surveyor, of course you are right, real estate is local. So the 30% median drop for the US means the heavily populated (and higher weighted areas) will fall perhaps 50% (CA, Northeast US), while the sparsely populated areas will fall less (Midwest). I supposed some areas could increase too, but I’m not clever enough to figure out where those might be. You’d have to find a place where hardly anyone used exotic loans, and that is immune from the ripple effects of this recession, and that didn’t use their home as an ATM. Hmmm…does anyone in this country fit that definition? Even Wyoming as a 25% Option ARM rate.

Besides the depreciation to reduce your taxes, how is real estate the best way to get rich?