Bye, Bye Credit

Well, my wife is just too curious. She went across the street last night to pick up a real estate flier on the two town homes that are for sale over there. In doing so, she also got the lowdown on some new units that are being built down the street from us, two of which are exactly the same as ours. Therein lies the problem.

Those new units are listed for $5,000 less than we paid for ours. That proves something I was afraid of when we bought, and translates into our builder taking the better part of that $8,000 government credit for new homebuyers.

I already calculated that, by withdrawing from my IRA to pay for this place, I put myself into a higher tax bracket for the federal return, and I owed the state of Georgia for the first time ever. That amounted to a little over $4,000 of that $8,000 credit.

Now I can add to that the $5,000 that the real estate agent and her husband, the builder, stole from me by raising the price. That leaves me $1,000 in the hole on my wonderful government credit.

I wonder how many others got taken the same way.

Oh, one other thing on those fliers… If you buy before a certain date, the builder will throw in a refrigerator, washer and drier for free. Now I'm over $2,000 in the hole.

I’m trying hard not to get too exercised about this, because I do have a home free and clear, and there are a lot of people out there who lost their homes or are upside down on their mortgage. I just wish Judy had left well enough alone and not been so nosey. I’d have preferred to live in ignorant bliss.