New home tax credit available for home BUILDERs too?

I understand the tax credit is to stimulate the housing market, so will it be available to my husband and I if we build a house? We should close on the construction-perm loan in 2009, but may not have certificate of occupancy until 2010. If the tax credit IS available, will that matter?|||If your home was newly built, the purchase date is considered the date that you first occupy it, per the IRS. So if you build, you will need to get it built, get a Certificate of Occupancy, close on your permanent loan and be living in it no later than December 1st, 2009.





On a cheerier note, not much is being built right now, so you should get great prices on your materials and labor!|||The credit is available to you, as long as you have title and deed transferred to your name(s) by the end of November deadline for the credit. Of course, you must also qualify as a 'first time homebuyer' for the credit.