Mike Im not too hyped up on bailouts either, but how do we work things out without them?

Mail fraud is something that is usually tacked on to real estate and finance violations,  use the mail to further an illegal activity,, that gets serious.There are too many clowns in the center ring and  the gurus know a sucker is born every minute, there's no shortage of folks wanting to get rich the  easy way.Just selling to buyers you know doesn't cure any issue, it's the buyer's side and it takes some effort to be properly educated, too lazy or too naive to know the difference between an education and guru hype or a real estate site that needs traffic for advertising dollars.......it's beyond me, especially when you hand them a basic education for free! 

My issue are the people who got caught up in the "must buy" craze at hyperinflated prices, paid some lucky homeowner or builder waaaaayyy too much due to the hype.

That's pretty much indicative to all pre-Recession indicators.Construction Workers and Developments were in full swing with lots of work.There also can be a hype to get into the Asset Class, but I am unsure if that occurs in all recessions.

Well, I bought into the hype.

I think that a lot of the so-called recovery we're seeing is election-year hype.

I disagree that the tax benefits are over-hyped.

Josh, I'll take a shot at this. 1) What I'm seeing right now are many investors overvaluing the REO's with so much hype around REO's there are many less savvy investors driving up prices often (unsubstantiated).

Bill Gulley makes some good points, but that particular book has drawn accolades from many other BP members, so I don't suspect that the OP is a "one post wonder" here to hype a book and thus spamming us. 

But, the hype continues. :)