The Stimulis Bill..... What it means for the Coachella Valley Housing Market !

Monday, February 16, 2009

by Rob Zwemmer

Monday, February 16 2009

www.DesertRealEstatePrices.com

Good Monday morning

59°F | 42°F

Rain and Sun is the talk of the day! A new weather storm last week covered our local mountains here in the desert with a new blanket of snow.

Today is Presidents Day - February 18^th Washington's Birthday is the official name designated to what many of us know as President's Day. During the month of February the birthday of two of our greatest President's takes place. Both George Washington who was born on Feb. 22nd and Abraham Lincoln born on Feb. 12th. more….

The Stimulis Bill

So here's what we have achieved: 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, and 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, we preserved what we have - which some tend to forget is always on the table when these negotiations start up again - mortgage interest deductibility, Real Estate tax deductibility, 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).

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If you would like to search our local data base of homes for sale (click here).

If you are looking to sell your home and need a comparative market analysis (click here).

Palm Springs Area Mortgage Market update!

Stock markets plunged on Thursday, but rallied back by the end of the day after the media reported that the new administration is trying to work out a new program to subsidize mortgages and fight the credit crisis.

Stocks remain under pressure, as investors feel the new $789 Billion stimulus bill will take some time to have positive impact on the economy.

The mortgage rates rallied on Wednesday and will continue to drop this week.

I will keep you posted as more information comes out; until then, have a happy and safe Presidents’ Day.

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