The mainstream press seems finally to have realized that real estate speculation is in the mania stage. Hence the following article from the Los Angeles Times. The bizarre personal note is that I know the lead interviewee, Chris Boome.

“SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Boome, an insurance agent in the suburb of Burlingame, doesn’t want to work the rest of his life. Who does? But at 58, Boome knows he hasn’t saved enough to retire. So a few weeks ago, he revamped his retirement accounts. He sold most of the mutual fund shares and used the cash to buy an $83,500 chunk of land in the Nevada hills, a stretch of ground he had seen only in a photograph. “This is more exciting than a mutual fund,” Boome said. “It feels safer too. You buy a piece of dirt, you feel you’ll always have a piece of dirt.”"

Putting Stock in Property