Christmas talk centers on housing mess
We had a pretty typical Christmas holiday: My 9-year-old son loved his new Wii game. My 14-month-old son loved the boxes his presents came in.
There was something different this year, though: For the first time that I can remember, my relatives and I sat and talked about the housing market, and what we all thought it was going to do in 2009 and, looking far ahead, in 2010.
This is unusual: I’ve been writing about residential real estate for more than 10 years now. I can’t ever remember the state of the housing market coming up over Christmas dinner. But the market is in such a sorry state, and is featured so prominently in every newspaper you pick up, I suppose it’s not all that surprising that it became mealtime conversation.
The big question most of my family members had? Should we refinance? In most cases, the answer would be “no.” Usually, with lenders’ fees, not to mention the time and hassle involved with filling out forms and digging up old paychecks, refinancing is not worth it unless you’re talking about a rather significant drop, say 3/4 of a point in interest or higher.
Other family members worried about what their newly purchased homes were now worth. I tried to remind them that unless they plan on selling in the near future, it really doesn’t matter what their homes are worth now. If they do have to sell soon? Well, then that’s another story. It’s best not to sell right now, no matter what your real estate agent may tell you. This is a terrible market for sellers. If you have to buy? That’s another story. This is a wonderful buyer’s market.
Of course, the conversation also focused on those folks facing foreclosure who were greedy and bought too much house for their income levels. This is a debate I’m growing tired of, but I’ll repeat myself here: The majority of people facing foreclosure were not greedy. Yes, there were greedy people who did stretch themselves unrealistically to get into their “dream” house. But those people are vastly outnumbered by homeowners who simply have lost jobs, suffered illness or were advised by shady brokers and bankers to take out loans that were too risky.
I have to admit, I’d rather have talked about most anything else at Christmas. Family news? Incoming president Barack Obama? The Gold Globe nominations? Tom Cruise’s curious decision to don an eye patch and play a sympathetic Nazi? They all would have been welcome diversions from a housing market that has become so depressing.
My Christmas wish for 2009? I hope that if we do end up talking about the housing market, the conversation will center on the industry’s amazing comeback, and how happy everyone is with the rising value of their homes.
