Murf2222 – man, I so can relate to your story. It’s pretty close to mine, on a lesser scale. I bought my place in ’91 and rode out a pretty darn real estate rough patch, barely, through the ’90’s. (stress aged me) Prices went down and remained so for a while.

Once through it, I saw some hefty price increases and finally got tempted enough to sell (prematurely – prices doubled on my place, so tell me about the sickening nausea).

I think each of us (perhaps many more out there) did not anticipate or expect the subprime free money. Take away free money, which extended the cycle much longer, we probably would have been okay. But the teaser rates allowed people to buy more house than they ordinarily would have. I mean teaser rates were like almost half the conventional loan – and gee, prices doubled.

In the interim, I enjoyed similar occasional weekends of looking at places and watching price increases which were demoralizing. I had to endure pressure from family and friends and S/O to buy. Heated discussions were common. Resisting was like swimming against the current.

But I refused to get on the subprime train. I thought it was only destined for Disasterville. People were happily going on board and pointing and laughing at me and waving goodbye like I was a loser.

So who’s laughing now. I do feel relieved to have gotten away unscathed and grateful for that. I don’t mind renting. It can be a liberating feeling. But having done both, I do miss having a house and hope to be able to buy again soon.

I am happy for you to see prices return to your original sales price. I am not seeing that yet for me here (very resistant), but perhaps there’s time for that land tsunami to affect SD and bring it down to close to that at least.