Positive News on the Housing Front

Last Thursday congress quietly pushed through a piece of legislation to help keep our housing market moving at least at its current level.  H.R. 3081 was passed to extend the conforming loan limits for FHA, VA, and Fannie and Freddie for another year (to September 30, 2011) instead of letting them expire that day.  These conforming loan limits were adjusted last year, after years of stagnation to account for the changes in housing prices that had occurred over the last decade.  For those that are not aware, the conforming loan limit is the highest amount of money that can be lent to a person without charging them additional fees or interest rate increases (loans that exceed the conforming limit are called Jumbo loans.)  By keeping this limit up at the current levels, congress is allowing more people to be able to get homes at the lower interest rates that prevail in today’s market, which should help keep things moving in the right direction (or at least shouldn’t get worse). 

If you would like to know the conforming loan limit for your area please contact your local Realtor or ask me to look it up for you in the comments.  They differ by area of the country, and even county to county, so I cannot just give a list of them here.  I hope this news is as heartening to you as it is to me.  See you tomorrow, and keep dreaming!