Good news!   The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have both approved the extension of the Homebuyer Assistance Program ($8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and $6,500 for some people who have owned a home previously) to September 30, 2010.  This is only for those people who have had a home under contract by April 30, 2010. 

According to government estimates, there were approximately 180,000 home buyers who had a home under contract by April 30, 2010, who were not able to close escrow in time to get the sale finalized by June 30, 2010.  This newly-approved legislation will give them more time to work through the prolonged, complicated short sale process, giving them an opportunity to get their home purchase completed by no later than September 30, 2010. 

However, as a Realtor of 16 years in the Boise, Idaho, real estate market, it has been my experience that for some people this extension will still not give them adequate time.  My team and I have seen some short sales go on for over a year before getting approval by the seller's mortgage holder.  It could be that some banks are slow to respond because their systems for working through the negotiation process may be poor, or some agents who are not very experienced with the complex and lengthy short-sale process may not be navigating the system properly, or simply that the banks are overwhelmed with so many short sale files to work through because they, the banks, do not have an adequate number of staff to do all the work.

All that being said, though, the good news is that most of those 180,000 home buyers should be able to get their home purchases finalized and closed by the September 30th deadline.  Let's all hope for the best.