Nemo,
re: "The housing meltdown started 2 years prior DE, Some mentioned it back then"
I didn't do too badly. The Sacramento housing market peaked in June, 2005. I had my home on the market in late August. I aggressively dropped my prices (against my realtor's recommendations) to get a buyer quickly, and it closed in December. By then, the market for homes had already crashed and my realtor was singing my praises for having done EXACTLY the right thing.
I missed the peak price by about 5 percent. That's how quickly prices were falling.

Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months