Am I too worried about time before $8000 tax credit comes up? Friendship at risk...?

Fiancé & I buying a house soon. We were originally going to wait a year so we'd be debt-free, but after learning the $8000 is cash money it's ideal for us to buy before the 11/30/09 deadline, b/c $8000 the amt of our debts. My friend just took her real estate test today, but won't be licensed until she gets a sponsoring broker (hired on w/a company). Once we figured out we wanted to buy before the tax credit deadline (about 1.5 months ago) my friend got really excited that she'd be getting her license soon, so we could be her first sale, and she could gain some practice experience with us. It was not ideal (using an inexperienced agent), but she IS my best friend & I wanted to support/help her (besides this she said the broker would be looking over contracts to make sure all was legit). But we're VERY concerned about not missing the $8000 credit deadline! To be on the safe side, we want to allow 2 weeks for problems during negotiations and we want to allow 60 days ( or 2 months) for closing (to account for potential problems/delays). My fiancé and I feel STRONGLY that we NEED to try to find our house THIS weekend, b/c he has to work the weekend after, and next week I begin a new job (in retail) where I'll likely work every weekend. We can't look at houses during the week, b/c my fiancé works from 8:45am, until 8:15pm, and the program only includes foreclosures (which likely won't have electricity that we'll need to see with after 8pm). My friend has been aware of our concern for moving on this sooner rather than later to prevent missing the tax credit. Last week she told me she'd be taking the test this Tuesday (today). I asked her if she thought she'd be licensed by the following weekend. She said her mom (a real estate agent) told her it should only take a day or two to be hired by a broker as long as they were hiring. So she told me she planned on calling around to talk to brokers Monday (yesterday) and Tuesday(today) to see who was hiring & set up appointments so that hopefully she'd be hired by Wed/Thur. Last week I told her to plan on showing us houses this Saturday (Aug. 29). Today, I found out that she hasn't spoken to ANY brokers yet. That she's planning on calling her mom tomorrow morn to ask her mom what to ask the brokers, and then calling the brokers tomorrow afternoon. She's hoping to begin interviewing brokers on Thursday. She says she just wants to feel comfortable with the brokers office since she'll have to sign a contract with them. I COMPLETELY understand that she wants to be comfortable with where she's working. But I don't understand why she didn't start talking to brokers sooner, knowing our timeline (like she originally said she would)! Now she says she may not be licensed by this weekend. I told her (carefully/nicely) that we HAVE to look at houses this weekend b/c of our timeline. I just don't understand why she doesn't call brokers tomorrow morning (she's not going to be on the phone with her mom ALL morning), and ask them what the soonest they can meet with her would be. She doesn't want to meet with ANYONE until Thursday. To be very frank, I don't care if I use her or not. I'd love to go through this process with the company of my best friend. I'd love to help her out too. But we CAN'T miss the $8000 tax credit. But she's mad at me. Am I being overly concerned with the deadline & allowing time for problems or is this a smart amount to time to leave? My friend is MAD at me, and says that closing will take 45 days at the longest. But I'm terrified that something could go wrong to delay closing & we'd be STUCK under contract, but miss our deadline. How do I handle this? Suck it up, wait for my friend to be hired on & look at houses in 3 weeks, or use another agent to look at houses this weekend & allow more time for stuff to go wrong? I've already watched my 2 fav. houses go under contract while waiting on her also… Her mom lives 500 miles away. Pengy: I am participating in a COUNTY program in which a buyer can buy foreclosures at a 20% discount off the list price. THIS program ONLY includes foreclosures. And I have been pre-approved for well OVER a month now. I have all ducks lined up & am poised for a purchase.

3 months ago - 4 answers