When I think of what folks pay for homes on both coasts I'm glad we live here.
I bought one of those "decadent" homes Jan '08, 27xx square feet, and a THREE car garage (I'm so decadent!)
Basically it was in the $83/square ft price range.
And yes, we were moving to a better school district too.
Didn't get hit too bad as the builder saw what was coming and was pricing the homes to move, they paid points to get us to a 5% 30 year fixed, and the fees were reasonable, so it was all good.
We may have saved if we had waited another 6 months, as there were some more deals and government money for first time buyers (which was halved if one person already had owned a home when a couple bought a home) but what is done is done.
But we have most of the decadent stuff. However, I think we use it. There are 4-5 of us, depending on where my daughter is staying, all three bays of the garage have cars, the loft (our family room) is usually occupied with kids if they are not out playing ball down the street, etc.
Of course, our plan is to sell this 4 bedroom home when the kids are gone, get a smaller place, probably in MO instead of IL, depending on the college thing and possible in state tuition.
oilBabe's kids father lives in MO, oilBabe and I live in IL. Should any of the kids decide to go to school in IL, then we would stay here for in-state tuition.
If my daughter would decide to go to a state school in MO, by then, we could move there.
If they go private, they better have some great scholarships, etc, just like I did. (I went to Washington University in STL, FWIW and got a couple of degrees.)
Anyway, just thinking out loud here.
But the point is, it's been much more a roller coaster ride on the coasts compared to fly over country. I think our home has dropped, but more along the lines of 5-10% and not the 30%+ drops other places have seen.
Final FWIW, the home I sold 5 months prior to buying my current home was foreclosed upon. Drove by it the other day and it's been winterized according to the stickers on the door and is bank owned according to the county.
It would be a really nice starter home for someone. Three bedrooms, but only one bath, an attached one car garage and about 1/2 acre yard give or take. It's in walking distance to an auto parts store, restaurants, grocery shopping, and public transportation.
One could probably buy that home for $110-120k for a 1600 sq.ft. brick ranch today.