re: #542 lawhawk

Sales definitely got shifted to November to take advantage of what was the then expiring homeowner tax credit. It got expanded before the Nov 30 deadline, to include not just new homeowners, but it’s not creating new demand, even with the credit and low mortgage rates because unemployment is still high and all too many parts of the country see their real estate holdings underwater if they bought into the teeth of the bubble. They aren’t willing to take losses, so they’re not putting their homes on the market, which increases pressures on foreclosures since many can’t afford their payments (even with modifications). The Administration (Obama and Bush) needed to stay out of the way and let the markets adjust on their own. It would have been sharp and painful, but we’re seeing a long and drawn out pain instead as real estate prices are still too high in many parts of the country and the attempt to forestall foreclosures is actually artificially keeping the prices above where they should be based on what the markets should bear.

Once prices fall, the demand will pick up.

The prices fall anymore where I am they will be somewhere near the tops of our toe nails.///