Someone gave me the argument that lots of rich people are coming here and paying cash, driving up housing prices. I checked last month w/ realtor Gordon Kane of Help-U-Sell in Poway. He told me they have about 1 or 2 cash sales per year.

I like the questions in this post. And they’ve all been answered to substantiate that this is indeed a bubble.

sdduuuuude – You make a good point. If fundamentals caused SD to be more expensive, rents would be up, too.

I first learned about the rent/buy discrepancy many years ago, in Aspen CO. A $800K condo was rented for $1500 – $2000/month. The person’s mortgage was more than double that. I asked the owner why he couldn’t just charge more rent, to cover the mortgage and property management fees. He told me that all the rents in that town were low, since that’s what the residents who work there can afford to pay.