I just talked to my neighbor who came to California from Minnesota two years ago and he got caught up in the real estate investing and became a mortgage broker. Last year, he was on the biggest high I've ever seen. I just talked to him last week and he is trying to dump his properties and move back to Minnesota. The problem is he is upside down on every property and all he can do now is rent them out and take a monthly loss and wait it out. The only problem is that it will be 5 to 6 years before the market comes back. He obviously didn't get my memo about the real estate industry cycles.

I really feel for the guy because he thought that the market would go up for ever. You see, he's from Minnesota and the mid west doesn't cycle as hard as the east coast or west coast. When we in California are on a high, the rest of the country see a modest increase and when we are in a low, the rest of the country see a modest dip. But in California, we have mud slides, fires and earthquakes and the real estate and mortgage industry is having all three right now at the same time and will continue this trend for the next 5 years.

Just so you know, I do not have a crystal ball in my hand, but I have watched the real estate and mortgage industry for the past 30 years and one thing is for sure is that they are in a decline and will continue to be for the next 5 years. Let's look at some facts.

In the early 70's there was a low, the late 70's there was a boom, in the early 80's there was a low, in the lat 80's and into the 91, there was a boom, in 95 or 96', we were at a low again and from the late 90's to the mid 05's, there was a boom. Ask yourself this....What's next? A LOW! Of course. It has to.....The market has to correct itself. It's been this way for 30 years and will continue this trend for the next 30 years.