The Real Estate Wonk: Brainstorming housing-market solutions - Baltimore homes, apartments, real estate: Buying, selling, renting and housing news from reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins

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November 8, 2007

Brainstorming housing-market solutions

Forbes asked a variety of people for housing-market fixes and, not surprisingly, got a variety of suggestions. For instance:

One solution put forth by Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.) involves expanding GSE (government-sponsored enterprises) securitization to rejuvenate lending, but to regulate it so that money doesn't flow to speculators and luxury developers.

Meanwhile, some argued that the Fed's interest-rate cuts aren't helpful.

"Artificially stimulating demand," says Glenn Kelman, CEO and president of Redfin, a Seattle-based Internet brokerage, "is what got us into trouble in the first place."

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Best housing market solution - lower your price to the level at which your home will sell. Then homes will sell, inventory will drop, and people will be happy. If you paid more than what its worth, then you have yourself and the housing cheerleaders to blame. And just to clarify what a house is worth, it's the price that somebody is willing to pay, not the appraised price.

Posted by: Kevin | November 8, 2007 9:50 AM

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About Jamie Smith Hopkins

Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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