets all of the criteria set out by the IRS, and he is honest about it all, then you have to right to make him feel guilty. He’s not hiding where the downpayment is coming from, and the IRS doesn’t ask where the downpayment is coming from, to the best of my knowledge.

As long as he is honest, and qualifies, you shouldn’t be angry.

Again, the issue here that they are “skirting” is the gift tax on the gift of downpayment funds, not the homebuyer credit issue.

You answered my own query in your rant about the credit. Listen, I understand you get 6% of it, so you have to defend it. But look at your point #4. What are you saying there? You are saying he is not the buyer of the property, someone else is. You are pointing out exact what my problem is, this is proxy-buying of properties to take a credit that was designed to help real first time home buyers, not second home buyers who let their kids live in it. If it isn’t need based, why is it designed only for first time home buyers within certain income limits? It is to spur new home buyers from the fence with a subsidy for their housing. If it was just to sell homes, then it would be for anyone buying a house and there would be no income limit. Why is it you have to structure the transaction in various ways to qualify for the credit? If it was just for anyone buying a home, why would they need to change how they buy it to qualify?

As to my avatar, please don’t read too much into it. It has nothing to do with this forum or a “chip on my shoulder”. Would you prefer I talk about this with a smiley face avatar? Would that make you listen to what I am actually saying? My asking people to think about why they are taking the credit is to spur their thinking. This is not just money falling from trees, it is coming from every taxpayer in the country. When people take of advantage of the system they are taking from their neighbor for their own personal greed. Would you be fine with these type of transactions if it was an anonymous investor loaning all of the money to buy the home, instead of a relative? Somehow I doubt it.

If you have a political hangup with the way the credit was structured, or that there is a credit at all, that’s no excuse for beating up on happy Mike because you don’t think he “should be” eligible.

The credit has absolutely nothing to do with “monetary need” and you of all people should know that, as you seem to be against it being used to help someone buy who could not buy without it. I agree with you on that.

The way I see it:

1) Your skull and crossbones avatar suggests you enter “the room” with a chip on your shoulder

2) You want prices to plummet so that you can afford to buy something you like someday, and government incentives aimed at propping up home prices make you angry that the government is interfering with a deeper market downturn that would help you.

3) You want to know why helping people who are buying and able (by any means) to buy, is more important than helping people who are not able to buy.

4) As to “skin in the game” step-dad with 20% skin in the game is going to continue to be supportive if Mike has a problem making a payment somewhere along the line. There is “skin in the game” from the lender’s perspective. 20% skin…lots of skin.

5) The $8,000 is not a subsidy for the poor, there are other programs for that, like the $10,000 downpayment assistance House Key Program. The $8,000 is not a need based credit, it is an incentive for fence sitters to buy to prop up the economy, not to aid the poor.

I think you should apologize to Mike for raining on his parade, and making him feel guilty for availing himself of an available tax credit, unless you see some legitimate reason in the tax code suggesting he shouldn’t. If you don’t like the tax code as written, go write that on some political blog.

I am empathetic with your situation and understand that “the greater good” is difficult. Is the greater good to prop up home prices and keep them from falling further? Is the greater good a steeper drop in home prices downward, to assist the next generation of home buyers, those who don’t have family assistance to purchase?

My guess is you are not in favor of the credit…period. Not because of the credit, because Bush had a credit too, and no one seemed to notice it much. I think people who are angry at the credit are angry because it is working. I think you would be happier if more homebuyers would continue to wait it out.

Let’s talk about you…not Mike. What is making you so angry generally speaking? Angry enough to present yourself as a dead man whose bones have been picked clean in your avatar. What vultures turned your human side into a skull and crossbones? What is preventing you from being a happier person?

We are listening.