Ah, we (first time buyers, waiting & watching for about 7 years) closed last month and I remember a freak out moment in early November when we locked in our loan rate. It wasn’t so much the rate (which is quite low), but the “timeline” and trajectory toward finality that it put us on. This was really happening, and we were going to be on a budget unlike the one we lived under as renters.

When you decide to buy – which for us meant we loved the house, could afford the payments on a fixed rate mortgage, and it was big enough that we wouldn’t “grow out of it” with two small children – then I think you have to exit the “bearish analyst mindset” and just live in the house and don’t worry about value. In this market, if you can find a house that you can enjoy and live in for at least 10 years, there are a lot of good deals out there. But its a long term strategy. Stop worrying about value and live in a house you like and can afford.

In escrow, I remember watching “The Road” based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, and thinking, “I could end up like this guy if I buy this house!” Pretty silly. Send the “gold and ammo” Armageddon thinking that streams through the hysterical blogosphere back where it came from: some sorry-a$$ cubicle.