 | Details Of The Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
 Talk about tax shelters. Your home likely provides more tax relief than any other acquisition, thanks, in part, to new federal laws designed to ease financial suffering in the recessionary economy.
The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," passed the House on February 13, 2009, by a vote of 246 - 184. Later that day, the Senate also passed the bill by a vote of 60 - 38. The President signed the bill on February 17, 2009. The bill is a $780 billion package, with roughly 35% of the package devoted to tax cuts (mostly for
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2009) and the rest to spending intended to occur in 2009 and 2010.
The bill includes the following provisions:
Homebuyer Tax Credit - The bill
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Why Buy a Home Now
 If you're renting and wondering if you should buy a home, consider what bestselling author, David Bach, says, "The average homeowner is worth 35 times more than the average renter."
He advises renters to take action immediately and start saving part of their paycheck every month to help accumulate a down payment. He also encourages renters to borrow 10-20 percent less than what the bank is willing to lend; that way they're only buying as much home as they can afford.
The longer you rent, the longer it may take you to eventually get into homeownership. If the market conditions have scared you, perhaps you're not looking at the other side of the coin. Owning a home becomes part of your investment portfolio, provides tax benefits, allows you to build equity (it still exists), and, if you buy now, you may get an excellent deal.
According to a MarketWatch news article, buying a home now can provide some real negotiating power to request
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Mortgages That Survived
The Credit Crunch
 Today's mortgages are a far cry from boom time home loans, but they do exist and some lenders have money to burn. "People used to qualify with stated income. Now there is more documentation. And they aren't just documenting your income, but looking for assets in addition to your income and low debt-to-income ratios and low loan-to-value ratios," said Asmaa Egal, mortgage broker, Loan Republic Financial in San Francisco.
The new brand of home loan has been customized with tighter controls and fewer defects to replace old mortgage models that crashed and burned when the economy hit the skids. "You have to qualify. You have to prove your income. They have make-sense underwriting," said, Quincy Virgilio, 2009 president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors.
FHA-insured mortgages
The new darling of the homebuyer set, Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgage programs, have been available for decades. especially for low- to moderate-income families who may not meet requirements for conventional loans.
But with new loan limits as high as $625,500, they've become especially
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It's a Good Time To Remodel
 Planning now to get in a contractor's pipeline of work orders for the spring can give a homeowner a negotiating edge for home improvements and remodeling work. If there was ever a time to strike a deal on home improvement, remodeling and alteration services for the home, this is it.
A semi-annual survey of 5,000 U.S. homeowners, the "Spring 2009 Remodeling Sentiment Report", from Sunnyvale, CA-based RemodelOrMove.com, reveals four times as many homeowners answered "probably not" when asked if they will remodel this year, as compared to the 2007 survey.
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