[BliliBoopsy]

I own two homes, one in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis and another in the Grand Rapids Michigan area. The one in Illinois I have owned for 15 years and have considerable equity built up. When we moved to Michigan we let my inlaws move in so they had a nice home. Because the property levels in Missouri are considerably higher than a comperable house across the Mississippi River people have been re-evaluating and moving to Illinois. Accordingly my house has jumped in price significantly, and since it was well below the national average to begin with this correction won't make much difference. It is 3000 sq. ft. on an acre. In Missouri it would sell for around $250,000, but in Illinois at the start of last year it was valued at $160,000. At the end of the year it is valued at $175,000. SInce I do not owe much on it even if it did go down a little it wont hurt much. Now my new home in Grand Rapids is another matter. I bought it at the height of the market up here. It is comperable size to the house in Illinois and the price was $192,000. It may in fact loose a little but as long as I can afford both and plan on keeping the Grand Rapids home for a period of time I do not see a problem. The people that have the problem are those that have to sell now because they are financially strapped or those that bought homes recently with an eye toward making money with a quick turnaround. If you plan on keeping it the house it will be just like a stock market correction.