Real Estate Experts are Lobbying for an Extension/Expansion to the Home Buyer Tax Credit

As Many as 40% of all home buyers this year will be eligible for the $8000 tax credit.

The stimulus plan is scheduled to end in November, and it is projected to cost the federal government $15 billion.  This is two times the amount that was estimated when the bill was passed in February.

Many people are beginning to wonder if the housing market will continue to stablize without the tax credit.  Experts estimate that the tax credit helped aid several hundred thousand home sales.

The real estate industry, including the powerful 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit at least through next summer. The group hopes to expand the program to $15,000 and to allow all buyers, not just those who have been out of the market for at least three years, to qualify.

The price tag on that plan: $50 billion to $100 billion.