Today’s WSJ had an interesting article titled “The Brighter Side of Housing”. The secondary headline said “Amid downturn, ‘Unaffordable’ is within reach”.

Quoting them – “And now for the heartwarming side of the housing bust: It’s helping some people buy homes that they couldn’t afford a couple of years ago.

Michelle Dudley for years commuted 50 miles each way to her job as a civil servant in Anaheim, CA, because she and her husband, Don, didn’t feel they could afford a home near her office. This week, though, the Dudleys moved into a three bedroom house in Anaheim that they recently bought for $390,000, down from the original listing price of $445,000 in November. Similar homes in the area were selling for as much as about $600,000 two years ago…”

Last Sunday, Leslie had a first open house for a new listing at 5169 Creekside in Camarillo. Like the previous week at a different open house (Harvest Lane home), there were a flood of first time homebuyers coming through. Conversations with them mirror the theme – with prices coming down, now’s maybe the time to take a hard look at buying a home.