muzie_IHB
New member
Even just a year ago, I remember coming to the IHB - it felt like such a geeky thing back then, to hear Irvine Renter's detailed explanations about how the housing bubble would come undone. I remember the fascination of studying how this delicate, interwomen machine that is the mortgage system would start having missteps that would degenerate into full blown collapse given the right conditions. Really felt like there was something special about the small company of luminaries we have back here. I remember when it was bold and brave at that time to say things like "Housing will go down 15%!!!!!!" even on the forums and although I believed it it felt like telling a dirty joke for comic relief 
.
Well, a year later, things have unfolded exactly as they were laid forth, and, somehow, it seems somewhat of a disapointment. I guess I was naive thinking that things would just be simple, speculative homeowners would exit the markets, house prices would go down and that'd be the end of it.
Now a year later housing is in every world newspaper. It is on everyone's minds. And, for the most part, it certainly seems most of the planet does not accept it. World governments have gotten involved, putting their fingers in to try to "manage" things. Government funds were spent, laws were debated. Industry groups "fought" the invisible hand of the market. Homeowners held on. Jobs are now at stake, and this is spinning in a worldwide crisis.
IHB is still a "black sheep" community in my mind, thinking outside the concensus. As much as everyone has been right however, I wonder now if, for many of us, the outcome will actually not be what we expected. Back then the worry was that we could not be able to afford houses at these prices. A year later, with the economy tanking, mortgage rates skyrocketing, credit drying up, and government efforts to prop things up.. it's ironic I wonder if many of us will not be able to afford the houses still.
Being right has never felt so wrong.
.Well, a year later, things have unfolded exactly as they were laid forth, and, somehow, it seems somewhat of a disapointment. I guess I was naive thinking that things would just be simple, speculative homeowners would exit the markets, house prices would go down and that'd be the end of it.
Now a year later housing is in every world newspaper. It is on everyone's minds. And, for the most part, it certainly seems most of the planet does not accept it. World governments have gotten involved, putting their fingers in to try to "manage" things. Government funds were spent, laws were debated. Industry groups "fought" the invisible hand of the market. Homeowners held on. Jobs are now at stake, and this is spinning in a worldwide crisis.
IHB is still a "black sheep" community in my mind, thinking outside the concensus. As much as everyone has been right however, I wonder now if, for many of us, the outcome will actually not be what we expected. Back then the worry was that we could not be able to afford houses at these prices. A year later, with the economy tanking, mortgage rates skyrocketing, credit drying up, and government efforts to prop things up.. it's ironic I wonder if many of us will not be able to afford the houses still.
Being right has never felt so wrong
.
