VCJIM, this is your project. I am following your lead. I will ask the question: “Do you think housing is a good investment over the next year? Over 5 years?”, and tally my results, and post any comments I get. Whoever has these 10 tallies first, can start a thread for this topic. We should be able to get a few hundred people this way.
I don’t know much about statistics, but I know for accuracy we should poll a variety of neighborhoods (check, we live all over San Diego) and income/education/ethnic levels.
Another question: when you guys get gas, check how many people filled up their tank. If they don’t fill up, they are either hoping gas will be cheaper next time, or they can’t afford it. I strike up conversations, and I get the “I can’t afford it” story a few times. I just say to the other people, “Can you believe the price of gas? Do you think people can afford to fill up?” And people start talking…