Housing was hit fairly hard!  with home prices down more that half in some locations (for example, Nevada)…

My friend with that won the $200,000 dollar  house and things is  moving.  To help provide the best environment (including school system) for her future children, she (they) decided to upgrade to a more expensive, and much bigger house.

We estimate that she’s going to triple her current living space with the move.  And since she lived in a townhouse before, her lot size has increased by an even larger amount.

I also mentioned the “Joneses” of our neighborhood has already moved to a bigger and better place.  While they aren’t moving for the reasons as my friend is moving, they too are taking advantage of the reduces home prices (and at the time, the home buyers incentives) that are around.  In their particular scenario, they are increasing the living space by 1,000 to 1,500 square feet.

If my wife and kids weren’t so happy with the house we live in, I too, would have jumped on the “buy a larger house while they are cheap” bandwagon.  Of course, I’d upgrade our square footage by a much smaller amount.  I estimate that I would only increase the amount by a range of 400 to 600 square feet.  The important thing to realize is that this environment might be a once in the lifetime opportunity to buy a house at a reduced costs.

After all, if the house prices don’t start increasing, we have much more serious problems.  Perhaps the logic is if we go are going down in flames, why not go down in flames with a bit of style?

Readers, what do you think?  Is the housing market so depressed that now it a great time to buy?  You have heard the stories of three people that are moving or would like to move (yeah that’s me).

-MR