[quote=PKMAN]I guess I’m one of the 5% that qualify for both federal and state tax credit programs:

– Have not owned a home for the past 3 years
– Family combined income of less than $150K
– Buying a new home (never been occupied)
– Will own only one home and plan to live there for at least 5-10 years.

However my lender informed me that neither program would provide immediate relief in terms of reducing closing costs or principle loan amount. If I have to wait until next year to benefit from the tax credit programs, that’s too long.[/quote]

True on the state credit. The Federal credit though is claimable immediately after closing. It won’t help with closing costs or any other expenses incurred during escrow or immediately thereafter, but even if you bought in the middle of this year, you could file an amended return and get the 8K credit as soon as the IRS can process and refund it.

And, of course, in the state case, you can always increase your witholdings to see some of it back this year – if you bought a house, you probably would do this anyway since you’d be getting money back now from the mortgage interest deduction.