Builder - January 2009 - (Page 25) BMAIL Major Shift Builder, Online don’t think this time it’s simply a just wanted to send along my conI matter of people waking up one day and I gratulations on the digital edition of deciding it’s OK to buy their dream home. Builder! [www.builderonline.com] You’ve This is not a cyclical recession—this is a major shift in our culture. The easy credit sources no longer exist. People will have to save money to put money down on a home purchase. Since people haven’t been saving money and are currently up to their eyeballs in debt, they will fi rst look to get out of debt, then save money. Taxes will go up; social security won’t be a viable retirement option, so people in my generation (Gen X) and younger will be focusing on saving money for retirement (and they’ll have less to spend because taxes will increase to pay for the promised entitlement programs), so now we have to rethink the whole idea of the dream house. It’s not going to be some McMansion slathered in ugly fake stone with fi ve bedrooms, four baths, and a big ol’ bonus room. It will be smaller, greener, more energy efficient, and much cheaper to own, heat, cool, furnish, and pay taxes on. Americans will be rethinking their priorities. Timing the bottom is almost meaningless because the rules have completely changed; it will not be the way it was. This country needs to wake up and start focusing on what’s important— family, time, freedom from debt, freedom in general, self-reliance, etc. Unbridled materialism (much of what the boom was built on, call it greed, call it what you like) cannot continue indefi nitely. The bill is due. We have to behave like responsible citizens who care about taking care of ourselves and not saddling the next several generations with more of our bills. Unfortunately, I don’t hear many builders accepting these free market concepts now that things are tough. They are the fi rst to decry regulation and government intervention when times are good. Now, I’m reading way too much about folks in the industry wanting the government to do something about it. It makes me ill. Posted on BuilderOnline.com in response to Boyce Thompson’s blog post “Calling the Bottom with Affordability Metrics” done a really good job of making the interface as painless as possible, so it’s easy and fast to read. I know December wasn’t your first one, but it’s the first one I’ve taken time to go through. Now, I will do it every issue and could probably do without my hard copy. I would recommend one more level of zoom, so us old guys with weak eyes can read it easier. I’ve seen a few other implementations of this technology, but not many. I go all the way back to manual typewriters and lead type, but this is really where all of publishing needs to go, in my opinion. Your efforts are really good and will probably improve, too. The ads look great and you’re almost forced to look at them—and the spreads will make editorial and ad photographers everywhere jump for joy. So nice job and thank you. DAN HARRELL President The Write Answer San Jose, Calif. Via e-mail Many Reasons, One Problem mess for W hat anow. There newsoconstruction right are many reasons for this current condition of the housing market that it would take a month-long symposium to cover all of it. The “experts” on the economy and housing are far from (see page 27) being correct on their W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM http://www.builderonline.com http://www.integritywindows.com/pitpass http://www.integritywindows.com/pitpass http://www.BuilderOnline.com http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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