I should add, re: house near Westwood, that it may be a good investment, but that you'd need to weigh that with your actual comfort with living there while the area improves.

Thanks, Plei, that gives me a bit better of a picture, and it may be more of a trade-off than I'd be willing to make. It's probably more sensible to stick with our current plan of hanging on here through 2005, seeing if buying the house we rent now is an option, and paying down our debts in the meantime.

And I may be crazy, since it's contrary to what I hear on NPR and see in the papers, but I'm starting to wonder if housing prices are dropping a bit, at least locally. My searches for 3 bedrooms, under $225K are turning up more results than they ever did before.

Sales of used homes were down last month. And rising interest rates should apply downward pressure on housing prices.

Also, we may be in a housing price bubble.

I'm certain we're in a bubble, I just wasn't seeing any signs it might be bursting before now.

And I may be crazy, since it's contrary to what I hear on NPR and see in the papers, but I'm starting to wonder if housing prices are dropping a bit, at least locally. My searches for 3 bedrooms, under $225K are turning up more results than they ever did before.

Which areas are you searching in? My usual searches aren't seeing any drops in price, and supplies are even more limited, but I'm generally looking either north of Lake Union or in the more northwestern parts of West Seattle. Not that I should be searching, as we'll be here for at least two more years, but I feel better if I'm keeping an eye on the market. (Oh, yeah, and I check my area as well, to keep track of the trends.)

Also, we may be in a housing price bubble.

Depends on where you are. Nationally, there are several places considered to be in the bubble zone--LA and Boston spring to mind--but this one (for a combination of reasons, including our limited housing stock and weird zoning laws--plus prices that have climbed at a more reasonable rate than the bubble areas) isn't usually considered one of them outside of the high-end neighborhoods.

Oy.

What's up, vw?

I've been looking a lot in Shoreline and somewhat in Lynnwood, though I'd be much happier with the Shoreline schools. It may just be that more condos/townhouses are being built in Shoreline than before, and they're just naturally cheaper than houses.

And it's really hard for me to believe that there's no bubble in the Seattle area because it still seems outrageously expensive compared to where I've lived before. Granted, Seattle has much higher quality of life than Birmingham. But Philly is a perfectly fine place with all the amenities.

What's up, vw?

Lawyer thinks it's gonna be about $2,000-$4,000 to fix this little problem. Guess who needs to try to find some other options first?

Damn. I hate it when people get to continue to be assholes because doing anything about it is so expensive, whether in money or hassle.

VW, have you written MSN yet? Because I'm betting they'll do the right thing, and pronto.