Square footage is the most common driver of a comparables approach to market valuation of real estate. For example #SF x average comparable sale price per square foot = market value assessment. There are other methods of valuation, but this is most common. It's also laden with complexity.

There has been a slew of economic reports that indicate the economy is beginning a rebound that consumers are beginning to feel. The days of free money fueled by Wall Street shenanigans are surely not to return, and that's a good thing. Another good thing is that consumer demand is up and credit card debt is down. That's some of the best news I've read in a long while. And with healing in the consumer markets, housing follows.

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters wrote yesterday that Berkshire Hathaway's "oracle" Warren Buffett sees the housing crisis as mostly behind us, as do we at our firm. Writes Stempel:

The inestimable Dawn Kopecki of Bloomberg posts this headline yesterday about some possible White House moves to ban some foreclosures -- at least for people under review for permanent loan modification. Right now, foreclosures are still allowed even while homeowners are under review for a loan modification program. Apparently the action under consideration at The White House would now allow foreclosure during that period. This would help. It would help homeowners acting in good faith to keep their homes - and it would help communities who suffer high foreclosure rates, which affect, at least for now, property values.