🚀 go-pugleaf

THE VIEW FROM the back patio of Greg Stone's 
three-bedroom house in Reno, Nev., is 
stupendous.

But last fall, when its owners put it on the 
market for $835,000, there were no takers.

For nearly a year, the price sank.

The Stone signed a contract on the home for 
$590,000 � 30% below its original asking 
price.

The Stones' house could be a tombstone for 
the recent real estate boom.

Prices are falling fastest where the boom 
has been most extreme, on the coasts and in 
sunny destinations like Las Vegas and 
Florida. But outside the housing-hype 
spotlight, cities like Reno; Warwick, R.I.; 
and even Boise, Idaho, have experienced 
their own booms � and now their own fizzling 
downturns.

Homes in some markets have become so 
expensive relative to wages that the pool of 
buyers has shrunk.

The most recent boom now looks most like a 
bubble in markets that have shown up year 
after year as the most overvalued � 
especially in Florida and California, which 
account for 24 of the top 25 overvalued 
spots in this year's survey. Now those 
markets may be falling back to earth.

The long-anticipated slowdown has arrived 
with a stench of burnt brake pads, with even 
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke saying 
that the housing sector is undergoing a 
"substantial correction."

http://www.smartmoney.com/mag/index.cfm?stor
y=december2006-homes