Shift to a Buyers Market

Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com, was quoted in today's San Francisco Business Times: "McGee warns that defaults would probably rise again as rising interest rates put pressure on hyper-inflated west coast housing markets. 'We think a long overdue price correction has already begun. Over-leveraged homeowners that have abused home equity lines will find themselves with negative equity. If they get in a bind, they'll just mail their keys to the lender and walk.'" This is what I surmised in my prior weblog Bursting of the Bubble?. I can only hope a meaningful "correction" hits the Peninsula by graduation time. Two of the guys at the semimonthly and unofficial Wells Fargo / Johnson & Johnson poker night were sharing information about prospective homes and real estate agents in Arizona. They both work in regional sales with the option of locating anywhere within a three hour flight range of San Francisco. Apparently, Arizona is a very popular haven for those fed up with the Bay Area housing market; no doubt because a half million actually buys you something down there. How sobering.