Celebrity Real Estate Losers - Forbes.com: "LOS ANGELES -

Even Hollywood's rich and famous can't avoid the housing downturn that's sweeping the nation. In Los Angeles, only 4,430 homes were sold in December, down 48% from the previous year. And prices fell 11% to an average $470,000."
------------
I was discussing this situation with my brother yesterday while we sat in a Corner Bakery at Union Station, next to the Chicago River. We grew up in the LA area. We heard nothing but "real estate is always a good investment because it never goes down in value." But both of us think that this law may be broken for good. It is possible that real estate values were so inflated that they are never coming back to where they were--or at least no time in the foreseeable future. Many people used their homes as their only investment property, and now they are looking at a very grim situation.