The central government stopped their generous tax credit of $8000 at the end of April of 2010 but in California at least, first time house buyers have another option. The state of California, under an initiative from statesmans and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have extended and expanded the California first time house buyers ‘ tax allowance to $10,000 at least through 2011. This is great news for many Californians and basically covers more than first time house purchasers but to all who buy brand new or pre-existing houses this coming year. This terrific incentive should help to refresh a home purchasing market which has dropped precipitously in the last 2 to 3 years because of the bursting of the real estate market bubble.

For first time home purchasers there has never been a better time to purchase , though they need to manage their expectancies. Home values have dropped in California and rates are at all time lows. The key problem is still the availability of credit and the fact that banks have made it extraordinarily troublesome for borrowers to qualify. This was a reaction to the too loose lending practices of the last 10 years which led straight to the wave of repos that have endangered our economy. Banks have cash to loan, but they have placed super tight restrictions on giving loan approvals. Most banks require really high credit scores and steady, rock-solid work as well as seasoned assets.

There are a lot of first time home purchasers down payment help programs available, particularly in California that are easily worth looking into. In the San Francisco Bay Area many of the counties and cities have collaborated on bringing these great programs to buyers. In the City of Alameda as an example, first time home buyers who have a mixed household salary of less than 80% of the median income for the county may qualify for a loan amount maximum of $80,000. The payments are deferred for 15 years at which time there's a balloon payment due. No interest is charged for the first five years and after the city takes a percentage of shared appreciation. This is a second position loan.

In the town of Antioch, where it's possible to get a big house for little cash, first time home buyers may qualify for deposit assistance of nearly $30,000. Once again there is a shared appreciation clause that permits the purchaser to sell the house at a future date and pay a little of the accrued appreciation equity back to the city.

Besides the town programs, the state of California under the CalHFA department offers great assistance programs like CHDAP which may give up to $15,000 in assistance for first time house buyers. You may also stack all of these programs including MCCs or Mortgage Credit Certificates which are credits of 15% of the debt payments made on home loans. This helps many borrowers to qualify by effectively raising their take home pay.

To learn more about new homes sales incentives visit the online property and real-estate resource at Which Property Mentor