A HOUSE IS ONCE AGAIN FIRST A HOME
Feeling a bit bruised or grumpy after the recent shenanigans in Washington? No wonder. If you want some cheering news, look homeward.
Reporting by Catherine Reagor shows the Valley’s housing market continues to move toward a natural balance.
Foreclosures and short sales have dropped dramatically, and fewer homeowners are underwater. According to
fall Valley Home Values special report, prices are up in every neighborhood — by double digits in most areas.
This is driving investors out of the market because there’s less quick profit to be made. That, coupled with more houses on the market, creates opportunities for traditional homebuyers.
These are the people who want a house to be a home, not an investment. People who want a place to return to at the end of a long day, not a place to flip for a quick profit.
All that flipping, the gimmicky mortgages, the bubbled-up prices and the vision of a house as purely a commodity contributed to a housing crash we’d all like to forget. But remember. Buying a house is supposed to be about the desire to turn a roof and walls into a home where laughter, love and memories add more than dollar value. That got warped during the bubble days.
Sure. Investment real estate is fine. It has a long history in our state.
But it is the traditional buyer — the person in search of a house to inhabit — who keeps the market balanced and communities strong. Welcome home.