There are a few items I'd like to touch on so it's a bit of pot luck!

If you didn't see this article on home equity and the changing rules in the Washington Post, you should take a look. Banks are changing the rules, even on existing home equity lines of credit. If you have a home equity line of credit and haven't heard from your bank yet, here's a heads up. (My two cents: taking money out of home equity and paying 8% interest and putting it in the bank at maybe 3% interest is a BAD, BAD move!)

The homestead property tax exemption that was being debated in the Virginia legislature has gone down to defeat. Lobbying by business interests who were convinced that businesses would have to pick up the slack in revenues for the localities killed it. For those of you looking for a little property tax relief, it's not coming via this vehicle. More on property taxes next week.

Flor is a company I've been wanting to spotlight here. I love their commitment to the environment, the fact that they have the lowest VOC output of any carpet product and the ability to recycle their products by sending them back to the company. Check out their very cool products!

Lastly, VAR (Virginia Association of REALTORS) is having a blog contest to coincide with March Madness. If you like this blog, please click this link:

I wrote on this blog earlier last year about all the money we've been taking out of our homes and where it's been going.

Here's a great story on just that phenomenon illustrated by very interesting charts. It's based on a report issued by the Fed which has just been updated.

The bottom line is still that too many of us are taking too much equity out of our home (an appreciating asset) to spend on consumer goods (depreciating assets) and in the end it is making us all poorer!

It's also clearly had an effect on the housing market. If you've tapped out your equity to buy the car, pay off credit cards or take that vacation to Maui, you've got no down payment to move up to the bigger house when it's time. I hear it from sellers all the time! They can't afford to take any less and pay off all their existing mortgage debt.

Unfortunately, buyers aren't willing to pay you more than your house is worth to help you out of a tough spot! And when you move up, you won't want to help either!

I'm not saying everyone who takes cash out of the equity in their home is an idiot! There is a time and a place where it makes sense. I'm saying for most people, most of the time, they've made a bad decision.

What do you think?