I can understand taking advantage of the first two...and later having to take advantage of the last two...

But honestly, if you need the last two, don't do the first two.

"Get a move on" = buy a new car, buy a new house...and lose your job.

There are four cupcakes in the photo. There are four stimulus benefits left. Are stimulus benefits delicious, tempting cupcakes? If so, which one is devil's food?

@pecan 3.14159265: I'd say the homebuyer's credit is the devil's food one because it's been a very popular credit for people, and chocolate is a rather popular flavor.

How do I take advantage of the vehicle credit?

I hope they extend the homebuyer credit. I want a house, but because I lost my job earlier this year and have just now gotten back on my feet I cannot responsibly go buy one for another 6 months or so (have to build up my savings again)

@darkforcesjedi: [www.irs.gov]

@darkforcesjedi: You have to buy a new car. Then you get to deduct the sales tax. The credit is limited to the taxes on vehicles with a purchase price up to $49,500. Pretty sweet if you live in a high tax state.

@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: I hope the same thing since my wife and I are building a new house. We'll see. I think its one part of the stimulus bill that makes the most money - want people to get into homes? Give them a big up-front incentive. Its all about incentives...

@pecan 3.14159265: I want the first cupcake in the picture. It is double chocolatey goodness.

@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: I hope they extend it also, by 3 years. I'll buy my house then when I get more job security and enough in the bank to put 40-50% down.

@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: I'm in the process of buying a house right now, and it's basically a race to get to the finish line before Nov.30. I hope they extend it so I don't feel pressured to just get the first house I can, rather than the best house for me...

@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: That's very responsible. You listen to Dave Ramsey and such, I imagine, or have an above-average amount of common sense.

However, you can rest a little easier knowing the Case Shiller Price Index indicates a likelihood that housing prices will fall until summer 2010 and that the $8,000 tax credit has temporarily inflated housing prices. Next year is not a bad time to buy, especially when you consider how the $8,000 is just a drop in the bucket in regards to what is necessary for the purchase of a home outside of just the house payment. If you can sacrifice being without one for a small amount of time in exchange for a lot more financial stability (like you said you're doing), it's the right decision.

I'm in the same boat. My target to buy a home is April. Looks like I'll be 6 months too late.

They're expiring cupcakes? Nooooo!

My husband was laid off in March. The company he worked for said he quit (he didn't) and therefore they didn't have to pay the Cobra subsidy (which they would have been reimbursed for). My husband called the Dept of Labor to lodge a complaint and to appeal the company's decision. The lady who was helping him there said that so many companies were trying to get out of this-it is a huge mess. She said that whether you were laid off or forced to resign didn't matter and that they would eventually side with the employee. Of course that has been about 3 months now and we haven't heard anything. Not fun.

I was forced to take advantage of the 3rd one. $1500/month Cobra is just not doable for me...500 a tad easier.....was thanking my lucky stars for this one during my unemployment

With regards to the $25 expiring at the end of the year, I just posted the following on the Kiplinger site about this:

According to the New York State Unemployment Insurance Benefits Online website ([ui.labor.state.ny.us]), the $25 is supposed to last til July 2010.

"Additional $25 weekly payment to unemployment recipients.

The additional $25 weekly payment, known as Federal Additional Compensation (FAC), is being made to unemployment recipients. The $25 payment is being made at the same time as the regular unemployment payment. Claimants who have elected to have federal tax withheld from their unemployment benefits, will receive $22.50. No additional action will be necessary to receive the FAC payments.

The last week for which FAC payments can be made is the week ending July 4, 2010."

Am I misunderstanding something?

And at least Consumerist let's us post urls, as they don't (apparently it contributes to spam).

I'm still irked about the $8000 credit. I bought my home last year, and took advantage of the $7500 interest free loan essentially. $7500 tax credit for 2008, but the kicker is it has to be paid back. Same other rules, 3 years, blah blah blah.. but it has to be paid back, unlike the $8000 for this year.

As for the too job related ones, I'm currently employed. But get his, I have my lay-off notice... for 12/31/2009. Won't take advantage of the COBRA, I have coverage through my wife's employer. As for the $25 My hope is still to find something before then.

@Whtthfgg: I lived through $1000 a month cobra for nearly a year. It's doable. Yeah, if we would have any idea it would have taken so long to get onto a company plan again, we would have gotten our own policy. (Union kept changing the dates we were eligible.)

Well, let's see...

I own a home already so I wouldn't qualify for the home credit if I wanted to trade up.

I'm almost done paying for my '05 car, so I'm not keen on taking on another car loan.

I'm not unemployed, so I don't deal with COBRA or the unemployment benefit.

I guess instead I just get to pay to have other people get freebies and thanks to the inevitable extra tax burden will have less to spend in the economy. Yay!

I know the COBRA and unemployment bits are helpful, and I don't begrudge someone who lost their job a little help in a bad economy while they're looking for work. But who exactly does the car and house bit help? The car industry (minus the dealers that were tossed aside) made out with the car benefit. Realtors are doing slightly better thanks to the housing benefit. But folks trying to sell are still finding their mortgages underwater and folks trying to buy are doing their best to negotiate prices down further.

@Oranges w/ Cheese in rainy Central FL: it seems to be doing something in my area at least. my friend is a realtor and this time last year she was desperate to even show houses. now she's got half a dozen active clients and went under contract on one today.
also, she helped me buy my house and three of the ones i wanted to look at went under contract the day i had appointments to see them and someone was viewing this house and asking my current neighbors about the neighborhood the day after i made an offer on the one i bought.

it's the one that makes the most sense for them to extend first, in my opinion, based on the growth it's bringing around here.
but then, we still have jobs going around here

@whatdoyoucare: Gather up all your paperwork and write an EECB-type letter to your state rep. Follow it up with a phone call about a week later. Make sure you have all the contact information you've been using, as well as the names of the Labor people you're spoken with.

@catastrophegirl: I wish that would start happening in Phoenix, there are still so many foreclosures on the market right now that my parents are struggling to legitimately sell their house (Mom got a new job in TX). It doesn't help that the irresponsible house flippers next door just put their house on the market as a "short sale" house that is priced way less than homes in the neighborhood.

I'm still beyond pissy that not only was my first time homebuyer's tax credit LESS money for the house I bought last year, but I also have to PAY IT BACK. That is SO unfair. Why didn't they make that retroactive for all the homebuyers in 08??

Bastards.