Monkey Reaching for Branches

A free Wall Street Journal column called "Why What You Have is Never Enough" examines the transient nature of happiness and why Americans are complelled to get a bigger house, a better job and still are unsatisfied. It reminds me of an ex who disapproved of me applying for a better paying job within 6 months of landing a new job. He described me as a monkey constantly reaching for another branch even before settling the one I just landed in. True, some of the insights in the article resonates but that is not going to stop me from realizing my ambition of home ownership. I'm not there yet so I HAVE to be the monkey continuing to swing from branch to branch.

We may have life and liberty. But the pursuit of happiness isn't going so well. As a country, we are richer than ever. Yet surveys show that Americans are no happier than they were 30 years ago. The key problem: We aren't very good at figuring out what will make us happy. We constantly hanker after fancier cars and fatter paychecks -- and, initially, such things boost our happiness. But the glow of satisfaction quickly fades and soon we're yearning for something else.

This Interactive House Value map shows whether house values are overvalued based on historical data. Statistically normal house values are determined with consideration to house prices, interest rates, household incomes, population densities, and historical premiums or discounts paid to live in certain areas over time.