You're witnessing something quite new and never to be duplicated in the real estate markets. Construction of new homes is stopped dead in it's tracks. Inventories are at alltime highs and going higher. Good people, I mean mom and pop solid citizens are walking out the front door. People that pay their bills and eat their vegetables are just giving up. Why pay a mortgage on a home worth $150K when you owe $300K? Answer: you shouldn't. It's stupid. And good people are finally realizing that this real estate market ain't coming back, probably in their lifetimes. If you're 60 or above right now reading this...you will never see the home prices of the 2000's again. If you're 50 or below...maybe sometime, but you'll be too old to really enjoy the gain.