The New Homebuyer Tax Credit Won't Die --Should It?

The government has given buyers using the credit another three months to close sales, and the initiative is being imitated on a smaller scale by states and private companies. But some think the market would be better off if we laid it to rest for good.

Karen and Greg Osmon had outgrown the three-bedroom Winston-Salem, N.C., home they lived in with their two children, so they put it up for sale. Unfortunately, they did so in December of 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. With the economy in a downward spiral, they couldn't find a buyer, and when the property didn't move for over a year, they were forced to pull it off the market.
The Osmons decided to try selling again in early May of this year, but they'd missed a chance to capitalize on an incentive that had boosted home sales in the months prior: the first-time homebuyer tax credit, an $8,000 federal rebate whose April 30 deadline boosted sales of new homes in that month by 48% over the previous year, according to the Census Bureau.

For full story:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/01/home-buyer-tax-credit-lifestyle-real-estate-housing.html