I will admit flip flopping on this topic. When the tax credit was announced last year I ran out and purchased a domain that I just knew would be a constant source of home buyer leads. Boy, was I ever wrong. What I found out was that the type of site I had created was like a picnic to ants. Lots and lots of traffic with nothing good ever happening. The people who visited the site were looking for something too good to be true, they were looking for something for free, and they were looking for someone to do the work for them. Even ants do the heavy lifting of taking the food from the picnic for themselves.

Buying a home should never be about getting something for free. Buying a home is about buying a container for your life. A place for quiet times with your loved ones, a place to share in the joys of life and the sorrows of life together. A home should not be considered a ATM machine or a get rich quick scheme. When the $8,000 tax credit was announced the goal was a noble one. To increase the interest in buying homes to help stabilize the economy. On the surface this makes sense but what it really does is to create a false sense of security and a sense of entitlement for some people.

During the past year I have sold quite a few homes to first time home buyers. Did they buy the home just because they were going to receive a tax credit? I sure don’t think so. During my conversations with my clients I learned something that I find to be quite interesting. They all had decided to buy a home because it was time for them to buy a home. Their situations had moved to the point where buying a home made sense to them with or without the tax credit. Of course they applied for the tax credit and received it if they were qualified to leave the money on the table is silly. But they DID NOT BUY A HOME BECAUSE OF THE TAX CREDIT!

The people that I talked with about buying a home that were looking for the tax credit all ended up not purchasing a home. This could be for a number of reasons yet I noticed one trend in particular. They lacked the true desire to buy a home.  Buying a home is a complicated and time consuming task. Without being committed it is easy to simply take your marbles and go home. The people that WANTED the tax credit were not willing to put in the time and work required. They were looking for something for nothing. There is no free lunch.

By removing the tax credit from consideration I feel that the housing market will begin to return to a point of equilibrium. The people who are looking for something for nothing will go back to buying things like televisions, or clothing at 50% off retail  no matter if it fits or not. The remainder of people who are at a place in their lives that buying a home makes sense will have less distractions when it comes to shopping for homes. I am looking forward to May 1st and the end of the first time home buyers tax credit.