Jonathan Clements of The Wall Street Journal

It could be the kindest cut of all.

Look at the prices of homes getting sold, and the property market’s decline seems no worse than a rough day in the stock market. Look at the number of unsold homes, and you realize there’s a world of financial pain out there.
Personal finance columnist Jonathan Clements answers a reader’s question about claiming social security. He says half of Americans claim social security at 62, the earliest age to claim, which could be a big mistake.

True, these unsold homes may eventually get bought at decent prices. But in the meantime, the owners are often bleeding money — and many of them would be smart to slash their asking price and go for the quick sale.
• Taking time. As you can see from the accompanying chart, home prices are down just 4.5% from their July 2006 peak.

Yet even as prices appear pretty much unchanged, the number of unsold homes has soared. At the current pace of sales, it would take more than 10 months to clear this backlog, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sure, it would be emotionally draining to have your home on the market for more than 10 months. But it probably wouldn’t be a financial disaster — as long as you’re still in the house and you can comfortably cover the mortgage.

For the rest of Jonathan’s advice click here…

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