Twas the time to be festive, to head out the door,
When we heard silver bells jingling at half past four.
Out the window hovered a magnificent sleigh
and a jolly fat man shooing seagulls away.

We could hear Santa’s voice through the pane, ‘cross the room.
It echoed through Zillow, a thun’drous warm boom.
“While I don’t think you’re naughty, your website is heaven,
my Zestimate’s been crazy since 2007.

“Towards the end of that year my value was dropping
It went low then lower with no sign of stopping.
That went on for years. I was resigned to my plight.
Now it’s rocketing up like Rudolph taking flight.”

Zillow sprung into action, prepared what to say,
to set Santa at ease before Santa’s big day.
The truth of it is the market forces are clear.
The North Pole has been changing. Ask any reindeer.

The housing bubble spread north, as north as it goes.
By ’07 the bubble was fixed to explode.
‘Video games’ was written on every wish list
leaving elves who make toys unhappily dismissed.

Without workshop jobs, home payments lurched to a stop.
Many foreclosures caused all home values to drop.
The economy languished; home shoppers were rare.
It took a long time for the market to repair.

With prices so low there grows great potential
For bold groups with funds to convert homes to rentals.
One of those groups turning home values about
Was large foreign investors: the penguins down south.

Polar bear home flippers also increased demand
And don’t forget the abominable snowman
Who bought up all the houses on Kris Kringle Street
And converted their use to an old elves’ retreat.

The examples above: clear market corrections.
The tricky part is to make price projections.
The increasing prices will steadily slow
But don’t worry too much, they’ll continue to grow.

Santa nodded his head and stroked his thick beard,
Looking relieved that all was not as he feared.
With a quick flick of the reins, his smile flashed bright,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”