[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Housing is in trouble. Too much evidence keeps coming out from MANY different sources. Wake up people.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

For your information.

[goldstategop]

I've cut my home price to bare bottom. $75,000 less than the state median. And there's still a six month backlog of unsold home inventory here in California.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Dog Gone]

Wake up and do what?

Sell my house and move into an apartment? A motorhome?

Why should I wake up?

[jiggyboy]

It's a real WTF moment when I see articles like this wondering if housing has bottomed. It's so obvious that it's nowhere near bottoming from every single statistic and CEO quote that I use it as a litmus test for Bushbots here on FR.

[word_warrior_bob]

I'm in real estate, although anectdotal, prices are going down in a lot of areas and houses are not selling at all, a lot of houses aren't even getting any showings, these same houses would have sold in a weekend.

It will eventually turn around, it always does, unless President Hillary declares eminent domain nationwide.

[defenderSD]

Key thing to keep in mind is that if housing gets very weak then the entire economy will weaken significantly and the Fed will cut interest rates. Then mortgage rates will fall another 0.75% or so and housing demand will increase in response. So there are self-correcting mechanisms in our economy. It's a constant rebalancing of markets into an equillibrium.

[Fraxinus]

Anecdotal, but I have heard reports that some condo management groups are buying unoccupied units and converting them to rentals in the DC area.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Rather, desperate home builders are simply resorting to extreme measures to keep inventories of unsold homes from mounting sky-high and prices from going into a free fall.

I just bought a new home in N. Texas. The builder put up $15,000 in incentives, which I used on a few upgrades and down payment. The mortgage is for $149,000. The appraisal came in at $162,000.

[outdriving]

It has to be in trouble. When housing becomes unaffordable in relation to incomes, some thing's going to give.

Aliens are used to overcrowded housing with 2-4 families in single family housing units to meet high costs, maybe this is the wave of the future.

Just like two income families have become the norm in order to meet the rising costs of living. "DINK" is no longer a path to a cushy lifestyle, now it's just survival.

The American dream is dying, thanks to Globalization.

Thanks, free trade suckers.

[The Iceman Cometh]

As a Realtor in Idaho, I fully agree with these comments and see an adjustment period extending into '07.

[gonewt]

There is no single "housing market." Here in Charlotte, NC we are not seeing anywhere near the same type of slowdown that they're seeing in California or South Florida.

I'm continuing to buy when it's prudent to do so.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

There is no frickin way the gains can be sustained that we have seen in the past couple years. Salaries are not increasing at a 20% gain year after year right now.
I have watched many people, including myself, completely priced out of even the condo market here in Seattle and have given up.

Something has to give sooner or later, no matter how many exotic loans the banks keep pushing to the masses.

[jennyjenny]

We normally see about 5-7% appreciation per year. Very steady, and never a decline for the past 20 years. In the last 60 days it's gone up nearly 25% or more. I'll take that.

[IYAAYAS]

By the time Her Royal Thighnesses' presidency is over, we're going to be using the 2x4's from all of the abandoned houses as firewood to keep warm.

Seriesly though, prices will equalize when I can buy a 3/2 anywhere and rent it for a profit. <---that's the way it's supposed to work.

[montag813]

New York City is laughing at the "slowdown". So far anyway. Sales are brisk and prices are holding firm. And rentals are almost impossible to find.

[sphinx]

Housing is in trouble.

Not for long. We just elected an open-borders Congress, so we are still on track to double the population again by about 2040.

Short term slumps I can ride out. The house I bought 25 years ago for $97,500 might slide all the way back to $700,000, or $600,000 in a complete meltdown. I'm not going to panic.