Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

The real reason we buy real estate

Mood of the Market

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 6, 2011

Even when presented with a hypothetical large amount of negative equity, most homeowners state that they would not walk away from their homes.

So, sure -- there's a lot of real estate-related financial decision-making that needs to be studied, continuously, to empower lawmakers to better regulate the mortgage markets and to provide signals as to the market's dynamics, past, current and future.

But it looks like there's a big chunk of big real estate decision-making that is, actually, quite simple to understand. We buy homes because we want to. And that's why we keep them, too -- for better or for worse.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.