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Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).

Bring 'big picture' back to the housing market

Riding the economy's inevitable ups and downs used to be easier when investors held dear the concepts of holding "the long view" and "the big picture" rather than interpreting every daily report as a "trend."

For example, people used to buy a house or a condo, and live in it. Now, people purchase an "investment" and track its economic blips everyday. If it hasn't appreciated 15 percent in a year, what good is it? Is it time to refinance? Time to sell? Time to move in?

"The housing peak is over," said Todd Britsch, president of Bothell-based New Home Trends, which tracks construction. "These type of frenzies come around every 20 years."

Instead, the region will see a normal and healthy housing market, Britsch told The Herald.

Similarly, Business Editor Mike Benbow wrote about the seemingly contradictory news that a day after Forbes magazine declared the housing market in the Seattle area the most stable in the nation, local statistics showed that home sales in Snohomish County had dropped 31 percent from a year ago.

That's not conflicting news.

"It looks like the market has kind of taken a deep breath and just corrected itself a little bit," said Nathan Gorton of the Snohomish County Camano Board of Realtors.

A slowdown in a growing market is nothing to get worried about, in the big picture. What's worrisome is witnessing brand-new subdivisions turning into ghost towns as the mortgage crisis takes it toll in other parts of the country.

The fact that the market here is correcting itself is a good thing. The stricter environmental rules approved by the County Council in August, that went into effect Oct. 1, are also a good thing.

Other proposed changes, including a 20-percent increase for all county building permits, and a quadrupling of a transportation fee crucial for improving traffic in the most congested parts of the county, are also needed.

Despite some gloomy sounding reports, it appears we are headed toward a more healthy and normal housing market and balanced building growth.