First, the smart buyer will use the tax rebates to buy down their interest rates for the life of the loan.  More importantly, the increasing of the conventional and FHA loan limits will provide a much needed boost to demand in the higher ranges, which have slowed dramatically since the drying up of the financial markets since August.  For conventional loans, we can expect rates to be slightly higher than the current conventional rate, but much less than the current jumbo rate.  There has been little talk about the importance of the new FHA limits, but they are an important replacement to the demise of the subprime loan.  Actually, FHA loans were extremely common just a decade ago; that is until they went out of vogue with the refusal of the Federal Government to change the limits in rapidly appreciating markets.  The limit had been $367,000; thus, the subprime was born to fill the need to finance borrowers with damaged credit and little down payments.  Unfortunately, without much regulation, the lending industry established a product that paled in comparison to the strength of FHA financing.  FHA requires documentation of income and does not allow "payment shock" where a buyer jumps from a low rental payment to a high mortgage payment.  FHA has all of the safety gaps and education in place so that buyers do not get in over their heads like they did with subprime financing.  The end result:  the stimulus package will provide a much needed resource for many to obtain financing, which will ultimately translate to an increase in demand.  With the signing of the bill into law last week, we can expect the change to take hold sometime next month.