Apartments rents are rising quickly in the Bay Area. Economically – considering wages and employment, rents should be falling. The explanation that makes the most sense is that more people – the young, foreclosees, and short sellers – want to rent right now, and apartments are usually the least-expensive options in an area. It makes [...]

Looking at median home prices versus median income, prices of homes would need to decline another 10 percent or so to reach the historical average of 3.5. Of course, they could overshoot…

Understanding deflation psychology gives cashflow investors an edge. They can see the true value of a property when others are afraid to buy. If there are any enduring lessons the bubble blogs have taught readers, it is how to identify bubble psychology, and hopefully, how to identify the opposite: deflation psychology. Smart money is not buying in safe havens. Smart money is taking advantage of deflation psychology and obtaining undervalued cashflow properties in markets like Las Vegas.

I would argue that many of the people who think that now is the time to invest in the lower-end simply haven’t spent much time there. If they did, they would know that most of the residents are just barely hanging on.

Commercial real estate is going to be in a funk for years. Residential housing will pick up first, and lets’ face it, residential housing looks miserable as well, also burdened by real and shadow supply.