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There are 138 days left to take advantage of the $8000 tax rebate on purchases by first time home buyers. This may seem like a great deal of time but it really isn't. The rebate deadline is November 30, 2009. By that date, the home transaction must close in order to qualify for the rebate.

While it may seem like a lot of time, in reality that clock ticks away rather quickly. If you have found a home, and are going through the mortgage process, then good luck to you. If you haven't found a home as yet, and have not even started, here is a quick look at a typical timeline for a purchase:

Contact a lender and go through the pre-qual process. No sense looking at houses if you really don't know how much home you can buy. This process takes about 7 days.

Even though it's supposed to be a buyer's market, currently there is a low inventory of quality homes. Assuming you can find the right home in the right area, this will still take about 30 days. The contract approval and signature process willl add another 7 days.

With the new appraisal laws and lender rules, final loan approval takes an average 30-45 days. 

If you're keeping score so far we have taken up 89 days, which leaves a 49 day cushion, plenty of time to get the deal done.

But wait, the bank is requiring a second appraisal, which is getting to be more common with some of the FHA requirements. So let's pad those 89 days with another 10 days just to be on the safe side which brings us up to 99 days. Okay, now that leaves us a 39 day window to relax and enjoy our new house, well before the November 30 deadline. Not so fast, the sellers weren't going to just pack up and move out once the contract was signed. How could they know if the bank was going to give us the mortgage? They insist on an additional 2 weeks to get their move lined up and to vacate the premises. So add another 14 days to the 99 and we're up to 113 days out of the original 138 days. Not as simple as it might sound anymore.

For those of you who still have questions and would like to read the highlights of the rebate bill on your own, here is the link to the reader friendly site: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/

Are you still thinking about whether the market might decline a bit more making your dream home just a bit more affordable? Or are you waiting for the interest rates to come down to 4.5% again? If you are then every day you wait is one less day that you have to deal with any issues in your schedule. If you are serious about buying a new home this year and are eligible for the $8000 tax credit then time is of the essence. Don't sit on the fence much longer or you may find yourself looking at the calendar on December 1st and wondering what you were waiting for.