In any drastic recession like so many people seem to want (ok I should say depression), usually the little guys get hit first, followed by the upper middle class, followed by the rich. Super rich are always exempt. It really depends on who can weather the storm longer to clean out the rest of the folks.
Let’s say we have a recession/depression. House prices come crashing down. Great…But are you working in an industry immune from a pullback in the housing/finance/retail sectors? If the average joe is lose his/her job (or close to losing it), is he/she really going to have the guts and/or financial means to purchase a home at that point? Credit is tighting, interest rates are going up, and your wage/salary isn’t going to keep up. If you add to the mix the risk of more/less losing your job, the question will be, will average joe on an average income be able to take advantage of the depressed housing price? Perhaps a few piggingtons here are going to be able to take advantage of it, namely those that have already established wealth in a turbulent market. But I doubt most will…
(It would be interesting if we started a poll for folks here to poll (1) how many people here are “waiting” to buy a home and (2) how many people actually do when we’re in the middle of a big storm at fire-sale prices. )
I don’t doubt a downturn is going to happen. I’m predicting areas in outer fridges of San Diego are going to get hit the hardest..because looking at the demographics, the economics of the folks that live there are the first to be affected by a downturn…I would say, we haven’t seen anything close to what would happen in Temecula, Riverside, Oceanside….
I just don’t think many folks here really know what the implications are going to be for themselves. Anyway, like I said, it’s a waiting game. Hopefully, your own family can outlast most everyone else that gets hurt.