Most of them didn’t go down too much with the exception of a new townhouse/condo complex which went down from $599,000 to $479,000. That was a decent cut but still not enough. They finished this building in Jan and it’s been sitting empty since Feb except 2 units. It’s on the cheaper side of the blvd, next to a post office. The units are cute but smaller than my apartment and they want $275.00 monthly for HOA fees… but all they have is a water fountain in the center. No pool, no court yeard, a couple of rose bushes, that’s all.

Lakeview is prime, Edgewater medium-good, Rogers Park very “marginal”. All are north lakefront nabes.

I tried my mother’s suburban St. Louis zip, same thing. St. Louis area sf home prices are drastically cheaper than those in Chicago burbs, but the local fundamentals don’t support their prices anymore than our fundamentals justify ours.

I wonder if credit has become ultra-tight because lenders across the board are factoring in steep depreciation in the coming months, in all locations.

I like to “visit” other metro areas to see how their prices and local economies are stacking up, via sites like realtors.com. What I am seeing is unrealistically high prices absolutely everywhere. If it looks “cheap” compared to Los Angeles or Chicago, it is because it is an area with a bad local economy. A house that looks cheap to you or me is pretty darn expensive when you are unemployed, and relative to the local fundamentals, areas like Cleveland and Detroit are very expensive.

Yes, the worst bloodbath is yet to come.

Who says true love doesn’t exist anymore?

In regards to self-employed being able to afford current home prices, the Census Bureau factors in the self-employed into their median household statistics. In addition, many real estate agents are considered self-employed:

“1135.1 Are real estate agents self-employed?
Effective January 1, 1983, certain qualified real estate agents are treated as self-employed persons. To be considered self-employed, you must:
A. Be a licensed real estate salesperson;
B. Derive substantially all payment received for services performed as a real estate salesperson directly from sales or other output, such as appraisal activities, rather than from the number of hours worked; and
C. Perform the services under a written contract or agreement which stipulates that you will not be treated as an employee with respect to the services for Federal tax purposes.”
Social Security Handbook

With over 538,598 licensed agents and brokers in California, I’m not sure looking at self-employed data will make a difference in a state where properties are overvalued by 40 to 50 percent.

Hopefully after the economy turns around she’ll be left by her next guy for a 19 year old, because after all, who wants to be around someone old and demanding?

Just kidding. Seriously though, get prenups kids…

Two questions about the median income statistic you cite – does it include only W-2 / 1040 AGI figures?

Would inclusion of Self-employed people who shelter their income from the IRS, but who actually earn more than the AGI figure on their 1040, raise that ‘median income figure’ – and provide a supply of borrowers who can and will pay a higher price?

Or is that just a canard supplied by the RE industry with the hope that such SE borrowers will help cushion the fall, by buying the higher priced homes?