Reply #13: It's so very, very sad... [View All]

[PurityOfEssence]

A good friend of mine sold his house in the Franklin Hills two years ago, blithely saying that he'd buy back in after the silliness stopped. I warned him, but he wouldn't listen. The ~2000 square foot house in a nice neighborhood with no lawn was bought in '99 for three something and sold in '02 for somewhere in the high fours. Today, it could be sold for somewhere around 800K.

Yes, it's ridiculous. Yes it's sad for those not in the market. No, any correction will not be severe.

People want to live here, and there's nowhere else to build.

A house down the street here in Silver Lake was put on the market 3 months ago. It has a great view of downtown, no front yard and a smallish yard below. Built in the '40s, it's in great shape, but is only a 2 bedroom house with one bath that comes in at a whopping 891 square feet. It was listed at $659K and sold promptly. Whether it sold for more than that I don't know.

I feel sorry for anyone who's not already in the market. Although corrections may happen--even large ones, given a terrorist act or earthquake--they won't be big enough to help most people.