Thread: First-time homebuyer?

I have been separated since 1/27/06. During the marriage, we owned two houses together (one at a time) and some land. On 1/27/06, we owned one house and it was sold in March 2008. She was the primary breadwinner, while I was a stay at home Dad.

Now I’m single and thinking of buying a house and I’m trying to figure out if I would qualify for the $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit that was signed into law in July 2008. I’d also like to know if I would qualify for using tax-free IRA money as a down payment on my first home.

Thanks in advance kind people.

just do a search on the IRS website. I am not sure if you would qualify as a first time home buyer unless your previous residence was just in your wife's name.

You are able to loan from these types of accounts, typically its up to 50% of the account balance. As for a penalty free distribution it gets a little complicated. I did something similar where i maxed out my 401k because someone told me i could use the funds to purchase my first house. So, I paid in the max amount and used it as a financial vehicle (since i could earn the highest returns there) until i was ready to buy a house. THEN after doing this for two years i find out i cant make a penalty free distribution. There certain rules like you must finance more the 90 percent of your home to be able to do this.