[Rusty0604]

My daughter has been in the market to buy a house. I told her people her age don’t realize mortgage rates weren’t always so low. I advised her to wait for prices go down. She said her realtor told her the same thing.

[PUGACHEV]

My niece and her husband, both in their early thirties, have two good jobs in the Washington D.C. area, and they cannot buy a house except in the far suburbs beyond Manassas. When they find a place they like, they are always outbid by cash buyers. This may explain why the close-in areas around D.C are smothered by upscale rental units, with more being put up all the time.

Clearly, the prospect of home ownership has diminished. My father bought a home on 1/4 acre near NIH in the '50s with three children, an ordinary salary, and a wife who never worked. I bought my first home in 1981 in Arlington with an interest rate of 17% and, while both my wife and I worked at the time, it wasn't that difficult. Today, none of that is possible.