This is exactly the sort of thing you love to see right after buying a house

Word on the street is that the boom in the housing market may be over.

Now, one should keep in mind that, moreso than many other markets, the housing market is essentially local. If housing prices explode in Las Vegas, it doesn't mean that I'll turn a neat profit on my house in Detroit. Likewise, if there's a glut of houses on the market in Florida, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'll take a bath on my house in D.C.

Of course, I'm also a young consumer. I think I'd like to be in a position to think about buying a larger house in five years or so, and, with luck, I may be able to do that even if I have to take a small loss on the sale of my house. I'm certainly not in a position where I'm planning to use my house as an asset for retirement, or where I've refinanced past my ability to repay or resell.

Still, the prospect of a drop in housing prices isn't as exciting as it was six months ago, when I was still a renter. My house is a nice little house, but I don't think that my girls would relish sharing a 9' x 10' bedroom during their teens. (It would be a nice primer on the realities of dorm living, however.)