Tax credit for fist time homeowners?

When I was in the process of buying my house I found out about a federal tax credit for first time homeowners. The credit is actually a $7,500 interest free loan that is repaid $500 dollars a year, with the remainder due when the house is sold. This is a pretty good deal, considering it means not financing furniture or having to wait to do repairs that really should be done sooner rather than later. When I found out about the tax credit, the information that I found, as well as the information I was given by my mortgage broker specified that all I needed to do to receive the credit was file my taxes. My father just called to inform me today that he heard I was supposed to notify my local government and fill out paperwork with them prior to the purchase of the house in order to receive the money. I can't find anything regarding this online and the tax credit has now changed for 2009, so the information on the site is no longer valid to my question. Does anyone know what I am/was supposed to do in order to file for this loan? Thank you.