Every week we try to help you put an accurate value on housing in today’s real estate market. We give you all the charts, report on all the surveys, and quote every housing expert willing to talk on the subject. And we are still not 100% sure what prices should be. At best, we can only tell you what we think.

This week was different. I was able to personally FEEL the true value of a home. My older son closed on his first home yesterday. I have the great fortune to work with him at our company. I get to see him a lot when I am not traveling. This week I was home and got to spend every day with him.

I saw how nervous he was as he got all the last minute paperwork together. I heard the relief in his voice when he found out that he had overestimated his costs and would need to bring a little less money to the closing. I could feel how proud he was when he hugged me as he left the office the night before the closing.

He should be proud. He just purchased his own home. He just took a major step toward accomplishing the American Dream. He now owns a piece of this country. He now has a community he can call his own. He has a place to go ‘home’ to every night, a place where he can work in the yard, a place he can invite friends and showoff his ‘castle’, a place where he will someday raise his family.

Owning a home makes things different. You can’t necessarily explain it logically. But you can feel it. That feeling is the real value of a home AND IT IS PRICELESS.

My son slept in his own home last night. I am happy for him.