Location Location Location

I was in a meeting this week when a friend came up and, in that hushed conspiratorial tone asked "How's Real Estate?"

"Gosh, I am busy!" I replied

She didn't know what to do. She literally just stared at me for about 3-4 seconds.

While it's true the money markets are off and it's a bit harder to get a loan than it used to be, It has been SO MUCH worse! It wasn't that long ago that you couldn't get a loan without excellent credit and a decent down payment that you worked really hard to earn.

Of course, that's before the speculators came into the market and took advantage of other people's cheap money. We only have ourselves to blame.

That being said, there are still some great markets in Silicon Valley. This week a friend made and offer on a $1.2M home in Santa Clara with Cupertino schools. They came in $50K over asking price and were out bid by $250K!

What's the market like in your neck of the world?