Square Feet: Refinancing homeowners hop back up on the fence

Here's one unintended effect for the mortgage industry of the proclamation last hebdomad that the economical deliverance bundle could include a large addition in the conforming loan limit: Borrowers who were about to refinance, or even contemplating a purchase, are holding off until they happen out whether the loan bounds will indeed travel up, said mortgage loaners and agents I spoke to today.

Over the long tally it would be good if the loan bounds rose, said Steve Donahue of . But "in the short term I'm really unhappy with the whole clump of them," he said in a kinda joking/kinda not tone, referring to the politicians crafting the economical plan. Donahue said some clients have got decided to throw off on their refinances. And others have got called the recognition labor union believing that the addition is already a done deal, which it is not.

I spoke late Monday to a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi's business office who said that a House version of the economical stimulation measure is being hammered out tonight, and a ballot on it is hoped for on Tuesday. The one-year increase in the conforming loan bounds -- from the current $417,000 up to a upper limit of $730,000 -- is still in the bill, said Nadeam Elshami in Pelosi's office.