I do not have a property that I am selling, so I am curious about this from a market standpoint. I've talked to two different real estate agents that think/speculate that the market will completely tank once the credits expire. I am not sure if I believe that or not. I am curious how much of an impact the tax credits have had on people's decisions to purchase.

I know of three of my 26 year old son's friends that are purchasing first homes before Apr 30 to qualify for the credit. It has nudged them to purchase a home while interest rates and housing prices are low. The added benefit of the 8k has been the major reason they're buying now instead of waiting to see if the market tanks further. All are buying in the 150-200K price range, and there are plenty of those in our market. I wonder if it will spur the sellers of the starter homes to move up to other homes or if the sellers will sit tight with their money for a while.

We've been on the market for 21 days and have had decent traffic ( 14 showings), although no bites yet as far as offers. We are still looking for something that fits us as well. Hoping to get the tax credit, but we were looking to move on and up anyways. It would be a nice bonus though.

Thye market will drop after the incentive is up. It dropped by almost 20% this past December, when everyone thought the deadline was Nov. 30. Therefore, prices will drop a bit too. Get ahead of the market, and not always catching up.
Having said that though, I think the drop off will not be as severe as the first go around. Most of the buyers bought during the first go around, so there are not as many left for this time.

Personally, I haven't seen that much more traffic because of the tax credit. Of the buyers that I have who are eligible for it, one was very motivated by the credit, the other has the attitude that they arent going to rush into something to get the credit. I dont expect to see much difference after its gone.