Schwarzenegger Signs Homebuyer Tax Credit Bill

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Schwarzenegger Signs Homebuyer Tax Credit Bill

Posted Friday, March 26, 2010; 20:50 PM

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in Fresno Thursday afternoon allocating an extra $200 million in homebuyer tax credits

by James Olinger

Darius Assemi, president of Granville Homes, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (far right) at Granville’s project La Ventana Homes in Fresno on Thursday afternoon. Schwarzenegger was in Fresno to sign a bill for a $200 million homebuyer tax credit extension. (Photo by Tony Kalanjian) Fresno, CA (March 25, 2010) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill at the La Ventana Homes project in Fresno today that would allocate an extra $200 million in homebuyer tax credits. The signing was attended by the co-authors of bill AB 183 Sen. Roy Ashburn and Assemblymember Anna Caballero, as well as Fresno County Supervisor Debbie Poochigian. “The governor is here to share with us special news about a program that’s intended to improve our economic condition while allowing more people in those most interesting times to realize the American dream,” Poochigian said. The credit will provide up to $10,000 to Californians who are purchasing their first home or one that is brand new. It is part of the governor’s California Jobs Initiative, which is designed to get the economy pumping by encouraging home ownership and generating job creation. “This is exactly what we want to do,” Schwarzenegger said. “We want to help the homebuyers, we also want to help the people that need jobs.” The credit extension for California homebuyers will be split between two groups. $100 million will go to buyers of new, unoccupied homes, and the other half will be for first-time buyers of existing homes. The credit extension will stretch from May 1 to Dec. 1 of this year, and in order to qualify the buyer must not be a dependant and must purchase a home not belonging to a relative. Schwarzenegger said that the unemployment rate in California is currently at 12.5 percent, and that this will be a way to help alleviate that problem. “This is extremely important to get those people to work because it’s the only way that we get our economy back,” he said. The last homebuyer tax credit of $100 million that was approved in Feb. 2009 lasted only four months, after 10,659 Californians claimed it. Darius Assemi, president of Granville Homes, which has La Ventana Homes as a project, said sales were dismal before last year’s tax credits. After they went into effect, sales increased by 300 percent. “As soon as the tax credits went into effect sales took off,” he said, “and as a result of that for the first four or five months last year we were able to put a lot of people back to work.” Assemi is encouraged by the new tax credit, and already knows of people ready to purchase homes, and were just waiting for the bill to be signed. “So we know that the sales will increase immediately, and construction will follow suit and jobs will follow behind that,” Assemi said.