The vibes may be subtle but there's a rumbling of good news in the housing market and hope for those who want to refinance out of their adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). Carolina Newwire guest columnist Pat Earnhardt wrote yesterday:

There is no denying that some people are facing real problems with declining property values and/or increasing interest rates on existing adjustable rate loans, but the broad-spectrum news about real estate and mortgages is not all bad or even close to being bad. In many areas, home prices are stable or increasing (maybe just a little slower than before) and mortgage interest rates over the past couple of weeks have been very low.

Don and Cyndi Shurts run a nice blog called Welcome Home." They look happy–even as Realtors in a down market. Their take on it is, "Hurry! Interest rates just dropped again and home prices are in the toilet. Buy now." The only thing Don said that I may not agree with is, "You can buy more house than you could afford last year." Of course, the whole point is that there are bargains galore right now. But if you couldn't afford that much house at full price, chances are you won't be able to afford the landscaping, insurance, property taxes and maintenance of that much house. Too much pressure to keep up with the Joneses. Definitely check out the Shurtses if you're looking Shurtses if you're looking for a home in Ohio.

Gary Glaser is also proclaiming good news. Even though his January 12th blog quotes a bit higher interest rate than some other sites do, the main point to notice is that sales are up. This is very good news for those trying to sell, and should be helpful to the entire economy.

Existing home sales rose in November, indicating a stabilization in housing in the wake of mortgage disruptions in 2007, according to a December 31 report from the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales - including single-family, townhomes, condos and co-ops - rose 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units in November.

Evidently bargains abound:

2008 will be a year of consolidation and recovery in the new home market. Home builders admittedly overbuilt and must now liquidate excess inventories of brand new homes, sometimes at below-market prices.

So, to paraphrase Clinton, "Help the economy. Get out there and buy a house or two."