Article: Savings level, not tax incentive, should drive decision to buy home

This spring, Emily Judd, 31, made an offer on a fixer-upper in Quincy, hoping to take advantage of the soon-to-expire $8,000 federal tax break for first-time home buyers.

The seller accepted her offer, but the deal later fell apart. Rather than plunge back into the market, Judd, who does marketing for a Brookline assisted-living facility, decided she could use some professional advice. So she applied for a Boston Globe Money Makeover.

"I feel a home is the way to plan for my financial and familial future," she said. And with the federal tax credit set to expire Nov. 30 and home prices yet to recover from the recent market rout, she figured she couldn't afford to dawdle.

But when she sat down ...

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