IF you have read more than a blog or two of mind, you know I am an optimist.  That's why when Moody's Investors Service, a financial research firm, shared what some believe to be somber news in September, predicting it could take 10 years to get back to boom-level housing prices, I was not upset.

When I first saw the news about this slow return of a housing peak my first thought was, ‘Great, we've got 10 years of steady growth in real estate ahead of us.' I immediately saw the beauty in the news. The bright side. I suppose that's the way I look at most things.

I'm sure some who heard the exact same news might have sighed and said, ‘Gee, this market is never going to recover.'   

The fact is, like the quote, we often see what we're looking for. And when people can't rid themselves of negative thinking, it sometimes ends up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. You think bad and sure enough, bad happens. Take a minute and think about how you felt when you read about this 10-year return to peak housing. Be honest. Was the cup half full or half empty?

Well, even if you're a half empty kind of Realtor; let me brighten your day a little. First, in the same news report about the slow return, we learned home-builder stocks have rallied. In fact, the sector has doubled from the March lows. This tells me investors are hopeful the worst is over.

And Moody's also reports housing prices will begin to even out with fewer fluctuations and "behave in a much more moderate manner during the recovery." 

Plus, consider historic low interest rates and low prices to boot. It's no wonder we're beginning to see positive signs of a recovery. Frankly, I'm looking forward to the next 10 years - I think they'll be the most stable we've seen in many years, and I believe we'll all begin to prosper as the market corrects itself

Commitment:  I will look from the positive side of real estate statistics.

Deadline:  _____________________