Nothing wrong with being Canadian, just that Canadians like to be negative and feel morally superior toward us USA-Americans and that's how I thought you were sounding. One and a half to two years is about right for housing, and that's just a blink of the eye.

that's just a blink of the eye.

Well, I guess that could apply to a hundred years, too, Ray.

USA has 100 yrs of gas in the ground

My Grandpappy was born more than 130 years ago. Luckily, he didn't have the same attitude about his grandchildren's future. He wanted to make things better, not just get his now.

I can tell you what's going on in my area (Green Bay, WI).. Tons of building going on. Unfortunately, a lot of it is being done by (I'll keep the names to myself) companies that are taking advantage of the economy & building tons of homes that are absolute CRAP. They're buying up land, putting in subdivisions full of 1500 sq ft homes & selling them for $139,900. On the surface I get the appeal - brand new home for under $150 - but I've been in some of these. Every possible corner has been cut, and quite frankly I've seen things that shouldn't pass code. Between these types of builders and foreclosures, there is a LOT of downward pressure on our market, which makes it impossible for most people to get a fair price for their house.

So in terms of volume, things are selling & people are building, but all at depressed prices. We sold our home recently & a lot of our competition was foreclosures, which dictated our list price. We plan to build again, but it's tough to build at the going price when you see that you can buy a comparable existing home for significantly less.

Posted By Ray Gladstone on 16 Jul 2012 09:27 AM
Nothing wrong with being Canadian, just that Canadians like to be negative and feel morally superior toward us USA-Americans and that's how I thought you were sounding. One and a half to two years is about right for housing, and that's just a blink of the eye.

Ray, the only think we think we have any moral superiority about is health care and the lack of guns, but that is only an opinion and not the focus of this fourm. Right now I am feeling pretty sh*tty about our ranking on the per capita energy consumption......you guys are better then we are and it is much about the Alberta tar sands. Dont take the shale gas for granted but think about what you value more....clean drinking water or lots of natural gas.

Mike, shale gas or clean water is a false choice. Despite what you've seen in the movies, there's only a handful of cases where gas (methane, not natural gas) got into someone's drinking well. Here's two points to consider 1) It happened as a result of the drilling company defying regulations and 2) It was fixed by means of a piece of equipment that siphons off the gas and renders the water perfectly safe for humans to drink. This thread has really gotten off topic, so that will be my last comment. Thanks.