The Federal Reserve released their monthly meeting notes today that showed "they" believed there were signs of the recession easing.  It's hard to believe this when real estate markets are continuing to show lower sales prices and are made up of a good portion of Short Sales and Foreclosure sales.  The good side is a sale is a sale and it's that much less inventory on the market.  Be on the watch....if signs are happening that the recession is ending, rates will most likely climb up to lessen fears of inflation.