Some good from the Obama stimulus package

Well, the Obama stimulus package has been signed. Yes there is a ton of pork in there that our kids will have to pay for long after we are gone, but there is some good in it for the real estate market.

In the latest status report from the National Association of Realtors, Charles McMillian, 2009 NAR President, listed some of the achievements that are outlined in the package are:

1) the loan limits will be raised to $727,000 in high cost areas
2) the tax credit will be raised to $8,000 with NO payback [a true credit]
3) interest rates have come down 125-150 basis points
4) the bill has over 50 billion in it for foreclosure mitigation, with Geitners Treasury plan signaling that the second half of TARP and TALF will be used to mitigate foreclosures through a government guarantee, drive down interest rates by buying another 200-300 billion of mortgage paper from the GSES's thereby freeing them up to do the same with new mortgages, and Fannie has just agreed to lift the cap of 4 investment properties eligible for loans and raise it to 10.

"In addition mortgage interest deductability, real estate tax deductability, and the $250,000/$500,000 cap gains exclusion (an overall package worth more than $100 billion and for some a very attractive funding source for their pet projects)."

The NAR will continue to study the specifics of the stimulus package as it relates to the housing market and I will try to keep you updated here.

I have written about the interest rates, $7500 credit and the foreclosure tidal wave that is crashing down on top of us but now is the time to learn how to surf. Only when we learn to get ontop of the trouble and help others out, will we also begin to profit from the greed and stupidity of the markets that got us into this mess.

Now is the time to buy property if it is at all possible and the deals we make today will be well worth it in the years to come. It is a Buyer's market and if we are careful in our research and preperation in looking for the right properties to buy, our purchases will pay off in the end.