For starters thanks for serving and good luck to you. Since your question was asked under the
First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended for Military Personnel article I assume you plan to take advantage of the tax credit as a first time homebuyer and a veteran and not as a civilian. The answer is Yes either way but I want to stress a couple issues that may come up.

If you can not or do not get a home under contract and close on THAT house by April 30, 2010 you will have to use as a veteran. If this is the case you need to make sure you get your certification from the Veterans Affairs office ASAP in order to get it claimed on your 2010 claim. This certification takes about 4-6 weeks to get even as a retired veteran, and I am just speculating but I bet even longer for newly enlisted military personnel. So I can not for sure say if you can get it in time. I would check with your recruiter and see when you would be eligible to get that vet cert before banking on getting the $8000 Tax credit.

As for your 2nd question, I believe as long as that house is going to be your primary residence for the next 3 years, and you are not claiming a homestead exemption on any other home it will not matter if you are not living in it as long as you are not using it as a investment or rental property. A civilian must live in a house 6 months and 1 day a year in order to claim it as a primary residence and get a homesteaded exemption, but military service men and women obviously get other exceptions to those rules. I would actually check directly with the I.R.S. to make sure I am correct on this issue a C.P.A. may also be able to advise for sure. If you need a C.P.A. to ask drop me an email and I will get you the contact information for mine, he won't charge anything to pick his brain. Hope this helps.

For starters thanks for serving and good luck to you. Since your question was asked under the
First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended for Military Personnel article I assume you plan to take advantage of the tax credit as a first time homebuyer and a veteran and not as a civilian. The answer is Yes either way but I want to stress a couple issues that may come up.

If you can not or do not get a home under contract and close on THAT house by April 30, 2010 you will have to use as a veteran. If this is the case you need to make sure you get your certification from the Veterans Affairs office ASAP in order to get it claimed on your 2010 claim. This certification takes about 4-6 weeks to get even as a retired veteran, and I am just speculating but I bet even longer for newly enlisted military personnel. So I can not for sure say if you can get it in time. I would check with your recruiter and see when you would be eligible to get that vet cert before banking on getting the $8000 Tax credit.

As for your 2nd question, I believe as long as that house is going to be your primary residence for the next 3 years, and you are not claiming a homestead exemption on any other home it will not matter if you are not living in it as long as you are not using it as a investment or rental property. A civilian must live in a house 6 months and 1 day a year in order to claim it as a primary residence and get a homesteaded exemption, but military service men and women obviously get other exceptions to those rules. I would actually check directly with the I.R.S. to make sure I am correct on this issue a C.P.A. may also be able to advise for sure. If you need a C.P.A. to ask drop me an email and I will get you the contact information for mine, he won't charge anything to pick his brain. Hope this helps.