Nickname: Argie

Review: While reading your comments I couldn't stop shaking my head. If you need a house, buy a house regardless of its price. Leave the bubble worries to those that invest in Real Estate thinking about making their fortune that way The more you read about this ready to burst bubble the best. Welcome to the world of ownership!!! Good luck to all on your endeavours My two cents worth, your north of the border friend Argie Angus

Date reviewed: Jun 17, 2006 4:36 AM

Nickname: jc

Review: How do you suppose that illegal immigrants would be able to buy housing, with their below minimum/paid-slave wages, when presently the wealthier middle class can't? Even if the illegals were granted amnesty, as you hope, the only way they would be able to afford a house at the prices that the realtors and speculators want to maintain is if they were able to pool their earnings and live together multi-family style. However, please also keep in mind, that even if they are granted amnesty, there are zoning laws that forbid overcrowding of homes. So they would be breaking the law, and the realtors would be aiding them to do so. Furthermore, you are assuming that immigrants want to stay in the U.S. long-term. Many would rather make their money and send it home, especially with the growing resentment the legal citizens are showing towards them. You ought to start thinking about these people as people, and not selfishly as cheap manual labor and a solution to all of America's financial woes.

Date reviewed: Jun 7, 2006 2:46 AM

Nickname: Peter Grahm

Review: If the amnesty goes through forget the "crash", from 10-20 million "new" legals will be looking for housing be it renting or buying and this is in addition to the ones that are here already.

Date reviewed: Jun 5, 2006 3:51 AM

Nickname: jc

Review: RE: "low unemployment" ...People may have jobs, but the salaries or the average (and even above average) are far less than are necessary to support the mortgages of highly inflated house prices. Couple that with increasing fuel/transportation costs, healthcare and benefits that more frequently have to be paid out of pocket, etc etc. Add to it the severe credit card debt most people are in. If you live in, say metro NY area, you might be making slightly more than the rest of the country, but everything else costs more. Tiny capes on .2 lots are going for $400k (down from 600k a few years back) in undesireable, post-suburban areas, with rotting infrastructure, little tax money going back into the schools and towns, and a growing paid-slave class of illegals that will feed off the system. And then, what happens when all the old people die off or retire to sunnier pastures, and even more houses flood market, on top of the speculators second homes, and the forclosures???

Date reviewed: Jun 5, 2006 1:38 AM

Nickname: sacguy

Review: No one knows what the future holds, but public emotion/reaction will certainly have an impact. Could be a soft landing or a crash in overpriced markets. I am selling my home in Sacramento due to a job transfer to SF Bay Area and the same floor plan with similar upgrades sold for $585,000 exactly 12 months ago. My home is for sale for $569,000 and the market is very slow - almost no one looking and tons of inventory. Thats 12 full months and an actual price decline, no appreciation in value year to year. This indicates a small crash already. Could get worse as the 25% of the market that was investors is now gone and they are selling in droves to cash out.

Date reviewed: Jun 4, 2006 4:36 AM

Nickname: alisa

Review: Wow , I just can't believe my kids are being taught by high school dropouts?! And that all those nurses got work without high school diplomas. Never mind that the average household income for 2003 was $60,662, the median was $45,016 for all households, and the average household income for those with a 4-year degree (I would guess they finished high school before moving on) was $84,864, the median was 68,728 (all, seemingly less than $100,000). Making glaringly ridiculous comments negates any seriousness to your argument.

Date reviewed: Jun 2, 2006 2:34 PM

Nickname: jonm

Review: Fear-mongerers have been telling us of the upcoming crash for five years now. Housing markets don't crash without a major loss of jobs in a region. The idea that many major housing markets are going to see drops of 40% to 50% in pricing is lunacy. The only places that will see significant drops are those that saw some outrageous increases in the last few years due to shortages of supply. These areas are ripe for a correction, but this will be the exception not the rule.

Date reviewed: Jun 2, 2006 1:57 PM

Nickname: sweet sue

Review: When the dust settles on the real estate market crash, which IMHO is beginning, the banks will take huge hits and sell the mortgages to foreign investors from oil rich nations. Now the sale of America will be nearly complete. We will be a nation of debt-ridden tenants. Think about it.

Date reviewed: Jun 2, 2006 2:23 AM

Nickname: johntoner

Review: "Bubble" will fizz, not pop. Since 1969 average home prices have never dropped over the prior year (per NAR stats). Yes, you'll see corrections, especially in the areas most overheated before. But most markets will simply remain flat for about five to seven years.

Date reviewed: Jun 1, 2006 8:56 PM

Nickname: Bad_Company

Review: Prices of homes increasing 80% in the last three years. People spending tomorrow's money today. Hocus-Pocus mortgages! Interest rates continous climb upwards! Foreclosure rate increases. Yikes, we are in for a market adjustment like we have never seen before! First quarter in 2007 will be a nightmare!

Date reviewed: Jun 1, 2006 7:44 PM