There is a lot new in Far East El Pasoan Tania Lastra's life. She gave birth two weeks ago, so her family needed more space, moving into a brand new home two months ago.

"Yes, very happy. It's so nice to have your own home," said Lastra.

Being a first time home buyer, Lastra took full advantage of the $8,000 the federal government is offering.

"We're going to use that money for the landscape and also I'm on maternity leave right now, so it helped in that way," Lastra told KFOX.

But getting that help ends on Friday. So what do you need to do to nail down the government's cash?

"You have to have a contract signed and approved by both the seller and the buyer, and the execution date has to be no later than April 30," said Salvador Perales, a loan officer with First Community Mortgage.

And there's even more time to close the deal.

"The program will allow you to close on the loan until June 30th," Perales told KFOX.

"It did help us out a lot and it was a big break for us and luckily we got it just in time," said Lastra.

There is an extension for soldiers serving overseas. For some, they'll have until April 30, 2011 to get the same deal.