The Appraisal Institute welcomes 4,000 new members

Homebuyer tax credit site attractes more than 840,000 visitorsMortgagePress.comNational Association of Home Builders, FederalHousingTaxCredit.com, Joe Robson A record 844,000 prospective homebuyers visited the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) FederalHousingTaxCredit.com Web site in February to learn about the new $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers that was enacted last month as part of the landmark $787 billion economic stimulus package. "We are very pleased and encouraged that so many people are visiting our informational web site at www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com," said Joe Robson, chairman of NAHB and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. "The spike in traffic on our Web site is a strong indication that the tax credit will help get some fence sitters into the market and will help breathe some life back into the depressed housing market. "While we were disappointed that the tax credit was not larger and was not extended to all home buyers, Congress did make it a true tax credit," Robson said. "Unlike the credit that was enacted in 2008, it does not have to be repaid." Daily site traffic at www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com started building in the week before the economic stimulus legislation was enacted, and peaked at almost 59,000 on Feb. 18, the day after the legislation was signed. NAHB anticipates that the tax credit will result in about 160,000 additional home sales in 2009. For more information, visit www.NAHB.org.