IRS Form for Claiming the $7,500 Homebuyer Tax Credit

A few months ago, I did a post on the $7,500 homebuyer tax credit, which is part of the Housing & Economic Recovery Act of 2008 or H.R. 3221.  You can see those posts here:

 Way’s to Use $7,500 Tax Credit as a Downpayment

How the Tax Credit Applies to New Construction
 
Quick Faxts about the $7,500 Homebuyer Tax Credit

Now that it is tax time, I’ve received a few questions regarding how to file for the tax credit.  So attached to this post is the appropriate IRS Form and instructions for filing for the tax credit.  It is IRS Form 5405 Homebuyer Tax Credit.  The form includes instructions for how to complete it for those of you who file your taxes yourself. 

Even if you have already filed your taxes, you can go back and amend your tax return if you were eligible for the credit, but did not file for it.  I’ve had a couple of people e-mail me who asked about this and were able to amend their return without any problem. 

I’ve also received a question about someone who is eligible for the return, but their spouse has an IRS lien.  If the lien is against one spouse, then you may be able to file separately.  But if you are able to do this, you will only qualify for $3,750 of half of the tax credit.  This was done to make certain that spouses filing separately wouldn’t receive $15,000 by filing for the full $7,500 rebate.  If you have other specific questions, please look at my previous posts first.  If what you are looking for isn’t there, please post a comment, and I’ll be sure to answer it.

Joseph Griffin

Buyer’s Agents? Seller’s Agents? Listing Agents? A quick guide to Agency Law in North Carolina Real Estate

There is some confusion today in North Carolina about who the agent represents. The confusion has arisen for two main reasons. First, each state has its own Real Estate laws. Therefore, when one person comes from another state to North Carolina to purchase Real Estate, they may be assuming that the Real Estate laws work as they do back in their home state. The laws may be the same or similar, but there are most likely some differences. Although I am not able to tell you how they are different from every other state, as I don’t know the Real Estate laws of other states, I can tell you what you need to know about North Carolina Real Estate Law, but before I do, I want to tell you the other reason that confusion exists around agent representation. The second reason is that agents in North Carolina, like agents in many other states, aren’t as clear as they should be when they are explaining the law for fear that they may frighten away buyers with legal-speak. Therefore, some inexperienced agents (but this is not representative of most of the agents in NC) do not explain agency law as clearly as they should. Something the NC Real Estate Commission did a couple of years ago is produce a brochure for agents to use when explaining agency law, but I’m afraid that the brochure isn’t as helpful as it could have been because it isn’t always used or it isn’t used correctly, but let’s move away from the reasons to what you should know.

My article is merely an introduction to NC Agency Law. Please see the following link for more information.

Let’s begin with some definitions about the players in the Real Estate transaction:

Seller—the person(s) selling the property

Buyer—the person(s) buying a property

Listing Agent—the real estate agent who has the property listed for sale on behalf of the seller. This person owes all obligations and duties to the seller. Anything the buyer or anyone says to him, he must tell the seller. He has a right to tell potential buyers and other agents about material facts, for instance if he knows the house leaks in the basement, but he cannot tell anyone what the lowest price the seller will take is, unless authorized by the seller to do so