Reassessing the Boom

Let's hope they temper their enthusiasm. Too much of our boom-time excitement was over paper wealth. For a few years we lived through a nationwide house party fueled by backyard-barbecue chatter, less than scientific Zillow estimates and vague notions of value.

In boom or bust, Gilman's reaction to that HGTV show offers real wisdom. Until you have an accepted offer in your hand, there's never a reason to get too excited about what your home is—or isn't—worth. As national home prices head toward their first year-over-year fall since the Great Depression, this will remain one of the enduring lessons of the good times we've left behind.

Daniel McGinn is a national correspondent at NEWSWEEK and the author of House Lust: America’s Obsession with our Homes, to be published by Doubleday this winter. To preorder it, click here.

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© 2007