Three dates have led to a rebounding housing market...

On February 17th, President Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package. The 1,071-page law is called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). While the law primarily focuses on creating and preserving jobs, it has two features that will likely vitalize the real estate market: First, it offers an $8000 tax credit for qualified, first-time home buyers of primary residences who purchase between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009. The buyers will not have to pay the credit back if they live in the home for at least 36 months. A first-time homebuyer is defined as someone who has not owned a home in the past 36 months. In order to receive the full credit, the home purchase price must be at least $80,000. Second, the ARRA increased the maximum conforming loan amount from $625,500 to $729,750.

On February 18th, President Obama announced a $275 billion Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan for restructuring and refinancing mortgages for at-risk homeowners.

On March 22nd, President Obama announced that the government would purchase $1 trillion worth of bad mortgage debt from lenders. This resulted in freeing up money for new home purchases that was previously required to secure loans in default. This decision resulted in the stock market increasing by 500 points in one day.

If the housing market continues to recover, the three dates mentioned above will be a big part of the story.