[anamax]

> In the bay area at least, virtually anyone with a home on the peninsula probably has a net-worth of around 1M.

You're forgetting that most of those folks also have hefty mortgages, so their net ownership of their houses is considerably less than the value of their house. (I doubt that the median price of houses in the valley is high enough that "virtually all" are worth >$1M.)

However, none of this matters because the definition of "net worth" used for determining whether someone is an "accredited investor" specifically excludes many things, including residences.

There's a huge drop-off from $1M to $2M in assets, no matter how defined. These things obey power laws.