There are moments where faith is restored in small increments.   This is one.

In a sort of reversal of its former reversal, HUD announced that it would allow FHA approved lenders to monetize the tax credit to allow first time buyers to “apply the tax credit to their down payment in excess of 3.5 percent of appraised value or their closing costs, which can help achieve a lower interest rate.”

This is a modification of the original announcement that stated the credit could be used to meet the 3.5% FHA down payment requirement. In its new form, it may help some people.  A buyer could certainly take advantage of that to write an offer that didn‘t ask the seller for help with closing costs.  Since this type of concession is common practice in our market where most buyers are strapped for cash, not asking the seller to put out extra money might set the buyer apart from the crowd.  Or the funds could be used in addition to any seller credit to buy the interest rate down further making monthly payments more affordable.

However, remember that it takes everybody a little while to figure out how to implement these new rules, and in this case, figuring out the details could be a little complicated.