When a bride gets married, there is an old saying that she should wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. In England they also say "and a six pence in her shoe." Sometimes for luck, they actually do put a six pence in her shoe.

I am calling this BLOG Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and will try to update about lender issues every other Wednesday. It is a subset of my regular blog.

I was having lunch with Helen Thomas--not the White House reporter, a local lender. She had a lot of interesting predictions about what is coming down the pike.

First, there were rumors that FHA solvency is shakey, but they are unfounded.

HUD will adopt some sort of HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) plan by January 1st.

Will the $8,000 tax credit be extended? 93% likelihood. This might not happen by December 1st, but if it does it will probably be retroactive.

Will it increase to $15,000? Only a 30% likelihood of this happening.

Will the tax credit be offered to all purchasers, not just First Time Home Buyers? There is a 60% likelihood.

Fannie and Freddie are very tight lipped about how much inventory they have and when and how it will be released.

Government is currently buying ALL mortgage backed securities. 100% of new securities and also some old, non-performing securities owned by banks taken over by FDIC, and other various institutions. This is keeping the interest rates low, which is encouraging people to buy houses.

This will stop after the 1st quarter of next year--expect rates to go up least .75% to 1% by March of next year. This will happen in February or March. Helen was very sure about this, but of course, no one really knows the future. Still, it is a pretty good bet.