Norman Rockwell, the iconic American painter, had it right!  He created literally hundred of paintings picturing the essence of American life, most about our homes.  Somewhere along the way we began thinking of “homes” as just “houses” - another commodity to be “flipped”, collateralized, and bartered like stocks and bonds.  We hear the din about our “national housing market” and assume that includes our local market.  The Valley of the Sun has profound “pocket markets”.  Taking averages or median prices leads us to such fallacies as comparing price per square foot between divergent areas irrelevant to each other like Paradise Valley and Queen Creek.  That’s like dressing for national weather; it means little or nothing locally, we’ve been drowned in meaningless statistics.  But, the realities of our local housing market remain, if house prices are down by 8% in the past 12 months according to the Case-Shiller index, but up by a net 80.2% between 2002 and 2007, it left homeowners with most of their paper gains intact.  Furthermore, houses have some obvious and unique benefits:  sheltered capital gains, liberal income tax deductions for interest and property taxes and leveraged appreciation. A REALTOR® can do the research necessary for you to make an informed decision based on your housing needs and long term investment potential. Although houses are still an important financial asset, the predominate reason for American’s “home-hunger” is in danger of being lost.  We need to get back to considering the most basic of human desires, shelter for our families. We can’t afford to underestimate the joy of owning a home, the sound and warmth of a crackling fire on a cold winter night, the fragrance of dinner cooking in the kitchen, the gathering of family and friends at the holidays.  A home is more than just a house, it is the place where memories are made and cherished for a lifetime.  Norman Rockwell had it right; the American Dream is still homeownership.  Most people still want Home for the Holidays.