Housing Conversation

   I reconnected with an old college buddy yesterday who sent me an email asking what I was up to. I called him and we talked for about 30 minutes. I consider "Brad" one of the most down-home good 'ol boys I've ever had the privilege of knowing. He's honest, upright, and I guess you could call him a square. Brad's a family man with a 9-to-5 and he tends to believe what he sees and hears in the news. In other words, he hasn't been bitten by the cynicism bug yet.

   He supported President Bush, is wary of Obama, and has no opinion on Sarah Palin... yet. Our conversation turned to housing and he told me that he's been unable to sell his house due to the market. My ears perked up. "Why do you want to sell your house," I queried. "My wife says we need more space but we can't get a house until we sell the current one we got," he replied. I wanted to go into a rant about consumerism and why the real estate market wouldn't bottom for at least another decade but I spared him my diatribe. I don't think he'd appreciate what I had to say and his wife definitely didn't need to hear about my prognostication if her heart was set on another house. So, I encouraged Brad to continue trying to sell the house and suggested hiring a staging company to spiffy up the house and show it every other weekend to drum up traffic. If Brad sells the house, I'll post up an update but I think it's going to be a long time coming.