President Obama signed a bill this morning extending the closing deadline for the federal home buyer tax credit to Sept. 30, 2010.  The bill is retroactive and covers the lapse period from June 30, 2010 to the date of enactment of the extension.  Congress passed the bill earlier this week.

Nearly 180,000 home buyers would have missed out on the tax credit had Congress and the president not taken action to extend the deadline to close escrow.  Estimates from NAR show as many as 17,700 home buyers in California would not have received the tax credit without the extension.