I was listening to the news today and hearing economists talking about how the housing market along with the economy may have bottomed out.  While we can all hope that this is true now, I thought back to last year and even before then when many colleagues and friends were hoping and waiting for a collapse in the housing market so that they could buy a home at a lower price.

While their prayers were answered, many did not know what would come along with the fall in housing prices.  The stock market crashed, companies went out of business or laid off employees, reduced salaries were offered in some cases instead of a layoff.  Now those dollars everyone was planning on using to buy a home at a lesser value are even harder to come by.  Loans are near impossible to get as the banks have all been tight with cash and needed a government bailout to save them.

Today everyone I know that was gleeful at the idea of a housing market correction is still in an apartment, some are out of work, many are earning less than they were a year ago and everyone has been stressed over the slumping economy.  Next time you think how it would be nice if prices fell think about the repercussions to the rest of us.

When the news that 97.1 was changting formats from talk radio back to pop music hit the airwaves I was shocked.  Many of my friends have listened to the station for years and I thought that their ratings were high.  While I am disappointed to see a change one thing horrified me, who will help our young boys learn how to be men?  Tom Leykis didn’t just provide entertaining radio he actually spoke much truth to the world about what men wanted and what women should expect from them.  Every Thursday Leykis 101 took us all back to school to see how we could improve our game in the dating arena.  Flash Fridays was a reward at the end of the week and a reminder before our weekend dates to keep Tom’s rules in play.  Many callers called Tom “dad” but to me he was the professor giving us all a lesson about the birds and the bees.  For the first time in many years the airwaves are silent, Tom’s voice and obnoxious persoanlity can’t be found.  I only hope that Leykis 101 will be back on the air soon giving us all a dose of what we need…the truth.

In a recent article from the Wall Street Journal the slow down in the economy and the halt in lending has stalled the revival of Downtown Los Angeles.  As many developers have committed to rebuilding the historic core of Los Angeles the lending arm of our economy has shown its reservations.  Land and buildings have been purchased, time and money has been spent on plans, the local government has worked with developers all in an effort to rebuild the downtown area.  L.A. Live has set the groundwork for downtown to be a destination and a home for all of those in Los Angeles.  These improvements would not only financially benefit the city and its residents but also help the environment.  Less reliance on self transportation and more on mass transit, a central business district for the city and more.  While the banks are getting bailed out by our government they are not passing on the good will.  The money being given to these financial institutions should be passing through to businesses to reinvigorate our economy.  We all need to work together to get out of this depression.

I was reading a blog today that was telling everyone that the housing market continues to crash and that it is a terrible time to buy a house.  The blog stated that since housing prices would continue to decline now was not the time to purchase a new home based on today’s real estate market.  I happen to think their point was incorrect.  Housing prices have significantly slid over the last 18 months to two years, but many economists believe that while we may not have hit the bottom of this market there is not a long way to it.  Just as your Wall Street stock broker keeps telling you now is a great time to get into the market as you would be getting a bargain the same goes for the housing market.  You never know when the market is going to turn around, but I happen to believe we are close to the bottom, so why not get in if you are not looking at a short turn around on your home.  Prices will go up eventually and you might as well get in before they start to climb again.  While the Fed is working to open the lending market the start of the next bull market is not far off.