They had a collapsed retaining wall on their property, as well as various drainage issues.

Maybe cracked, or sections of plaster & lath collapsed, or water damaged - but whatever that is, you will have to look first and fix it before putting in the new drywall ceiling.

When the market collapsed, we moved from an area where we had lived most of our lives, in northern California, to Orange County, CA, which we knew nothing about!

Then if all goes good and QE3 causes house prices to rise, maybe you can cash out (before the collapse) and do bigger things.

Granted this is just my opinion, but it is based on 28 years of experience (including the '80s collapse of the TX market) and some careful looking.I've noticed more For Sale signs in Austin and San Antonio lately, including too many on NEWER houses in NEWER neighborhoods.

I am going to get my securities license so that I don’t have to worry about any violations on a national level, as there are some states that require this type of licensing, that being the case I have a colleague that hold such a license and is willing to act as the broker in the transaction.I have 3 almost 4 years in residential mortgage origination, although, I have moved away from that area of lending since the market collapse.

With the sub-prime industry collapsing people are now required to bring 10-20% down.

The best example I can give you is in the form of a question: Why do you suppose the current real estate market cool-down has not been worse, or that it wasn't the huge collapse of a 'bubble' popping that so many have been predicting?

So, the whole thing collapsed.

The country's largest lender being bought for a mere $3 billion just months after the mortgage collapse?