The Fauquier TImes Democrat this week features an interview with local real estate broker, Joe Allen. It was an interesting article and I found much to agree with there.

In fact, it was interesting that Joe Allen's words very closely matched those of Washington Mutual's head of their mortgage department who yesterday said this market was unlike any he'd ever seen. Joe says it's the worst housing slump he's seen in his 34 years in the business. And, that seems consistent with what I'm seeing and the sentiment of many of those who've been in this business for many years.

And, I share his skepticism about NAR's 2008 forecasts. But you should also remember that those are national forecasts and real estate is very, very local.

And while he's right that there are always buyers I would have like to see a more in-depth discussion about how many buyers it's going to take locally to pull us out of this slump and what might be discouraging those buyers right now. There was no mention of the unique local factors that we face.

Still, all in all, a good interview. Joe's been around a long time and his opinions are usually worth listening to!