They will still go. Absolutely. Definitely. There's no question about it. They now have a little latitude to space the timing of the increases, but there's no question they will move.

I don't think home values will crash -- they will rust, not bust. Demographics have underpinned demand, courtesy of a wave of immigration in the past 16 years that reduced supply, and you don't see the speculative overhang that could contribute to a bust in home values.

Worries of a housing-led consumer spending bust are overblown.

The fourth quarter is going to be very sluggish, indeed. We'll see some improvement in the first quarter, but it's a slow grind.

That is the one significant overriding factor that will dominate the market's attention next week. There appears to be an almost even 50-50 chance they'll move.

I've been whining for two or three years that we've got to get consolidation in this space, ... In the bubble you had way too many companies go public. All these companies turned out to be features and not companies. Now part of the driver is a realization by the big companies that this is a way to capture growth.