🚀 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."