Stimulus Bill--What it means to the real estate market

Wondering what the recently passed stimulus bill means to the housing market? Here are some bullets for you to know:

1) the loan limits will be raised to $727,000 in high cost areas (that would be us in the bay area)
2) the tax credit will be raised to $8,000 with NO payback [a true credit]
3) interest rates have come down 125-150 basis points (1.25-1.5%)
4) the bill has over $50 billion in it for foreclosure mitigation, with Geitners Treasury plan signaling that the second half of TARP and TALF will be used to mitigate foreclosures through a government guarantee, drive down interest rates by buying another $200-300 billion of mortgage paper from the GSES's thereby freeing them up to do the same with new mortgages, and Fannie has just agreed to lift the cap of 4 investment properties eligible for loans and raise it to 10--YEAH!!! I was waiting for this one!

(summary courtesy of the National Association of Realtors)