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Tax credit a boon to local realtors: The Eagle-Tribune hosts seminar on new benefit(The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 29--NORTH ANDOVER -- As good as the new, $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers, it's also good for Realtors and real estate professionals in the Merrimack Valley and beyond. About 75 Realtors gathered at The Eagle-Tribune on Wednesday morning for a seminar on what Realtors should know about the new benefit, which is part of a stimulus package aimed at restoring the beleaguered housing market. "As the housing market goes, so goes the economy," said Steve Ryan, general counsel of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, a lobbying and advocacy group. "We worked hard to get this passed." Last year, the tax credit was for $7,500 and was actually an interest-free loan that had to be paid back over 15 years, he explained. The new tax credit, now up to $8,000, is actually money the IRS will refund to first-time home buyers when they file their tax return for 2009. The old program expired in July of this year, while the new program doesn't expire until Nov. 30, 2009. People who took advantage of the $7,500 tax credit are ineligible for the new credit. But anyone else who bought a home in the past year who hasn't used the $7,500 tax credit is still eligible for the program. For more information on the program, go to the National Association of Realtors' Web site at realtor.org. To see more of The Eagle-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.eagletribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |