IRA withdrawal for down payment for first time home purchase

If you have been saving money in your tax deferred IRA and now want to buy your first home, how can you get your hands on the money locked up in your IRA without a penalty?  WITHDRAW IT!  Here is an excellent article to explain the details..and call me if you would like to review your mortgage options. 

You can withdraw up to $10,000 for qualified acquisition costs of your first home and not pay a 10-percent, early withdrawal penalty on that amount. A 10-percent, early withdrawal penalty is imposed on IRA withdrawals before age 59½, unless an exception such as first-time home purchase applies.

To qualify for treatment as a first-time home buyer distribution, the distribution must meet all the following requirements.

1. It must be used to pay qualified acquisition costs within 120 days after the day you received it.
2. It must be used to pay qualified acquisition costs for the main home of a first-time home buyer such as you, your spouse, children, grandchildren or ancestors.
3. You have not withdrawn $10,000 previously for a first-time home purchase.

If both you and your spouse are first-time home buyers, each of you can receive distributions of up to $10,000 for a first home without having to pay the 10-percent additional tax. But this would have to come from separate IRAs (i.e., yours and hers). Since the $18,000 came from your IRA and your maximum exclusion is $10,000, you are subject to the 10-percent penalty on the excess: $8,000.

Qualified acquisition costs include the following items.

• Costs of buying (such as your down payment), building or rebuilding a home.
• Any usual or reasonable settlement, financing or other closing costs.

If you and your spouse have not had a home for more than two years, this will be considered a first home.