Eligible buyers now have until September 30 to close on a home sale, to be eligible for the much heralded tax credit.  On July 2, President Obama signed a bill to extend the $8,000 Home Buyers Tax Credit. To be eligible for this extension, buyers needed to be under contract as of April 30, 2010.

The National Association of Realtors estimated that there were approximately 180,000 home buyer families who were unable to get their new-home purchases closed by the previously-extended deadline of June 30. It has been difficult for these buyers to get their mortgages approved on time, as lenders could not work through the clogged pipeline of applications.

It’s a shame that congress won’t give working families the credit indefinitely.