[cudgy]

You know what’s not awesome? Buying a home in the last year or two of a housing bubble, having your home drop in value 30-50%, owing $150,000+ more on a loan than the house is worth, losing your job, and being unable to sell your home to move to another area for a new job without walking away from the house or coughing up big money at a closing.

[jjav]

> having your home drop in value 30-50%

That might sting. But I don't believe it's ever happened in the bay area. Housing didn't drop 50% in 2001 and it didn't drop 50% in 2008.

I did drop, yes. Sometimes even underwater, as my home did in 2001.

The other factor is that "underwater" doesn't mean anything if you like the house and want to keep living in it.

[bradlys]

Except this has never happened within the Bay Area. Even in the 2008 pop, it never was that bad and you got your money back by 2011.