Welcome to the forum. This place has helped me a ton over the past year.
True on the legality thing, I can't say I've ever seen the homebrew thing enforced though. A few folks (http://www.freethehops.org) here in bama have taken these issues to heart. They've started a campaign to change these laws and have actually made a little progress this year. Just last week they were able to get one of their bills (to change the ABV limits) through the house.