If you haven't heard, there is free money out there! If you happen to be lucky enough to be a first time home buyer, you can get $8000 tax free that you never have to pay back. Sounds too good to be true, well in this case, it ISN'T. In fact, the government is the one giving it away, so why not take advantage if you qualify? Your next question obviously is, how do I get this money? Well, it's pretty simple, if you are a first time home buyer, you just need to buy a house. Now of course the governments definition of first time home buyer is different than yours or mine, so you may qualify even if you owned a house in the past. Here is how it works.

The tax credit is for first time home buyers only. That means for this tax credit program, the IRS says a first time home buyer is someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three years prior to buying the house. The tax credit does not have to be repaid, ever.

The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000. This credit is available for homes bought on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full amount of the tax credit.

There are even some state and hud government programs available that will let you borrow the $8000 to use as a down payment on a home. Think about it, you can buy an $80,000 house, and the credit will give you a 10% down payment automatically. This is probably a once in a lifetime offer, so, if you can qualify for a loan, and qualify for the credit, why not take advantage of it? dsgGFDSG