Monday, June 16, 2008

Watch it now, watch it

When I was a boy scout I remember playing frisbee on a campout at sunset. As dark settled in, depth perception got worse and worse. Finally someone sent me a zinger that I stared at all the way until it bounced off the bridge of my nose. I see the same thing happening right now with my housing situation.

Gas costs $4/gallon and is unlikely to get cheap again. The immediate side effects have started kicking in - SUV sales are way off, mass transit is way up, etc. One side effect has yet to play out - the same impact on the McMansion. As a guy that lives in a house that's just a bit too voluminous on a lot that's just a bit too large, this is likely to hit me squarely. With high energy costs, people won't want to drive all the way to the suburbs to pay to heat/cool a big house. Good news for city living and responsible city planning. Bad news for suburban dwellers, especially those looking to sell.

I'm unlikely to flinch until this frisbee hits me in the nose.

(credit the naked economist for raining on my parade)

2 comments:

Katie said...

Hmm, I wouldn't think you'd been in your house long enough to already be worried about selling it! :) Somehow our housing market out here has remained fairly stable in all the recent years of big ups and downs, so I just hope that trend continues. And in the meantime, hopefully you can just enjoy your big, beautiful home for great memories your family is making in it.

John said...

Oh, we're not going anywhere...