Homebuyer Credit Gets New Life
Key lawmakers in the Senate have tentatively agreed to extend the existing $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and also offer a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who have lived in their current residence for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years.
Read more: WSJ Online

Digging yourself out of a mortgage mess
This year, the Obama administration began pushing so-called loan modifications as a way to keep millions of Americans in their homes as real-estate values plunged and unemployment soared. Under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, the lender agrees to adjust the terms of the loan, in most cases by temporarily lowering the interest rate or extending the period in which the loan must be repaid, both of which serve to lower the monthly payment. Mortgage companies also have their own programs for borrowers who don’t qualify for the government program.
Read more: WSJ Online

Housing bottom behind us, experts say
The median price of an existing, single-family home in California rose for the seventh consecutive month in September to $296,090, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ most-recent sales and price report.  Home sales also increased in September, rising 2.1 percent compared with August.  If home sales maintain their current pace, 530,520 units will be sold in California in 2009.
Read more: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

10 Safest Places to Live in the U.S.
A sense of security is one of the big reasons why people choose a home. Forbes magazine has created a list of the nation’s safest places to live by examining four factors: workplace accidents, weather catastrophes, crime rates, and traffic accidents.
Read more: Forbes

NAR Lauds Extension of Higher Loan Limits
Congress quickly passed a resolution that extends the current Fannie, Freddie, and FHA mortgage loan limits through 2010.The resolution would extend the present conventional loan limits for Fannie and Freddie through the 2010 calendar year at 125 percent of local median home sales prices, up to a maximum of $729,750 in high-cost areas. The floor for FHA is $271,050; the floor for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits is $417,000.
Read more: NAR