I think that there are a lot of parallels between the day traders of the .com bubble and the flippers of the housing bubble. The day traders just bought and sold and everything went up anyway so silly ol’ things like whether the company actually produced anything of value didn’t matter. The day traders weren’t actually doing anything special, they just couldn’t lose as long as they were long (if only for the day).

Same with flippers. They didn’t do anything either. They just bought property and then “fixed it up”, not by repairing anything major, but just doing cosmetic work and then by the time they went to sell the property, it had appreciated in price and it showed nicely to the next fool with the new appliances and granite counter tops.

So it’s not surprising that the upgrades aren’t fetching anything now, it’s back to Location, Location, Location.