ctr, it’s completely possible, when we talk about bidding wars we are talking maybe 10%, I’d say the winner would get it for 145k-150k if it weren’t a short (you never can tell with a short). A model match closed around the corner for 145k 3 weeks ago, that was the winning bid. There are some pending and sold in the 170’s and 180’s, but there are idiots with money everywhere, we can’t base things on them. 200k is laughable for those, for 200k up here you can get a much nicer and better proportioned place (1800-2000 sq ft, same bedroom count, better hood). To be quite honest I don’t follow the cheap sfr’s for rentals, I stay with the condos in my micromarket for a potential rental for a variety of reasons and they pencil out better. The sfr rental opportunities are getting a lot of out of towner investor attention, some people just have a thing against condos and I have a thing against what other people have a thing for. There is a rent ceiling here since prices are low, a 100k place rents for more than 1k, a 150k place rents for 1500, but after that it drops off, a 250k place rents for 1800, a 300k place rents for 2k, a 400k place, maybe 2200, after that, good luck, there’s no rental market because anyone with more than 2200 will buy their own.

But yeah, there are lots of knuckleheads with suitcases full of money showing up trying to buy investment properties here, they’ve been coming for a while and screwing up my plans to rule the world. I battled with them last year when buying the primary and i’ll battle with them when the rental aquisition time comes, they seem to take the winter off, so postpone your visit about 6-8 weeks, use the time to study things and maybe they will leave again until february. I am routinely accused of being bullish but I am actually nuetral, I do not thing there will be any sustained appreciation in 2010, I think it will be flat, in the rear view mirror my hood may have overshot, bounced up 10% and will be in A cup mode for at least a year, if not longer, so there’s no reason to think deals cannot be had moving forward.