Mailbag, incl: Aren’t higher house prices rational? August 16, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
A LISTNER production. Cheers. Market.

**Andrew Page** (0:05)
The S&P.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:06)
The ISX. Stocks. This is the Motley Fool Money Mailbag.

**Scott Phillips** (0:10)
Welcome to Motley Fool Money. Yes, it's Sunday. Yes, it's special. Yes, Strawman is open to new members, and it is our Mailbag episode.
And of course, it wouldn't be a Mailbag episode without this man, Andrew Ram Page. The man who invented Strawman, breathed life into it, tins it gently and carefully, and very occasionally just cracks the door open a little bit. Just enough for some people to sneak through. And now is one of those times. Mr. Page, good morning.

**Andrew Page** (0:36)
Good morning, sir. I love it.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:37)
I love the show.

**Andrew Page** (0:38)
I love it. Well done.

**Scott Phillips** (0:39)
You gotta know what you gotta do, mate.

**Andrew Page** (0:41)
You do? I appreciate it.

**Scott Phillips** (0:42)
We still haven't talked about my cup, but I'm sure you'll make me an officer. We'll sort you out. We'll sort you out.
I should say, if you haven't heard, it closes tonight at midnight. This is Sunday. So if you listen to us on Monday, you're probably too late, although you can probably email Andrew, I suspect. But it closes tonight, midnight, apparently, you told me. And you have a special offer for our listeners.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:00)
Yeah, it's Mungar. It's the discount code in recognition of the late great. And yeah, just a little bit of a discount.

**Scott Phillips** (1:08)
strawman.com. Check it out. Go and join us. Still all the cool kids are talking about. Mate, let's get into a... By the way, if you're new to this, I'm Scott Phillips from the Motley Fool. I'm the bloke who...
Published author.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:19)
Published author, no less.

**Scott Phillips** (1:20)
Well, almost. Kind of. So there is a book behind me on the thing that no one can see. So there are two books in existence that I know of.
But they must be... I'm sure the others are printed and on their way to warehouses and stores around the country. 26th of August is the official date. Hey, I will... Speaking of shills, do me a favor. If you're going to buy it, jump online, jump on Amazon and buy it now. Okay. The reason I ask is because this is a couple of months, a couple of weeks ago.
Pre-sales matter for hype and convincing. Speaking of social proof, the physical book retailers, if you stay strong, pre-sales numbers are likely to stock the book. So if you want to grab a copy, I would love it. If you don't, that's okay, too. But if you are going to grab one, do me a favor, jump online, grab it now. It'll be with you in a week, just a bit over. So yeah, if you can. The one page investing plan that's called, saying you asked, thank you, Rem.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:05)
Not this page.

**Andrew Page** (2:06)
That's enough.

**Scott Phillips** (2:07)
Not that page. And not narrated by you, which you've been pretty dirty about. Yeah, well, a little salty.

**Andrew Page** (2:13)
I mean, with these dulcet tones, who doesn't want more of this in their ears?

**Scott Phillips** (2:16)
Made even worse, they asked for me to do it. So honestly, authors are supposed to be all that ego, right? I'm generalizing horribly, of course.
And they said, do you want to do the narration? I was like, well, I mean, I will if you want me to. Like, is it how they experience it? Oh, you want to do it? It's like, I mean, yes, but no. And I will if you want me to. But if someone's going to do it better, and it's going to be better for sales, please ask them.

**Andrew Page** (2:39)
I have no ego here.

**Scott Phillips** (2:40)
And I reckon that books are narrated by their authors, apparently, in high demand or something. So that's why I did it. But yes, so otherwise I would have asked you, mate, but unfortunately it wasn't the...

**Andrew Page** (2:49)
The only audio book you will not listen to on two times speed.

**Scott Phillips** (2:53)
Apparently. I did try and speak slowly, but I can't guarantee anything.
All right, let's get off us. Enough about strawman.com, which is open now, or the One Page Investing Plan, which is available at all good bookstores. Let's talk about our listeners, and particularly one from Michael, who starts by saying, hi gents, feel free to use my name or don't. I did, because I wanted to. Thank you, Michael. Long time listener. Oh, this is all, oh, Jesus, go ahead. Second time ranter, he says.