Santa Clara County 1st-Time Real Estate Buyer Program

March 22nd, 2009 // Categorized under: Buyer Information

First-time buyers are being wooed from many different directions these days.  As I discussed in a previous post, the IRS is offering a first-time buyer tax credit to real estate buyers who meet certain stipulations.  In addition to this federal tax credit, Santa Clara County is offering a Mortgage Credit Certificate Program to first-time buyers.  And, as I explain in the federal tax credit post, a first-time buyer is defined as real estate buyers who have not owned a principal residence during the past three years.

First time buyer

A few highlights of the Santa Clara County program:

  • It is a dollar for dollar tax credit against the borrower’s federal income tax – currently 15% of the interest paid
  • The remaining 85% remains as a standard tax deduction
  • The home must be purchased in one of the participating cities in the county – all south county cities are participating
  • The home purchased must be owner-occupied
  • The buyer’s income cannot exceed $97,800 for 1-2 persons and $112,470 for 3 or more persons
  • The MCC Program doesn’t allow co-signers
  • Maximum purchase price is limited to $570,000 for resale homes and $630,000 for new construction
  • There is a possible recapture tax if the property is sold within the next nine years after purchase
  • The County maintains a public list of participating brokers and funding lenders
  • Applications for MCC are processed on a first come, first serve basis and there is an application fee of $275

For those interested in taking advantage of the MCC Program, you will want to make sure you are working with a paricipating funding lender.  For recommendations on lenders, call me at 408-892-9015 or email me at GMerrick(at)InteroRealEstate.com.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 11:27 am and is filed under Buyer Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Harriet Pecot said at March 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am

    Hi Gretchen,

    Good stuff! There is a lot of good information that people need to know about that will help them in their home buying process. Good for you for helping to get it out there!

    Harriet

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