What is going on here?

Eck!!!  Sorry all for not posting more regularly, damn life gets in the way too often.  Hopefully, I can be more attentive with this blog by trying to blog on a more regular basis.  Now, onto the real business at hand.

What is going on in this world?  I can't seem to figure it out.  I mean I understand that the economy is in the tank, the world is collapsing around us, and the republicans are already calling for President Obama's head.  What I don't get is what the heck is happening in my community?  Just over a couple of weeks ago only two houses in my neighborhood were for sale.  Now all of a sudden, we have six houses on the market in my neighborhood.  What is taking place here?  I can't put my finger on it.

I would have guessed that anyone in the Bush administration or party would have skipped town by now and I really don't think these families are in dire straights on their home mortgages.  I also suppose that maybe they think time is on their side and they might as well get their houses on the market and let them sit for a while in the hopes of selling sometime in the next year or two.  I give them mad props for trying to sell their homes during our current recession, but I haven't seen this many homes on the market in my neighborhood since the peak of the housing market about five years ago.

The other thing that I don't understand is that surprisingly there are people looking for homes in my neighborhood.  Almost every weekend we get more than our fair share of onlookers driving around to see the houses that are for sale.  Unfortunately, they are just looking, as none of the houses have moved off the market yet.

I just don't get it, I'm totally perplexed.

Middle Ground

I guess I need to get back to posting, I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.

So, I was thinking today that Columbia and HoCo in general, definitely has it wrong when it comes to housing.  I realize that Columbia/Ellicott City are prime places to live in the United States, but seriously (even in our recession) housing prices are still ridiculous.

What I've found however is that there really isn't any middle ground for housing in HoCo.  You basically have three options for housing.  You can pay huge bucks to live in a relatively new house, you can overpay for a decent house that is a few more years older, or you can overpay for a fixer upper shack that is really old.  In any case you are screwed when it comes to finding anything that is affordable.

I guess the best thing one could do is live in an apartment and save up for a future down payment on a house.  Unfortunately, we all know how people are at saving, so it looks like we've created a viscous cycle here in HoCo.  It kills me to see people that are house poor, but it's even worse to see people living in an apartment and driving a BMW or a Benz (obviously not saving money for the right things).

No one really knows what the future holds for the housing market in HoCo, but one can only hope that prices will level out.  I'm not saying we need huge cuts to home values, but a more realistic approach to home values would certainly help.

Ideally, to achieve a middle ground, home developers need to avoid building McMansions and houses with wasted space (i.e. two story foyers).  Next, home buyers need to understand that bigger doesn't always mean better.  No one needs a formal dining room, no one needs huge closets in ever room, and no one needs that jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.  Homes should be energy efficient, built for connivance and not for excess, and finally homes should be realistic.  Maybe this is too much to ask.