I don’t recall about the fireplace; I don’t have one. Agree they are worthless.

To fall below $200k they’d need another 30% price reduction on top of the 33% they’ve already fallen. At that point 1 bedrooms would be around $120k. A bit of wishful thinking IMHO, like the people who think they will be buying a $800k originally priced home in CV for $300k (as much as I wouldn’t mind that).

Rents would have to plunge, and there would have to be massive layoffs in the surrounding area.

I’d put my money on government bailouts way before I placed that bet.

With the constant rate cuts, cash will be earning no interest any day now. And at those prices, heck I’d buy a few with cash and then play jingle mail with my original purchase.

Time will tell, and maybe I’m biased. I just know too many people with truckloads of cash who are running out of places to put it & itching to buy. Paying $20-40k/year in rent does have its cost as much as people tend to ignore it sometimes on sites like this.

As the #s start penciling out better, I think they’ll start getting bought up – let alone all the crazy ideas the government is kicking around. They are going to keep doing something, whether it helps or not it’s already slowed the pain train down. And I suspect they aren’t done yet, not by a long shot.