First-time home buyers, pay attention! If you buy a new home in 2009, and close on or before December 1, 2009, you may qualify for an $8,000 tax credit.

The National Association of Home Builders has created a number of resources to help Americans understand current conditions in the housing market and the advantages of homeownership. Visit www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com, for detailed information about the tax credit.

The tax credit is available to all first-time home buyers, but you don’t have to wait for new construction to be built. According to the NAHB, there is 12.2 month inventory of new homes on the market. (You must actually close on a home by the deadline, which means that if you want to buy a newly-built home, you should buy one that is either already completed or is about to be completed.)

But you can’t wait too long to become a home owner. Qualified buyers must buy the home on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009 to receive the tax credit. If you blow this deadline, you won’t be able to get in on the greatest deal for first-time buyers in a long time.

To learn more about the $8,000 tax credit, go to www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com.

A brochure for consumers entitled “Opportunity Knocks for Home Buyers” explains the long-term advantages of buying a home, and provides charts showing examples of typical federal income tax savings through the first five years of homeownership. The brochure can be downloaded from NAHB’s Web site at www.nahb.org/opportunityknocks.