(The Term, Not the Type of Deal)
In a post earlier this year titled, “Halftime at the Housing Recovery,” I posited that one sign that the housing market has fully recovered is that the percentage of lender-mediated sales (foreclosures and short sales) returns to pre-bust levels (5% or less).
Want another sign?
The term, “traditional sale” recedes — or disappears altogether.
Background
If you didn’t know, the term cropped up about three years ago, to differentiate “regular” sales from all the ones that . . . weren’t.
One sure sign that the latter category has shrunk to a healthy, pre-bust level is that no one feels the need to label non-distress deals as such.
“Burgers with Ham”
The nomenclature conundrum recalls one of my favorite Mad magazine cartoons, showing a food stand vendor in front of a big sign that reads “Turkey burgers, chicken burgers, veggie burgers, buffalo burgers” ” and on and on.
The caption?
“We have some with ham, too, but we don’t know what to call them.”
