Recently passed legislation is cause for celebration amongst new homeowners. If you're a first-time home buyer (or haven't bought a home in the past three years), the new housing bill may enable you to receive a valuable tax credit of up to $7500.

As part of the housing bill, Congress has created a new, temporary tax credit to provide an incentive for first-time home buyers. The $7500 credit will be available for the purchase of a principal residence on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009.

Down payment requirements will increase after October 1, when the housing bill increases the required minimum down payment for FHA loans from 3% to 3.5%.

To find out more about the first-time homebuyer tax credit, go to http://www.realtor.org/gapublic.nsf/files/hbtaxcreditqa2008.pdf/$FILE/hbtaxcreditqa2008.pdf