Are the prices from 1 year or 2 years ago cheaper than selling today?

It's up to you.But if you make the choice to buy a regulated building, you should pay a much cheaper price than a non-regulated building.

Does this mean it pays to own real estate in the Bay Area rather than the repeated fallacy of it's cheaper to rent than to own here?

I live on the other side, near Nashua...Investing up north is.... cheaper... much cheaper.. lol

Nice because they have good value, by that I mean a little cheaper and not horrible location compared to others in NWI.

They do, however, look a bit "cheaper" but shop around and find your favorite.

Your money will certainly go farther purchasing properties in places where less people want to live, but that doesn't mean you will get as good of a return in those markets (cheaper isn't necessarily better IMO).

Not only are we dramatically reducing our monthly house expenses with a cheaper mortgage, but we can bring in more income on the side.

If you cannot move money around to show proof of funds, you may need to find cheaper auctioned properties around $30k or maybe find a private money lender that will work around that with you.

One told me that a vacancy is cheaper than an eviction.