OK…late 03 might be equilibrium. I originally thought the same, but if you look at the price charts on Zillow.com for most CA neighborhoods, the serious run up started late 03. Before that there was decent appreciation, but not the crazy speculative stuff going on.
That’s the point where mechanics, hair dressers, (nothing against those professions, just when my Valley Girl hairdresser and good old boy mechanic both quit their jobs to become real estate investors) and anyone else who could fog a mirror decided they were a real estate investor. One neighborhood near me went from the low to mid 400’s to the mid 900’s from 04-06. That’s totally crazy. Today I can buy one of those at about 20% above the 04 prices, and when it settles I figure it will be back to 04 levels, which is what they sold for new.
