Please post your housing market observations here! One reader started off in the topics thread. "Local radio station has a real estate guru on the air waves on Thursday, plus he appears on a nightly tv program. He was beside himself promoting a new mortgage product to keep the high priced real estate going. Next week he is going to talk about the 40 year mortgage."

"Yesterday he announced that they just released the 50 year I/O loan and he had the owner of CMG Mortgage on promoting his home ownership accelerator mortgage. His cohort suggested that 40,45,50 year mortgages make sense because people will be living to be 100. When is the madness going to stop? If this keeps going homeowners will be paying more for houses and their monthly tax bill will be higher than their monthly P/I payment."

Another recalled a nervous flipper. "I posted a couple weeks ago on one thread about about an open house and discussion with a 'desperate flipper' in Phoenix area. How ’bout having other post their similar experiences just to get an idea of the level of concern/fear/panic that is starting to set-in the flipper mentality?"

One points out the latest spin. "Here’s another topic: Data Holes; whether real estate data providers are holding back information that would show market declines, or if they are releasing it, are spinning the data to confuse readers."

"My two candidates are NYSAR, for holding back their figures and now REBNY, which issued a fancy press release about how much prices went up in 2005, but do not include data for each quarter in their press release site- last quarter I see in their list of press releases is for 3rdQ 2005, which, oddly, indicated median co-op prices went down (tho condos went up) - and can’t see 4Q to determine whether they went down again."

A reader from Oregon replied, "I wonder whether the number of listings at Realtor.com is accurate. They have dropped below last summer’s levels here in Portland, ME and have dropped rather dramatically in just the past week. Of course to artificially depress listings would mean some listed homes not being advertised. I suppose they could equitably rotate missing listings so as not to be noticed by sellers."

One reader noticed a marketing change. "I would love to hear if there are any long time renters here who have only just recently been approached by realtors for the first time. We have been renting in this area for 11 years, and just this year for the first time, a realtor has left a calendar and business card on our doorstep."

A similar tale, "I got a magazine sized solicitation from Countrywide looking for investors for loans I believe. I still see banner ads asking, 'Do you know how much money is locked up in your home?' Before it was hidden and you solved a puzzle to acquire the equity. Now it is being held hostage and you need to bust it out like a prisoner."

And another, "How has your biz changed? The trades I sell to think it’s weather etc., wierd can’t they see the RE stall. I’m getting slow signals already selling to the service trades."