I read an article today in the San Francisco Chronicle titled "Brentwood: Boom to bust"  Brentwood was a small farming community until about 10-15 years ago. The community is on the eastern edge of the "Bay Area" where people searched for affordable housing adding at least 40,000 residents.  It was regularly ranked as one of CA's fastest growing cities. Hundreds of families in Brentwood have lost their homes since the beginning of last year. A total of 376 homes were foreclosed in 2007... this year in the first quarter alone 208 homes foreclosed.  The article said at least 1 in 16 households have received foreclosure notices. Brentwood has been dubbed the "poster child" for what is going on in the housing market. These homes are sitting empty and neglected. The town had to pass an ordnance that they were going to start caring for the property and put liens on them all... guess the banks are paying attention now. Crime is up, homelessness is up... it affects so may aspects of a community.

Today I drove a half mile square of where I live and there were 9 houses that are bank owned for sale. The selling price of my home has dropped 30% since the beginning of 2007. I know this because we almost sold... now we are wishing we had. I have a neighbor who is a realtor and she ran the comps for our neighborhood for me. Nothing has sold in our neighborhood in almost a year... including foreclosurers. My personal opinion is that 2009 is a fantasy.

So... what is going on in your neighborhood?