As for now, I am a real estate agent closing deals with investors on a daily basis.At Bakken Realty we receive calls every day from investors looking to pick our brain for details regarding the area.

at my college 2 or 3 years ago, living on campus was 3 or 4 grand a semester, and they had a mandatory meal plan for on campus students...basically around 15 grand a year was thrown away on crappy food that we hated eating (but did cuz we had to pay for it) and rent on a crappy dorm..that is how i bought my first house...it was cheaper to pay a mortgage and cook rice flavored with BBQ sauce!!

Just food for thought.

I spend time daily working on it, checking the chemicals and working to keep them balanced so that there's no living thing in it so I can use it, but because of the temps and weather, I haven't been in it much anyway.

Watching the couples and families in food court, movie theaters, and stores seemed no different than here.

Great food for thought.Rob K I've done the white walls/gray floor before, but I hadn't thought about the black ceiling - I like that idea; helps to blend in and hide the jumble overhead.J Scott Nice paint job!

I am not sure if it is possible to have a mixed scenario of inflation and deflation: food, oil going higher but real estate going down.

Only time I see this done is when you or someone have already flipped an identical property like next door or something and the properties are identical in the work needed.I can understand when its several properties daily you are looking at, if thats the case maybe step it up on the due diligence before you even come out to any house therefore your not wasting time on the skinny deals.But if you are a wholesaler, I appreciate you taking the time to do this for your clients.

I could go for Conejuitos mexican food, or Oakland gyros, followed by some blues at the Up & Under on Brady !!!!!!

It is interesting to see the varying viewpoints on this subject and food for thought.Based on everything I have read in these responses, what I have learnt is that (a) our growing population should put a natural floor on home prices to reflect replacement cost minus depreciation and (b) if you can buy at deep discounts, you should do it because any future depreciation should be offset by the discount.My own decision based on all this is to perhaps continue with my flip business because it gives me returns similar to a good buy-and-hold property while keeping my cash free from any long-term committments in case the economy weakens.