> I don't believe this is the case. Population growth has stopped in the US, and as baby boomers die off you're going to see a glut of housing inventory pushing

> I don't believe this is the case. Population growth has stopped in the US, and as baby boomers die off you're going to see a glut of housing inventory pushing prices down. Two words: immigrants and inflation. I think I'm going to see a $100k minimum wage in my lifetime just from inflation. > The real estate agent/broker advising you is required to act as your fiduciary Of course, as far as trying to get the best deal and informing you of property condition and so forth. In context I clearly meant financial fiduciary [edit: I see even that could be mis-read, so in more words: your realtor has no duty to tell you what you can and can't afford]. RE agents take great pains to know only what your prequal number is to make sure they stay far away from the possibility of financial fiduciary duty. > Selection bias. Perhaps. Whether or not their home was underwater, someone hit by unemployment's probably going to end up in that position anyway. Obviously it was all connected; regardless, those instances are not very interesting. As I said elsewhere in the thread, the cases where people are indeed able to pay yet still walk away are interesting to me.