Congress sent the economic stimulus package to President Bush and he signed it into law this week.  In addition to putting as much as $600 each into the pockets of people who earned up to $150,000 last year, there’ll be accelerated write-offs for businesses that buy new equipment.

 The biggest impact on the Evergreen/Conifer real estate market should be an increase in the loan limits for ‘conforming’ loans; anyone who needs a loan between $417,000 and approximately $660,000 will find it less expensive to borrow.  The upper loan limits are still being worked out because a formula based on the average loan amount for the last 6 months will be used to determine the maximum conforming loan amount for each area of the country.

Economists are divided on whether the economy is already in a recession, but most agree that the stimulus package will help lift us out of whatever downturn we’re in.  On the other hand, they don’t call economics the ‘dismal science’ for nothing and now economists are opining how the stimulus package may be too little, too late or that it simply delays the inevitable correction our economy must suffer through in order to wring out the excesses of the last few years. 

Stay tuned.

Tupper