Well I follow it closely. I'm in the insurance business and we pretty much follow the sales trend around here and we have been off since mid 2005. Montgomery County Maryland is one of the most well to do counties in the country and was one of the last to see home values drop. Properties when I bought my home in 2002 were on the market for no longer than 30 days, now it can be 6 months to a year. I paid 285k for my home in November of '02. It appraised for 505k last year and now, pretty much the same house is going for 450k to 475k. Our market is heavily influenced in election years, there's a pretty decent turnover when things change with the fed. gov. so we expect this market to pick up again late next year. There is a military installation relocating as well so that will be an added kick. Our business which is heavy on the homeowner side of things has been half what we were doing a month in 2004. Pretty scary right now.

Pat