By Peter Dennehy, San Diego

Thank you for your insightful statements, however the year is posted as 2007 no 2008.

Posted by Jason | reply to this comment
January 4, 2008 6:30 pm

Thanks for the feedback - actually it is posted right - my conversation with Kelly (in late December '07) was about what was ahead for 2008. I said that we were not at "bottom" yet - but likely would be at some point during 2008. Fingers crossed that sales stabilize and worst case scenarios for economy are avoided - prices will follow in time - but no likely sustained upward trend in price for some years

Posted by Peter | reply to this comment
January 5, 2008 7:08 am

Hi Peter and all -- I have posted a reply to this letter over at my blog.

Posted by Rich Toscano | reply to this comment
January 5, 2008 1:24 pm

Bottom is generally speaking the costs of property, the cost of housing in this case. If anyone thinks we are at the bottom they have not been in this real estate business long enough. The last down turn was in 89-96. It was very bad in 90, 91 92, 93 and 94, and we kept saying the same thing every year back then, this is the BOTTOM year, we were wrong every single year except for 96. Now, that down turn was generally speaking purely on the commercial side, but because commercial real estate included apartments it also had a big impact on residential real estate. The problem today is residential is even more out of balance than back then (over inflated commercial property in that time period). Todays residential market will match that 7 year commercial down turn in the 90's, harder with an expected recession.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
January 7, 2008 9:37 am

San Diego County isn't going anywhere but if folks (like myself) right out of school with 6 figure incomes, no debt and no 20% down are afraid to buy how is this market going to rebound? I think too many analysts are counting on RESPONSIBLE buyers to go 5x income on their homes or that first time home buyers will miraculously have 20% down. It will take awhile for a number of us to save that kind of money (more than 2 years for sure), especially when our peers a few years older were buying with nothing down.

Posted by Ben | reply to this comment
January 7, 2008 3:49 pm

5. Ben wrote on January 7, 2008 4:49 PM: "San Diego County isn't going anywhere but if folks (like myself) right out of school with 6 figure incomes....Please post a link to ONE JOB that pays 'right out of school 6 figure incomes'...sorry, no such thing in San Diego, UNLESS you're part of the SDFD or PD. Then you have a 6 figure compensation package.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
January 7, 2008 7:01 pm

Or, BBH, receiving one of the Golden Packages -- a primo fire or police retirement yanked from the pockets of SD's taxpayers with the generous assistance of our own crooked city council. It's an irony, isn't it, that those sworn to serve and protect are busy screwing and neglecting the taxpayers. Life is odd that way, but then I guess we taxpayers are just cheap SOBs who don't care about the plight of our poor public servants.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
January 8, 2008 8:33 pm

The cost of owning a house in San Diego will go up, and soon there will be more renters and rental properties. The growing population of ill-skilled and underskilled workers assures that. The availability of water and space will also increase the cost of housing. And like some areas already in California, so many will find home ownership beyond their reach-- and only those with a lot of money will own real estate. Homes will be expensive. Welcome to the future.

Posted by BlkJK | reply to this comment
January 9, 2008 1:46 pm

Do you have any information that relates specifically to Mission Beach or Pacific Beach? As a landlord with multiple properties, I am of course concerned with our market today as it will no doubt impact us going forward.

Posted by Mel | reply to this comment
February 17, 2008 4:02 pm

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