[quote=contrarian][quote=contrarian]The top ten ways to know that the bottom is here:
(Drum roll please)
10. No sellers are offering “free” plasma TV’s — just lower prices.
9. Buyers with bad credit are called renters.
8. RE professionals act professionally.
7. Time magazine’s headline “Housing will never recover”.
6. Your waitress and your barber no longer brag about how they made a fortune in real estate.
5. People buy houses to actually live in them.
4. US Attorney convicts Angelo Mozilo.
3. Democrats establish a commission to “cure” the housing problem. Republicans issue a press release stating that there may be a housing bubble. Libertarians are busy building bomb shelters.
2. No more bombastic ads for get rich quick real estate seminars.
And, the number one way to know that the bottom is here: all the Piggs have bought their dream houses!
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We may be close!!
I’m still waiting for #4 and #1. (Forget about #8 — it will never happen. What was I thinking?)[/quote]
Very enjoyable post, from the distant mists of history, contrarian. I see #3 is not happening either. Instead, pols from both parties have lined up behind the greater govt efforts to pour money into housing in a powerful scheme to keep prices high. Consider all the expanded GNMA, FHA, FNMA, FHLMC, FDIC etc programs, and then add the mortgage loan interest deduction and relief from capital gains taxes on house price gains, and the Fed’s bias to lower interest rates….
It actually isn’t necessary for a good economy to have ANY of these ridiculous supports for home prices. Germany (post-WW2) is a decent example. Whatever else you may think of Germany, it’s hardly an economic or political basket-case.
