List Only

what do you think is necessary to improve the housing market?

i think another tax credit($8,000 bucks ) is necessary to improve the housing market but also a reduction for investors in downpayments. see, if anyone wants to purchase an investment property, the person needs to put down 20% in most cases which i think not all investors have that amount of money ( like me). but what do you think? i am waiting for another tax credit to purchase another investment property and i am sure that millions of investors out there are in the same page as me.

Public Comments

1. Lower unemployment.
2. The one thing that will work is something the politicians will NEVER DO....let the market alone and let Housing prices find their bottom.
3. It will just increase the government deficit. Right now each tax payer owes $120,000 toward the deficit. Google Debt Clock . org http://www.usdebtclock.org/ /
4. The First Time Homebuyer credit was NOT for investors. The government/banks want 20% down payments because they want to ensure that the new round of investors have sufficient equity tied up in the property so that they don't walk away if there is a second did. Canada didn't have a meltdown like we did, but then, they required 20% by investors and owner/occupiers. The fact that you want to buy when you have no money is scary.
5. Time and a better economy will help. But home prices for the last 100 years averaged between 3.4 to 4.0 times the average year's incomes. In the bubble we were averaging closer to 7 times income with places like Vegas, Miami, LA averaging 9 to 10 times. So Miami at half the bubble prices is above the historical norm. If we return to historical norms home prices still need to go a little lower and there is nothing to push them back to those excessive levels. Eventually inflation will inflate the prices up but that is not real gain. Those figures can be parse a little in that the homes people were building in the bubble were much more expensive type homes with features well above the normal incomes of the majority. For instance the average income doesn't justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on granite counter tops and wood floors. Only the climbing home prices justified it and now they are not climbing. A change in attitude is necessary imo to see homes as an item that is used and being consumed and not an investment. "A home is a pile of wood that rots while sitting on valuable real estate".
6. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.....