House Project: Local Market Insanity

I've been pressing my builder to get this house complete--and I asked him why the electrician is taking so long to complete what should be a few hours of work. "He's doing about twelve other houses right now, including one that's about 10,000 square feet." I went up last night, and the plumber had started several tasks, and completed none of them--which means that there is no running water anymore. The cooktop is in place--but not completely assembled. My wife suggested that when it gets to be 5:00 PM, it must be like the quarry that Fred Flintstone worked in--you pull the tail on the bird, and everyone runs out of there.

My builder worked for UC Irvine in the mid-1970s, and he tells me that the local housing situation around here is beginning to remind of how things were in Southern California at the time. "Blue-collar workers I knew were paying $1000 to buy options on houses, which seemed just insane. Within a few months, they were selling those options for $10,000."

The housing market is certainly cooling on the coasts, but it still seems to be running in full bore insane mode here in the Boise area.

Last house project entry.