These days, it looks like everyone is trying to help kick-start our economy. Just look around and you will notice that our city, county, state and national governments are all trying their best to awaken the sleepy economy. The Obama Administration announced an $8,000 tax credit, I hear that lawmakers in Sacramento are mulling the idea of beating the federal government by dishing out $10,000 as a tax credit to first time home buyers. Then just an hour ago I read that the California Association of Realtors is setting aside $1,000,000 to help first-time homeowners who may lose their jobs. If these first-time home buyers bought a home between April 2 and December 31 this year and happen to lose their job during this period the primary borrower would be given $1,500 per month for 6 months and if they had a co-borrower the co-borrower would get $750. That's pretty generous, wouldn't you agree? On top of that, some city governments offer HUGE chunks of money to first-time home buyers. Fremont, for example, gives the first-time home buyer up $40,000. They don't have to pay back a penny for the next 45 years, unless they sell or refinance the home. Oakland dishes out a whopping $75K. San Jose gives $60,000. Some cities give as much as $110,000.

With incentives galore, coupled with historic low interest rates and prices to the tune of 1998, there has never been a better time to buy than now.

So if you have relatives, friends, colleagues who can afford to buy but are still sitting on the fence looking over to see what's happening, tell them the above good news. And if you are an investor and you have properties that you want to sell, use the message above to woo buyers to your side.