Senate Version of Stimulus Package Looks Bigger and Faster Acting Then House Bill

So it appears that Government may actually be able to function under an Obama administration.

First reports indicate that the Senate has streamlined and improved the House version of the 2009 Stimulus package.

The Senate version of the bill looks to spend about $64B more than the house version. The Senate version has more money for tax cuts and infrastructure spending than the House bill. The senate plans to spend 78% of the funds by 2010 compared to the House bill which was only planning to utilize 64% of the funds in the same timeframe.

Like the $6M Man the Senate version appears to be bigger, stronger, faster. We have the technology!

One of the biggest areas of attention about to be debated is the housing crisis. Obama wanted to deal with the housing crisis with a second follow up package after he got this one passed. It appears the Republicans feel that it should be addressed with this stimulus package since housing is at the heart of our economic problems. We feel finally some people on the hill get it! Surely Democrats will be opent to adding provisions to help out the troubled housing market with the stimulus package. This fact makes the likelihood of a Stimulus bill being passed by the Senate sometime next week highly likely. Perhaps Obama will have a nice Valentines day suprise he can sign into law he can give to his supporters as a V-day gift!

Look for some kind of interest rate or possibly waving of the tax credit repayment to be included this week in the stumulus package from the Senate. Even better would be if they allowed the $7K new home buyer tax credit to be immediately applied to downpayment assistance or closing cost assistance. Lets keep our fingers crossed that the talking heads are as eager as the rest of American to grease the wheels of the housing market and turn this thing around finally.

Fed Announcement Today should reassure those looking for low rates

Fed meeting announcment released today confirmed that the Feds stand ready to throw the kitchen sink, the dog, the canary, granma's teeth, and anything else they can get their hands on at the economic crisis we are deep unerway on.

They have been steadily buying mortgage backed securities (MBS) which has helped keep interest rates low. They intend to increase and expand their MBS purchases which will ensure that for the foreseeable future mortgage interest rates will not only stay low, but likely decline. Reats have creeped back up recently into the low 5% range but stand firm on our belief that before the end of February we will be in the mid to low 4% range on 30 year fixed mortgage loans.

The Feds also announced that they intend to keep the overnight lending rates between 0%-1/4%. In our opinion this is something that will continue for several years to come. This is great news for those with Equity lines of credit that are at prime (currently 3.3%-3.5%)! IF your lucky enough to have some money now is the time to take advantage of the low cost to borrower against it and use it make some money.

I have a family member with an equity line and have assisted him in using it for private lending (also known as hard money). He is in at 20% LTV loans on free and clear properties making 12.75% return on his money that is only costing him 3.3% to loan out :). More and more people are turnging to private investors as banks turn their back on everyone but Donal Trump and Opray Winfrey.

There are any number of ways one can take advantage of the current market. Stay positive, keep your eyes and ears open, and find a way to make this moment yours!

Weekly Poll Results: Most Important Aspect of New Stimulus Package

It's that time again. Last week's weekly poll was "What Is The Most Important Aspect of New Stimulus Package"?

The poll results were 100% in agreement that it should be Infrastructure Spending.
The other options were Tax Rebates, Unemployment Compensation Increases, And Other.

These polls always suprise because you would think everyone would immediatly choose to recieve instant money through a tax rebate or lower taxes. The fact that people recognize that in order to recover we need to spend more on infrastructure tells us that we are living in one of the most politically aware times. People seem to know what is going on these days. That would explain why we have a historic presidency today. Had Mr. Obama run four or eight years ago he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Because the country is finally fed up they chose to get educated about the issues and make an informed decision!

Thank you to all who took time to participate in the polls. We were recently featured on a Fox 35 news piece that we utilized our poll information on. We will post a link to the video of the news piece when it becomes available. We appreciate your continued contributions to a more educated and empowered USA.