Positive:
-realtors keep low profile
-the great winners (homeowners) don't bother any more with re-telling the stories of how much money they made on their shelter
-nobody is buying overpriced ruins, brainwashed to believe there would grow a new Manhattan in 4 years

Manhattan as we know it will disappear.

Hopefully, over the long run, people will start to realize that trading, selling stuff to each other, borrowing to leverage, are not real wealth-creating activities. Only long term investments in knowledge and ideas can lead to sustained enrichment.

Sadly, what scares me more than the boom-time shortsightedness is the bust-time shortsidedness. It seems as though some lenders are now tightening the belts a la "closing the barn door after the horse has left." Responsible potential buyers (the ones who really examine what they can afford) who will actually pay back their loans are being denied...

With the bath that some lenders are taking as a result of their liberal lending policies, one might think that that they would be interested in taking the business that will actually pay them...

Word, Mr. Cooke.

Baltimore City, during, the "boom years" saw a lot of new investment and interest by young people with good jobs who wanted to escape the drain of constant rent hikes, long commutes and enjoy city amenities. The young middle class folk returning to the city who want to live here are being hurt the worst.

This will work its self out soon enough. Interest rates are below 6%, and housing prices are way down. Baltimore has a great cultural scene with greatly improved amenities. Lower the transfer and property tax; the city is prime for re-investment. Kraft and Cole have turned a corner on this. Hopefully others will soon.

Mr. Dunn, when was the last time you sold something?

yesturday.

I also ran ran 21 miles in under 3 hours all around Baltimore City. I ate locally from the farmers market, walked or scooter to my destinations, dis a little yoga and meditated in the afternoon.

What did you do?

January 1954,

Don't engage Dunn. He is obviously unable to pay for an advertisement for his real estate agency and so chooses this blog to drum up some business.

He sold "yestUrday"? I see. Maybe it was a pretzel or a bag of pop-corn? Mr. Dunn, when was the last time you sold a HOUSE?

January 1954,

Seriously, there's no point in talking to Dunn. I have tried, but it's like talking to a brick wall (or should I say a granite countertop wall).