*sigh* Sometimes I just feel like many people don't get it.

We're responsible for our own mess here. We are the ones that signed these "predatory loans" but actually didn't carefully read the documents prior to making what are only the biggest purchases of our lives. We're the ones who got into the bidding wars for houses earlier this decade, driving prices up to ranges that simply can't be supported by wages in the area. We're the ones that decided to sign mortgages for houses we couldn't afford when the ARM mortgage reset to a higher rate, and only thought in terms of the "reasonable" payments in conjunction with the introductory "teaser" interest rate. We're the ones that didn't decide how much money we could responsibly borrow and still afford; how could people think a bank is in touch with what we can really squeeze into our budgets? Only WE can responsibly decide what we can borrow.

I also know that the responses to this poll will be predictable - the buyers will say prices are too high (and they're right, prices are out of touch with real wages in the area), the sellers will probably not like the fact that housing prices are merely coming back to reality. The sellers will wish for rising home values or at least fewer foreclosures.

As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Of course, I'm not asking who's responsible for the mess (that was an earlier poll, actually). I'm just curious what people think is key to getting out -- other than time.

Ron,

I agree with you. As president Obama stated in his inaugural speech, we need a new era of personal responsibility. Hopefully, after this mess is cleaned up, a better America will emerge.

Overall consumer confidence is holding most of America from buying ANYTHING. Perception, whether real or perceived, will keep home buyers on the sidelines until they stop seeing and hearing about job losses. lack of available credit, big business greed, etc. and start to see home prices get to a point where an average mortgage payment after tax benefits is closer to rent payments. When I first started selling real estate in the mid 80's, most home buyers could buy a decent home for not much more than comparable rent payments, but that hasn't been the situation in Maryland for many years. A $250,000 mortgage @ 6% will have a PITI of at least $1900 or more per month and in the city a lot higher with the exorbitant taxes. You can definitely rent that type of home these days for a lot less, even if you get a good tax break by buying. The homes selling now are those that come closer to the old model. Prices need to match "real' buyers ability to pay.

Best to buy a house when you can afford it on your own salary ... Not by taking in two roommates for $750 apiece. Having to scrape $1500 every month from roommates to keep a $300,000 house isn't a good buying strategy. Especially when housing prices & rents continue to fall ... 3-4 cars for every row house? No wonder parking in Fells Point/Canton/Butchers Hill sucks!! Nobody can afford their mortgages on their own!! We're really a city of boarding homes ...