Why would I be here if I had negative views on housing?
I think housing is great. I grew up in housing. I’ve helped to build housing. I live in housing. I hope to live in housing for the rest of my life. I have no desire to be homeless.
What I do have is a very negative attitude toward reckless speculation, especially when it threatens people’s ability to afford housing now and in the future.
I have friends and family in the REIC. One is a non-traditional broker in a small town. I know him as an honest, moral, upstanding person and it pains me to know that he and his family will have their livelihood affected by the aftermath of reckless speculation. Another is a pre-foreclosure investor. I haven’t seen him in years, but I’m sure he treats people fairly and gives them a better deal than they’d get in foreclosure. (OK, one is a former executive with a well-known subprime lender. Nobody’s perfect.) So we don’t all have irrational prejudices.
I’m sure that any rational, right-thinking Realtor(TM) would prefer, say, 10 percent appreciation spread over four years rather than 40 percent appreciation in a single year. (I know the math doesn’t quite work out, but I don’t remember the formula off the top of my head.) Not that either scenario is particularly sustainable, but the former provides a good but stable living without creating the “gold rush” atmosphere that will hurt the real estate industry for years to come.
