As a counterpoint to the last story, Federal Reserve economists are predicting that housing values could fall 15 percent before the overall market returns to normal. Believe it or not, that's good news. Historically, people have paid marginally more to own vs. rent. Right now the costs to own vs. rent are very disproportionate. That's partly because the speculative trend and "Dare To Be Great" mindset fueled a lot of stupid investments. Now we have the largest number of vacant properties ever. The good news is that housing will once again become affordable to the average working family. It may take a 15 percent overall decline to get there, but it will happen. It's funny how all the press you read about the housing market says the sky is falling, but that's not really the whole picture. For people who are in their houses and have some equity, this is just a temporary bump in the road. And when those people eventually want to trade up in housing, their next property won't be so exorbitantly priced.