Weightless In Stockton, CA

At the top of a rollercoaster there is a momentary feeling of weightlessness before gravity regains its hold. This report from RisMedia.com about the Californian housing market seems to depict such a sensation.

"Brokers and agents in San Joaquin County, CA., are starting to believe that those heady market days are over...'We're now starting to see decreases in listing prices so to me that's an indication of this thing flattening out', said Michael Collins, of Century 21 in Stockton."

"It feels like it's slowing down..the market has reached a peak.. Appraisals are starting to come up short..Over the past several years..prices were climbing so fast that (appraisers) had trouble setting a home's valuation based on recent comparable sales in the area..some of the appraisals conclude that the sales prices were higher than the market value, in effect knocking out a loan or at least subjecting the sales deal to renegotiation. "We've seen that on several occasions."

One agent thinks things had gotten out of hand. "It was getting ridiculous when you could sell a house for $250,000 or $260,000 that was almost totally a knock-down."