First-time Homebuyer Help

As a first-time homebuyer myself, this article at Inman is incredibly important and valuable to me.  It seems that using an IRA to buy a home has many rules attached to it, but one of them is that first-time home buyers may use up to $10,000 for closing costs.  One would still owe taxes on this withdrawl, of course, but it wouldn’t be subject to any penalties.

The more I think about it, it is kind of a double edged sword.  I’ve set aside money in my IRA before, but I’m not able to scrape together a down payment at this point.  And now I don’t even have to try.  Great, I can buy a house!  Damn - I’m not being forced to learn to save money, either.

Apparently, this withdrawl is also subject to the whims of the IRS as well.  I don’t understand completely, but it seems that advice from an IRS professional does not stand up in court!

“The court ruled that when IRS employees give incorrect interpretations of the law, the IRS is not bound by that advice.

“In fact, the IRS is not generally bound by the language of its own publications.”

Urk!  The article instructs us to speak to a tax professional, but that may not be any guarantee either.  But knowing that the option is there to look in to when my husband and I are ready to buy…well, that’s just awesome.

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