It appears the $8,000 new homebuyer credit may be extended until next April. That could be good news if you're in the market.
In addition to the extension of the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit, it's possible there will be a $6,500 dollar credit for current homeowners look to buy again.
But timing is everything and you probably have to sell before you can buy.
"They may be able to afford paying two mortgages and floating that debt, but over time, that could cause a strain on their preservation of cash,” said Paulette Suzuki of Central Pacific Homeloans.
But let's say you find your dream home before you have sold your current house. Suzuki says there are alternatives.
"One of them is a contingency sale where, when you are looking to buy that ideal property in the body of the contract you work with an experienced realtor and say we want to make this purchase contingent on the sale of our current residence,” she said.
There is another path for those who have owned their current residence for a number of years - using their equity as a sort of personal loan.
"They could tap into that unused equity to acquire that next residence and possibly sit on the fence whether they want to still sell or maybe rent out the property that they're going to be vacating very shortly,” she said.
Finally, there is another short term alternative called a bridge loan.
"The bridge loans that are offered by very few lenders actually, is another alternative whenever there's an event that's going to happen - like the sale of your home,” she said.
Suzuki says this should probably be a loan of last resort because of the cost.
"You're talking more in the range between 7 and 9 percent to the lenders that are offering a bridge loan. And this is normally offered when they know that an event's going to happen within a year,” she said.
