|
We need your assistance urgently to get as many calls as possible into Senator Isakson’s office today and early next week (or as soon as possible, even if that means next week). Here’s why:
Senator Isakson led the charge to get a homebuyer tax credit included in the housing stimulus bill. His tax credit, however, was ultimately limited to FORECLOSED homes. We really appreciate his hard work, which led to us getting a better tax credit in the House that applies to ALL homes.
The House and the Senate are negotiating now on the final stimulus package, including what a home buyer tax credit will look like. Senator Isakson is encouraging Senate negotiators to focus the final tax credit on FORECLOSED homes and NEW homes permitted after September 1. He does not want to extend the tax credit to ALL homes, as was done in the House-passed bill.
I realize your first reaction may be to ask, why do we care about existing homes? So, I should explain. A tax credit that does not include existing home puts those homes at a price disadvantage. This means that any current homeowner who is trying to move up to a larger, perhaps new, home will face greater problems selling their house. It means they will have to reduce the price of their existing home to compete with tax credit eligible foreclosed homes. Existing (and new, for that matter) homes are already competing against foreclosed homes, which are being sold at significantly reduced prices. If these homes also come with a tax credit, it will continue the downward pressure on existing home prices. And that may even spill over and affect the appraised values of your new homes. Our economists strongly believe that the best way to revive the entire housing market is to offer a tax credit for ALL homes—new, existing, and foreclosed. If the tax credit makes it harder for some people to sell their existing homes, it only solves part of the problem while creating a new problem. In fact, some economists believe creating a tax credit only for foreclosed and new homes could actually encourage additional foreclosures. In contrast, a first-time homebuyer tax credit, for the purchase of a new or existing home, brings buyers to the market who do not bring a home to sell, thereby helping to solve our inventory challenge.
This is why he needs to hear from as many people as possible that the tax credit should apply to ALL homes.
So, we need to get calls into his office with this simple message:
Please thank Senator Isakson for his leadership in advancing the homebuyer tax credit in the Senate. And please ask him to support a tax credit for ALL homes.
It’s best that these calls go into his DC office, which is reached at 202-224-3643.
The key on this is the volume of calls from different individuals. So please call yourself, have your staff call, and pass this along to your membership.
Again, Senator Isakson has done so much work to introduce the idea of a tax credit in the Senate. We really appreciate his efforts. Now we need Congress to finish work on this bill and include a tax credit for all homes. I really appreciate any assistance you can give us on getting that message to his office.
Please contact me with any questions.
Thanks, JP
J.P. Delmore
Federal Legislative Director
National Association of Home Builders
(202) 266-8412
Fax: (202) 266-8572
|
