I’ve lived in the valley for almost 10 years and I’ve been watching the ups and downs of the RE market and economy the whole time. Prices are back to 2001 or even 2000 levels in many areas now. A lot of the less desirable areas have seen 50% – 60% price drops. There are a lot of vacant retail stores but overall the area seems OK as far as quality of life. Prices are still on the downtrend but not falling anywhere near as fast as they were. From here it’s anyone’s guess where prices go. There are a lot of unemployed construction workers, real estate proessionals, etc. but you don’t get the feel of living in the burned out Bronx or Detroit – at least not yet. I think the biggest risk to the area going forward is a spike in oil prices. That is even harder to predict than RE price though.
