The House of Representatives this week passed a landmark, 700+ page bill. It’s not law yet, but gets passed on to the Senate. The two houses of Congress will reconcile differences (maybe this weekend), and submit the final bill to the White House. For a long time, Pres. Bush said he’d veto the bill, but yesterday he said he’d sign the bill into law.

There are multiple parts to the bill. Here’s the link for an index of the bill. (Note: that link takes you to The Library of Congress Thomas search page. Type in HR 3221.EAH2 in the Search field. Put a space between R and 3, but no other spaces. Click on the link for Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House). We’re not going to delve into the big macro items (shoring up Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc), but focus on what elements of the housing bill look like for different constituencies. Following this post are 3 separate posts the bill addresses:

• For homeowners that may be facing foreclosure.
• For first time home buyers.
• For buyers

Remember – these aren’t law yet. But it would appear it’s getting much closer.