Housing hints for President-Elect Obama

Dear President-elect Obama, Strong housing markets and financially stable homeowners are crucial to the well-being of the U.S. economy. With that in mind, I hope you'll support policies that will strengthen the nation's housing markets and polish off the tarnish that clings to homeownership today. Here are nine suggestions: 1. Create jobs. There is a plain and direct connection between employment and healthy housing markets. People who feel secure about their financial situation can form new households, get married, have children, buy homes and rent apartments. People who are out of work lose their homes and are forced to bunk in with their families and friends. The creation of more good high-paying jobs is the best way to strength the housing markets and national economy. 2. Appoint housing experts to high-level positions. While politicians naturally want to reward their supporters with plum government jobs, housing is a vast, complicated economic sector that's not easily u...