I hardly ever read Barron’s magazine, but it is a venerable newsprint institution – it’s the Dow Jones Business and Financial Weekly for Pete’s sake. Jonathan Laing is one of the Senior Editors…check out his handsome mug.

Jonathan R. Laing

Senior Editor
Barron’s

Mr. Laing writes feature articles and cover stories for Barron’s. He has written many market-moving articles, and his investigative reporting is renowned on Wall Street and in editorial circles. Mr. Laing has been featured on CNBC, Batchelor & Alexander and The John Batchelor Show.

Mister Laing moved my market back on April 15, 2002. That pivotal day was the day that I paid $3.50 at the news stand for a Barron’s. The cover page copy was:

LOOK OUT BELOW

Home prices in many areas of the country are about to fall for the first time in a decade. Here’s why.

Damn. That was on April 15, 2002.

I still have the tattered rag. It resurfaced when I cleaned up at Rootdown World Headquarters last week. Here’s a few quotes:

“Home groan - Rising housing prices have kept the economy afloat. What happens if the bubble bursts?make no mistake, the residential real estate market is showing sure signs of a bubble psychology:

1. avid homebuyers have a sense of urgency : Buy now or risk having to pay more later

2. Huge mortgage obligations don’t matter when future investment gains are perceived as a sure thing

3. Leverage is seen as an enhancement to eventual return rather than a liability

Throw in that mortgage interest is tax-deductible and it’s no wonder that homeowners who sell at fat profits invariably roll their gains into fancier new properties rather than take money off the table.

Mr. Laing was right. I tried to explain this to my soon to be ex-wife back in April 2002. She was not very easy to communicate with at that time, yet we had property to sell that beautiful Spring and my soon to be ex-wife and I were nearly $100,000 apart on pricing the house, the “marital residence” that we bought at 1059 Euclid Avenue in Inman Park in February 1998 for $300,000.00.

I tried to shine the light of Mr. Laing’s truth on the situation at hand, but it took a little bit of time for the truth to set me free from the other party in my so-called “civil agreement.” Divorce, and the timely advice of Jonathan Laing, raised my Real Estate Awareness Levels back in 2002, raised ‘em to meteoric levels!

More about that in Part 2 of this article.

How about this quote from Mr. Laing, people - does it make ya long for ye olde days of real estate yore?

“Real estate seems a lot better deal than today’s lackluster stock market or low-yielding fixed-income vehicles. As a consequence, inventory levels of unsold new and used houses now stand at near-record low levels of around four months supply.”

Today, to validate Mr. Laing’s insightful forecasting 5 years ago, I’ll let Steve Palm with Atlanta’s own Smart Numbers, give you an update from his November letter regarding the inventory levels of the metropolitan Atlanta real estate market:

“Months of supply at the end of November had almost 40% more “months-supply for new construction than for resales. There is 10.9 months of supply for single family resale versus 14.1 months of supply for new construction.

The numbers look worse for condos, lofts and townhomes. Since resellers are in a better position to discount than builders, this is reflected in the months of supply differential.”

Specifically, Steve also states that there is over two year’s supply of houses over $750,000. Damn. There is a 13 month supply of houses priced between $250,000 and $750,000. Y’all know that ain’t good.

Y’all know that if we didn’t list anymore property today that it would take a year or more to sell what we got, don’t ya?

You can read Steve’s November letter here at IntownInsider.com. The Intown Insider will keep these letters and other relevant market data updated and genuine at all times, and all easy to locate. Steve Palm’s December 2007 Letter

What are your thoughts, gentle reader?

More about divorce and awareness levels…to be continued…

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