Talk about a mixed economic message!  MSNBC.com has two headlines in the real estate section:

New homes sales take surprise tumble and Home prices rise for third straight month

Of course, these are NEW home sales that tumbled.  The second article says existing home sales are recovering,

September home sales figures back up the recovery. Home resales climbed more than 9 percent last month, the largest amount in more than 26 years, the National Association of Realtors said last week.

It appears that Congress is also about to extend and expand the tax credit for home buyers, according to CNN.com.

Senate sources told CNN they have tentatively agreed to extend that $8,000 credit for first-time buyers until the end of April. In addition, they are adding a $6,500 credit for some current homeowners who buy a new residence by then. To qualify, current homeowners must have lived in their primary residence for five continuous years.

I am pretty excited about extending this to current homeowners. If I didn’t have to pump about $20,000 in my own home now to get it “parade ready” and if it was worth more than I owe (!), I’d definitely consider selling to something more maintenance free.  I’m hoping this will be the boost we need to get real estate really moving again.