Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Musical houses

It seems that a lot of people in Jacksonville, Florida, are playing a giant game of "musical chairs" with their homes -- moving into and out of houses at an unusual pace. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying it's an odd happenstance that we didn't used to see.

One of my co-workers is selling his house after buying it pre-construction just a couple years ago, in 2003. He'll make a killing on the profit, thanks to crazy increases in home values around here, and all over Florida -- and in many other places around the country.

Of course, once mortgage interest rates go back up to historically "normal" levels, we can expect a levelling off of housing prices. I would even expect a gradual decline in prices after rates go back up to where they were in the mid-90s.

The whole trick is locking in a good fixed rate mortgage on a long-term home before rates and prices head in the wrong direction. How do you know the optimal moment? If I knew that, I'd have a servant typing this blog entry for me. And, I'd use a gold-plated font.