Jason

Well put Mikey. There are only two parties benefiting from a move at this point, the lender and the agent. The agents get their cut and the lenders get to hit you up for closing costs, pmi to protect themselves, and an interest rate that is ~0.5% higher than it should be based on the current bond rates not to mention they'll bake additional risk into the interest rate. (not sure any of that is beneficial to seller/buyer)

The sad part is the banks/financial industry created and sold the garbage loans that put the country into this mess and now they're trying to recuperate their losses on the backs who they consider credit worthy (670+). Since loan activity is down, real-estate agents are forced to sell people on reasons to buy/sell. (i feel for you andy, but i fail to see how this market benefits anyone other than new home buyers)

I've been reading posts on this board for over an hour, and I've yet to see a single agent say anything negative. Given the nature of their job, I can understand avoiding doom and gloom, but to keep selling the mantra that the market is thriving is silly. People aren't stupid. Just typing Madison into Trulia's search site I come up with over 2,000 units in Madison for sale. If you include some of the immediate surrounding towns, you'll get a number over 4,000 units. Any economist can tell you this isn't a healthy market and is not a time to upgrade/downgrade, unless you absolutely must or to Andrew's point are looking to downsize to cut down on housing expenses, but good luck selling your other home. - Thu Jul 17 2008, 00:06