I am one of the many thousands of adults who live in the same home as their parents, but my situation is as different from this loser in the LW's letter as night and day. When I moved back in after a severe injury forced me to give up my apartment, the agreement that my parents and I had were very clearly laid out. I would pay my full share of all household expenses (rent, utilities, groceries, etc) and in return, my parents would remember to treat me like an adult. As I was not married (and have little desire to), this was an arrangment that worked out well for all of us.

My parents and I have a wonderful relationship and I noticed that unlike my younger brother (who is married and with children), my parents do tend to treat me more as a fellow adult than as their child. Living with them is no different to me than having other roommates except for the fact that I can trust my parents in a way that I would never be able to another housemate. And this arrangment certainly hasn't hindered my social life. I have many friends, date regularly and travel. I have secure employment and a retirement fund. I certainly don't spend my days sitting on the sofa playing video games.

We have taken this arrangment a step further by purchasing a house together in which we all have as much privacy as we could wish for. I pay 50% of all expenses and my name is on both the deed and the mortgage. We work out well as roommates and I am glad to know that I will be there to watch out for my parents as they get older. I know of other unorthedox households in my areas (siblings who purchased a home together) so it's not all that odd to live with family members as an adult. The key, however, is to live as adults. This young man cited in the letter either needs to step up and start paying his fair share of the household expenses, or he needs to move his lazy butt out.

... as a place to live and not as an investment? I think that 99% of the problems in the housing market across the board is that people stopped looking as a house as a place to hold their stuff, to keep the rain off their heads and to actually live in.

For a long time, people have been treating their houses like an ATM. Got a little equity built up? Cash it in and buy a plasma tv. Or you have people who financed buying their homes with tricky mortgages that left them very vulnerable to any downward shifts in the market.

When shopping for my home, I heard all the horror stories. About the family that financied their home with a mortage that they only paid on the interest for the first few years and nothing towards the capital - the value of their home dropped sharply and now they are mortaged for more than the house is actually worth and are in no position to refinance when the principle payments kick in. Or the couple that bought a home with the intention of flipping it quickly to make a profit, only now to be stuck with a house in an area with a glut of homes for sale.

I went into my home purchase a bit more intelligently this past spring. First of all, I insisted on a 30 year fixed-rate mortage. Sure, I pay a little more in the way of interest, but I don't have to worry about the payments ballooning in a few years. I had money set aside for a downpayment. I bought a house with payments that I can afford and with reasonable taxes. And yes, it's in Levittown NY. The original suburb. I payed less than the $700K quoted by one poster (much less in fact) for a "Levittown crackerbox". My home might not be a showpeice, but is warm and homey and actually a very comfortable place to live. I have a backyard with lots of birds and flowers, and a deck where I can enjoy my wanning summer evenings.

The market was badly in need of a correction, and people need a reminder that a house should not be looked at as simply an investment. It means much more than that and the rewards of finding the right home are far more than monetary.