I think it's about time someone who's lived in the Lehigh Valley tells the truth. The average house in the Lehigh Valley prior to 2001 was about 95k for a single family home. For a twin you could buy for around 70k and that's in your better neighborhoods like East Penn & Parkland.
I feel horrible for anyone who's purchased a home from 2003-2007 because they paid anywhere from 50-80% more than the home was worth. Take a look at this chart that was prepared by the Yale economist Robert Schiller who created the S&P home price index. It shows how this housing/credit bubble was created by the fed's in order to get us through the DOT.COM recession.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...aph2.large.gif
Now it's 2008 and I live in Emmaus. There are so many homes that have been on the market for 6 months to 1 year and are not getting any offers and these homes are priced under 200k and most of them are around 150-175k. Since we've lived here all our lives any true local would tell you that the 95% or more of the people who purchased during the housing bubble were people from NJ & NY who were priced out of their neighborhoods because of the housing bubble. The average commute add's up to about 4-6 hours a day. When you calculate the cost of fuel, oil changes, wear & tear on automobiles along with the fact you work 8-10 hours a days then commute 3-4 hours you basically are not having a family life. That's horrible on the person and especially the family.
Now the local paper "Morning Call" is nothing but a cheerleaders for the local realtors. Think about this, paper's generate revenue from ad's. The number #1 buyer of ad's are realtors and housing related industries. If you read the articles the morning call uses economists who are on the payroll of the local realtors. Of course they are going to print what the realtors tell them. They try and portray us as a bedroom community for NJ & NYC and the fact is we are not. 2-3 hours one way during traffic and that's what it takes trust me, I own a trucking company is the average time. That's not a bedroom community.
Prices in NJ & NY were always higher than the lehigh valley so why hasn't the influx of residents been coming for the last 30 years? I'll tell you why, because a commute like that is insane. Now these folks who bought during this bubble period are watching their home values plummet. Homes that would sell for 250k at the peak are now asking for 175k and getting no offers. Trust me I know dozens of people in this situation.
Foreclosures in Lehigh & Northampton counties are up 55% and rising. When this disaster is over the average price of houses around the valley will once again be 100k or less. You have to look at the medium income which for this area is around 37k. Housing historically for over 115 years should be about 2.8 times thats which would be around 100k.
In the mid to late 90's when housing values started rising at 3-4% around here bells & whistles should have been going off. Salaries only rise annually 2-3% if your lucky. That's when housing started getting our of control but yet the media dupped everyone. The chart I posted will & should blow your mind because historically housing rose and should rise at then than .5%. People need to examine what happened during the Japanese housing bubble and see the similarities to us. We are heading towards another great depression and this bailout will no nothing but extend the problem without fixing anything. Freddy & Fannie should be left to go under just like Bear Stern.
Look at the rental values vs buying and you'll see what I mean. You can still find a nice home/apartment for rent under $750 a month. Now if you look at the amount of 1k - 3k homes people are trying to rent, they are nothing but preforeclosures. If you look at the lehigh valley multiple listing website
Lehigh Valley Multiple Listing Service and take the address to the lehigh valley deed website
Lehigh County Assessment Record Search you will see that over 95% of all the homes here were purchased during the bubble era. Now look when viewing the deed website look at the purchase history. Homes that are now asking for let's say 250k were purchased in 2004 for 235k but in 2000 they were sold for 120k. That's a ponzai/pyramid scheme for the decades.
When you really want to see what's happening & going to happen with housing/credit you need to view a couple websites. They take articles from the world's top economists and people not on the realtors payroll and explain this problem in user friendly terms. Do yourself a favor and stay informed.
Housing Crash Continues, Bubble Pops ---- This is the best one in my opinion.
The Housing Bubble Blog
New Jersey Real Estate Report ---- For all you NJ & NY residents this one will blow you away.
The funny thing about commutes who purchased here is that you will now be driving that commute from PA to NJ/NY and watch the old neighborhood you were priced out of now dropping in value to where you could have actually stayed. This will go done in the biggest ponzai scheme ever.
Remember Bush telling everyone to buy homes, spend money, keep the economy rolling. All this during war time. History shows us that during times of war you should be frugal and spend less. At the same time the fed's made it harder to file bankruptcy, coincidence? I think not.
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Truth about the Lehigh Valley Real Estate
as a matter of fact, I'm one of the bubble pop victims myself.) 
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