President Obama in the Oval Office with OMB Director Peter Orszag. White House photo by Pete Souza

Obama's Budget Hits Mortgage Interest Deduction

President Barack Obama on Feb. 26 unveiled a $3.6 trillion budget that would raise taxes on American families earning more than $250,000 and reduce the value of their mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions to help pay for a $634 billion health care fund for the uninsured.

Obama said this year's deficit would increase to $1.75 trillion and fall to $533 billion by the end of his first term and that his budget blueprint provides investments in health care, energy conservation and education to modernize the nation's economy in the long-term. ...

Stimulus Bill Provides Wide Range of Housing Provisions

Tax and financial analysts at NAHB have sifted through the massive economic stimulus package enacted on Feb. 17 in search of provisions that will help association members improve their businesses and rally from the most difficult housing downturn since the 1930s.

Of the many housing-related provisions in the legislation, the most heavily publicized has been the tax credit of up to $8,000 available to first-time home buyers who close on or after Jan. 1, 2009 and before Dec. 1 this year. NAHB has assembled resources to help builders disseminate information on the credit to prospective home buyers. (For a related story on tax credit resources in this issue of NBN, click here.) ...

NAHB Resources Promote Home Buyer Tax Credit

As soon as President Obama signed The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law on Feb. 17, NAHB launched a new set of comprehensive online resources to help the federation promote the new $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, which is the most prominent provision in the stimulus for housing consumers.

The resources are posted at www.nahb.org/taxcreditmaterials, and include materials to educate both members and consumers about the credit, and to promote the credit to potential home buyers. Ready-to-use promotional materials such as a consumer flyer, radio spot scripts, Web banner ads, a public service TV announcement and print ads for consumer and member audiences can be customized with the member’s or association’s contact information. ...

Reports of Chinese Drywall Problems Bring Swift Response

The Florida Home Builders Association moved promptly last week in response to reports by home owners in the state of foul odors and air conditioning-related problems in homes constructed since 2005 with Chinese-made drywall.

The association announced that it would lend its support to efforts to determine the source of the problem and its potential impacts, and it commended the decision of the state’s attorney general to investigate “and to get Floridians the answers they deserve.” ...