President Barack Obama signs the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. (White House photo by Pete Souza)

Home Buyer Tax Credit, New NOL Rules Signed Into Law

In a major victory for NAHB that will boost the fledgling housing recovery and help struggling business owners nationwide, Congress last week approved legislation that will extend the first-time home buyer tax credit beyond its Nov. 30 deadline and expand it to a wider group of home buyers. The bill also provides relief to cash-strapped home builders by providing broader tax benefits for businesses with net operating losses (NOLs).

The legislation, which was signed into law by President Obama on Nov. 6, will extend the $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers for sales contracts entered into by April 30, 2010 and closed on by June 30. It has been expanded to include a new $6,500 credit for owners of existing homes who are purchasing a new principal residence. Existing home owners can claim the $6,500 tax credit if they have been residing in their principal residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight. ...

For Remodelers, Recovery Won’t Mean Business as Usual

With a recovery in the residential remodeling industry slowly moving into view, speakers at the Remodeling Show in Indianapolis on Oct. 27-30 warned that those who expect a return to business as usual are likely to miss out on the opportunities afforded by a marketplace that has been transformed by one of the most bruising U.S. recessions in generations — advice that is also applicable to many small home builders.

“The idea is that we don’t have to think about just surviving,” said columnist and remodeler Shawn McCadden, owner of Custom Contracting Inc. in Arlington, Mass. “There’s a lot of opportunity out there, but things won’t come back to normal.” ...

NAHB Looks at Steps to Ensure Appraisers Aren’t in the Dark

In round two of NAHB’s appraisal summit in the National Housing Center in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 3, participants honed in on what can be done to enable builders, lenders and real estate agents to provide appraisers with information they should know in determining the value of a home.

Following up on the meeting — which assembled leaders from major appraisal, lending and housing agencies and federal housing and banking regulators — NAHB will be moving ahead to clarify how builders and others can communicate with appraisers under the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) that went into effect last spring. ...