My housing crisis

Sorry I've been away for so long.

We took a big hit on a house, and I've been pondering the market and trying to decide when to jump back in. We've decided that the time has come, and we are in the hunt, and I'm excited, so here goes.

Here's the story:

A little over a year ago, as Buena will tell you, we were searching for a vacation home abroad, most probably in London. Buena wanted this to happen, and I wanted it to happen, and then...then I started reading patrick.net. It had an effect on me.

See, Buena and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where prices are stable in good neighborhoods. Sure, there are some areas in the Berkeley flats or in Oakland where the prices have fallen--a lot--but places like Kensington, Orinda, Marin are all good to go.

But gradually I clued in to the fact that *my* neighborhood doing well doesn't mean that others are going to do well also. That, in fact, the credit crisis was global rather than local. And I asked Buena if she could wait for her English house. She could, and we did.

In the past year, though, we've watched prices come down dramatically around the Bay Area, though still not in the great neighborhoods. In the great neighborhoods, prices have dropped by perhaps 5%. Which is enough for us!

So we're jumping back in. Not into London--who knows how long that will take to unravel--but in to the Bay Area! We are moving up. We've been looking for two months already, and I'll keep you appraised of our progress.