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Dear Member:
As you probably know, home foreclosures continue to
grow and home values continue to drop in most parts of the country.
Foreclosures have ruined the lives of many homeowners, and the rest of
us have seen a large amount of our home equity evaporate. The recession
was caused by the subprime mortgage crisis, and the growing number of
foreclosures threatens both homeowners who have lost their jobs as a
result of the downturn, and the continued viability of the financial
services sector.
The situation would be far worse were it not for the
first time home buyers tax credit, which has enabled over 350,000 new
home buyers to purchase homes this year and shore up housing demand. The
first time home buyers tax credit will expire on December 1. The U.S.
Senate Banking Committee is considering extending and perhaps expanding
the credit. We believe that the extension is essential to protect
everybody’s remaining home equity and forestall yet another economic
downturn.
We urge you to contact both of your U.S. Senators and
ask them to support an extension, and hopefully a broadening and
expansion, of the first time home buyers tax credit. We have provided a
draft message to that effect below. Please feel free to use it for ideas
when contacting your Senators by email, telephone phone or mail. You can
find all three contact points for both of your U.S. senators by using
our congressional lookup. It is on the upper left corner of our home
page at
http://www.americanhomeowners.org/.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Bruce Hahn
President
American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
Serving the interests of the nation's 70 million homeowners and future
homeowners since 1984.
The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance is a nonpartisan consumer
advocacy organization dedicated to assisting the nation's 70
million homeowners understand significant policy issues
affecting homeowners and homeownership, and empowering homeowners
to make their voices heard by state and federal officials.
Draft email, letter, and/or telephone script to use in contacting
your U.S. Senators:
The Senate Banking Committee is considering extending,
and perhaps expanding, the first time home buyers tax credit. The
Committee’s action will hopefully soon be followed by a vote on the
floor of the U.S. Senate.
As you probably know, home foreclosures continue to
grow and home values continue to drop in most parts of our state.
Foreclosures have ruined the lives of many homeowners, and the rest of
us have seen a large amount of our home equity evaporate. The recession
was caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. It has now become a prime
mortgage crisis, because of the growing number of foreclosures on
formerly creditworthy homeowners who have lost their jobs as a result of
the downturn. With estimates of as many as 7 million eventual
foreclosures and a jobless economic recovery, it also poses a growing
threat to the continued viability of the financial services sector and
our entire economy.
The situation would be far worse today were it not for
the first time home buyers tax credit, which has enabled over 350,000
new home buyers to purchase homes this year and shore up housing demand.
The first time home buyers tax credit will expire on December 1.
I am contacting you as a constituent to urge you to
strongly support the extension and expansion of the credit. It is
critical to protect the remaining home equity of the nation’s homeowners
and to reduce the risk of another national economic crisis. If possible
the credit should also be expanded in a manner to further reduce the
inventory of unsold homes. This could be achieved by increasing the
amount of the credit, raising the income eligibility levels for the
credit, and/or broadening it to apply other home buyers who will be
increasing the number of homes they own through the purchase of a
vacation home or a rental property.
Thank you for your consideration.
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