Everybody thought it would go on and that would sell for $400k
in less than a year, but instead it sold under repo after they were
forced to default for $100. Ugly!

Horrible!

http://www.carlfrancis.starkhomes.co...res_agent=3564

If you're mildly interested, take a look at some of the places in the
towns of Cambridge, Columbus and Pardeevile. We're going in between
$90K and $135K, but as you can see there are a few houses lesser than
that (probably total dumps) and some McMansions that go up to the $500K
mark. Mind you, these towns are 20 minutes outside of Madison, but are
pretty small- 1100 residents for Cambridge, and about 4500 for
Columbus. Think this might be typical (such a disparity in home
prices in such a small place), or perhaps something to watch out for?

The more I read about housing bubbles, it seems like there is
definately something going on in places like Boston, NY and SoCal, but
not so much here in Madison. There are some folks that think one is
*starting*, i.e. house prices are just starting to show some
increasement. If that's the case:

1) Should I buy now
2) Should I wait the 3-5 years for it to go up then back down.

If I do #1 I understand that I can't get too excited about the value of
the house increasing steadily at some exhorbitant rate- it's only going
to come back down to a more 'sensible' level. My thoughts are that if
it goes up, then goes down, it is still going to go up again after
that- maybe a bit slower but much more stably. The longer you ride it
out the better off you'll be?

Am I wrong?