Me and my over active imagination

On the first episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the main chick said something about having a great imagination and being paid well for it. Well, I don't get paid for it...but my imagination is in top notch condition. Yikes.

In the summer of 2005, we were approved for a home loan, but didn't buy a house because we couldn't find one that we could afford. I bawled in the realtor's car. It was the saddest, most horrible time. We did make an offer on a house, mostly out of fear that if we didn't buy SOMETHING now, we'd be forever priced out of the market. The owner accepted our offer, after countering with a price HIGHER than their asking, and then pulled out at the last minute breaking our agreement.

The flood of relief was incredible. The house was a piece of shit. The accepted offer was $235,000. The owners bought it a year before for $135,000. The people who sold it to them bought it two years prior for $110,000. It really was disgusting. The entire house had linoleum floors. Thirty year old linoleum that was worn through to the concrete. There were fake bricks stapled all over the walls. These people were making a $100,000 off us without putting one dime into their house.

Bitter much? Yeah. I am. But, the housing market is coming down. And now? Now we don't even want to buy here any more. But I've kind of got a little obsession with this website. It's a collection of news articles about the housing bubble.

That website led me to this one. That's some scary shit right there. I swear, I read the site with my hand over my mouth and my eyes as big as saucers. Peak Oil? How have I never heard of this before? I can barely get my mind around what the world will be like without oil. Don't look at that site if your squeamish. It's really frightening to think about.

Check out this video. It's mindblowing that up until the Monday before Black Tuesday, there wre American's who thought the stock market would never come down. If we could go back to the 30s and ask around for what people wish they'd done before that day to prepare for the coming depression what would they say?

Gah. I'm sorry this is a downer post. I don't mean for it to be. But my mind is just boggled by this stuff. I'm considering starting to prepare bankruptcies again. I'm getting calls, even though I haven't advertised in two years. Bankruptcies and foreclosures in my city are up a whooping 250 percent. It's depressing work, but someone has to do it. And the money will help my family finally FINALLY buy a house.

It feels like the American Dream was stolen from my family by people who exploited it for their own gain. It makes me sick. Really sick. I can't even bring myself to feel sorry for the investors who are now stuck with houses that they can't sell.

What are you thoughts on preparing for a possible recession/depression/Peak Oil...whatever?