Since mortgage rates moved sharply higher, we’ve counseled on the need to retain equanimity: Stay level and focus on the big picture, which includes an improving economic outlook and steady employment prospects. Mortgage rates are an important variable, to be sure, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of everything housing related.

As we are about to bring in the New Year, families across the country will be deciding if this is the year that they will sell their current house and move into their dream home. Many will decide that it is smarter to wait until the spring “buyer’s market” to list their house. In the past, that might have made sense. However, this winter is not like recent years.