The economy is slowly regaining some strength as the unemployment rate continues to drop back (6.3 percent as of May) and factory production improves and consumer spending increases but while this is a good sign for the overall economy, housing itself has not and is not likely to "bounce back" as it has in previous recessionary times.

The froth is off the housing market and that is a very good thing. For now, the cycle of boom, bubble, bust seems to be broken for housing while massive money follows other avenues of making outsized profits.

In the case of housing, investors can only move the market so much and they did influence the moderate recovery in the last few

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This blog will cover the basic home-purchasing process, start to finish, in very simple terms but don't be fooled. Purchasing a home requires your time and attention, care, diligence, thoroughness, seeking out the best professionals to work with and proper preparation. The basic steps are laid out below but be sure to consult with a professional working on your behalf and ask questions, plenty of questions all along the way.

Typically this is the rent vs. own analysis. Consider your other obligations, the time it can take to properly care for a home of your own vs. letting the landlord do all the work. Review your basic finances and whether owning is in your budget.

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I've been reading recently of the very significant volume of residential purchasing being done by hedge funds and investors in general and, while we live in a democratic capitalist society, it troubles me.

Here we are just four years out from the devastating effects of the derivatives scandals and excesses and once more big money is manipulating and disrupting another part of American life, purely for profit.

Housing was once just that, a house, a place of comfort and refuge but now it's treated like an entire market to be manipulated, used by big-money interests for their gains regardless of the impact on the average American.

What's worse is that the

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Here in the Northeast, attorneys are an integral part of virtually every real estate transaction from the simplest to the more complex. In other regions of the nation, however, known as title states, attorneys are much less frequently involved in the normal residential transaction. Those are handled through the real estate licensees and title companies.

The primary reason we have attorneys engaged in the real estate transactions here in the Northeast is to handle the title searches, banking and the closing documents. Could title companies do those, yes, but it is not the present customary practice in the Northeast.

In the larger metropolitan areas like Boston, Hartford and New

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The first million-plus sale in the county was recorded in 1996 and three years later the first one in Williamstown. In the ensuing years there have been a total of 280 countywide, of which 21 have sold in Williamstown. Three each sold in 2002, 2007 and 2012 with none in 2013 and one so far in 2014. Countywide, the number of million-plus sales peaked in 2004 and 2006 at 31 each down to 21 in 2013.

Meanwhile the inventory of high-end real estate listings reached around 14 or 15 in recent years in Williamstown and 83 countywide. At the current rate that means 14 years of million-dollar inventory in Williamstown and four year's worth in the county as a whole.

What has happened

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Paul Harsch, president and founder of Harsch Associates, a Berkshire County based real estate brokerage firm, is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, serving a diverse residential, business, commercial and land client base for 40 years. He has achieved personal career sales exceeding $131 million and company sales from 1979 will top $500 million in 2014. Harsch is a member of the Berkshire, Massachusetts, Southwestern Vermont and National associations of realtors, is a licensed Massachusetts real estate instructor and earned the CRB, CRS, GRI and CBI designations. Harsch is a 1969 graduate of Williams College.

To submit comments, questions or requests for future blog topics write him at paul@harschrealestate.com.