It doesn’t seem like a family buying a 500k house on a 200k income is going to be stuck anywhere in San Diego for 20 years even with the 100k scenario kicking in for a few years. History does bare out any extreme problems there.
Poway seemed like a bargain to me compared to other bubble priced markets. It would be interesting to see a picture get painted of the situation there as Newrenter and the Realtors and a few others are doing on the CV thread.
My gut sense of things makes me like 350k a lot better than 500k for the houses I see at 500k there now. I would definitely take a wait and see attitude becasue of the economy too. This stuff isn’t transparent but we can be sure these are not prosperous times macro-economically speaking.
It is important to be certain about how one will feel about being upside down or seeing capital gone and better deals everywhere. Even when one can afford it, are they really really O.K. with it? I have known many people that are. Lots of us on this board are losing equity daily, hopefully on properties we can afford. I can afford it and I don’t like it at all. It is not my wife’s fault either! Many people take the long view in the stock market recession after recession, others need to day trade even in prosperity. To each his own.
I personally don’t see why we can’t accommodate people here that want to buy. Same rule goes if you don’t like the thread stay off of it. Our timing of the market is going to be to be subject to very broad opinions. Eventually all of us are going to want to be buyers again. Why prejudice against the ones who want to go first?