ply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mor

If the diatribe of media pundits grows any gloomier about the future of real estate in this country, they’re going to start reminding me of republicans at election time.

Sadly, much of the gloom is true. As our elected officials conform to the wishes of their corporate masters and ship our economy overseas to places where slave labor is still available, property values are going down faster than a priest at a cub scout meeting.

You might ask, why is this?

Two reasons. The first is that we all like to get a deal, and if property values are falling, well why not wait until they fall some more? This would be sound thinking if it weren’t carved-in-stone guaranteed that interest rates are going to continue going up, and will likely wipe out any gains in price that buyers might experience.

The second is that with those same rising mortgage rates, fewer people qualify for loans, so there are simply fewer buyers. And the law of supply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mort

rm to the wishes of their corporate masters and ship our economy overseas to places where slave labor is still available, property values are going down faster than a priest at a cub scout meeting.

You might ask, why is this?

Two reasons. The first is that we all like to get a deal, and if property values are falling, well why not wait until they fall some more? This would be sound thinking if it weren’t carved-in-stone guaranteed that interest rates are going to continue going up, and will likely wipe out any gains in price that buyers might experience.

The second is that with those same rising mortgage rates, fewer people qualify for loans, so there are simply fewer buyers. And the law of supply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mor

o reasons. The first is that we all like to get a deal, and if property values are falling, well why not wait until they fall some more? This would be sound thinking if it weren’t carved-in-stone guaranteed that interest rates are going to continue going up, and will likely wipe out any gains in price that buyers might experience.

The second is that with those same rising mortgage rates, fewer people qualify for loans, so there are simply fewer buyers. And the law of supply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mor

ontinue going up, and will likely wipe out any gains in price that buyers might experience.

The second is that with those same rising mortgage rates, fewer people qualify for loans, so there are simply fewer buyers. And the law of supply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mor

ply and demand is inexorable. As demand goes down, so do prices. This sucks if you own a home, and it’s cool if you don’t and you’d like to.

So if you’re really thinking you might ask, Say, if rates go up and fewer people take out mortgages, then the demand for mortgages drops, and then so do rates, right?

Uh, no. It would if we actually lived in a country with a free market economy, but we don’t.

What with the federal reserve printing money faster than even my ex-wife could count it to pay the bills of the junkies, er, criminals, er, elected officials than run our country (merely as agents for their corporate masters), and what with oil producing countries like Iran starting to prefer euros for oil instead of dollars, we have a big double whammy of inflation coming our way that will make the tsunami in Indonesia look like a ripple in a mud puddle.

So rates go up, prices fall, nobody can buy anything because the jobs went to Mexico, India or wherever, and the safest investment on earth, United States Real Estate, suddenly is a bucket of feces nobody wants.

But all of those unemployed, furloughed auto workers, and retirees from Florida who can’t get homeo