Gordon Stephenson's Discussions

Madison House by Peter Donohue...read this a few years ago, it's about a man living in Seattle, with his family's homestead/orchard on Eastlake, during the Denny Regrade.  A fun look into "early" Seattle, especially neat if you can identify the places named in the book to today's locations -- Eastlake, Madison Park, etc. 

I've absolutely seen uptick in activity as well, even outside the city in Lake Forest Park.  Posted a bit on this topic here: http://blog.seattlehouses.com/2009/05/13/seattles-zero-lotline-boom-bust-boom/Amy -- conforming loan limit is an issue, but these sellers of the lower end inventory are going to move somewhere...if they have some equity, they'll be able to buy up considerably beyond that loan cap.

Doesn't it count for anything that when you own a home, you aren't subject to a landlord?  And if you stay put for long enough, it does get paid off and you don't have any rent or mortage...even if the values fall by 50%, you've still eliminated rent or mortgage payments.  Maybe once you've bought and you're going to stay put it makes sense to quit tracking the values so much...like buying a stock and not checking the ticker every day.  How productive is that?