It Will be a Happy Year, Just Not a New Year

I'm looking at today's report of November home sales, a 12-year low, and can't help but think that 2008, compared to 2007, will be a happy year. Notice I didn't say Happy NEW Year. Because I don't see anything good happening while 2008 would be considered new. In fact, it may be Happy Old Year if anything. Perhaps we start seeing inventory move better in the third quarter and by this time next year, it will be a Happy New Year 2009? Hang in there folks. Optimism lives!!!

A Tenant's Due Diligence in Today's Market

The latest twist in the housing market downturn, at least in my mind, revolves around landlord/tenant relations. It's common practice for the landlord to do a credit check on a prospective tenant. With many tenants being evicted as a matter of process, following a bank's foreclosure, a common occurence nowadays, it's a matter of time before some tenants begin asking for a landlord's credit report as a condition of putting his or her living situation in the landlord's hands, so to speak. I was watching Fox 40 news last night, and a story about tenants' and their dilemna was presented. A quote from a tenant really caught my attention; she said something to the effect that, is this what it has come to, us tenants have to get the landlord's credit report?

I don't really believe it will come to us, but the irony is not lost. Even tenants can't be too careful anymore.

The Fluffy Mortgage Bailout

Fluff. That's all it really is. I'm not talking, of course, about the federal bailout agreement. You know, the one that applies to the drop-in-the-bucket of distressed homeowners out there. I didn't expect much from it, so I guess I'm not surprised that it turned out to be politics as usual. The best spin I have for this development is that it will have some kind of psychological effect on the market. I think the smart money will be on a continued slump until some real adjustment is allowed to take place, most likely without any real help from the feds.