There is way too much debt out there, but when a basic passenger car is around $25,000.00 and you need transportation, the debt is going to be high. Things cost outrageous amounts these days. Salaries are not going up in the same fashion.
A house down the street from me 1100 square feet, two bedrooms, one bath, $699,000.00?? The monthly payment with NO money down is over $3,000.00 a month??? OUCH. Going to take 5 people working to pay for it.
Are you kidding me? I just bought a beautiful, used PT Cruiser for $8,800! Leather/suede interior, moonroof, am/fm/cassette/cd, good mileage, lots of storage capacity, seats 4-5 comfortably, AND looks nice.
Its completely insane. The same idiot RE brokers who try to convince people that these little S$%%^76 shacks are going to two million are the same idiots who said that the business cycle was broken in the late 90's and that anyone and everyone in tech market was going to be millionaires by investing in companies they never even heard of.
The real estate market is do different today. Every idiot wants to be a Carlton Sheets millionaire with never even a basic understanding of RE laws etc etc. These fools will get a rude awakening when they have to pay increasing taxes, finance costs, tenants skip, and prices stay staganant or dip.
For many getting in right now. Even if prices rise at 5% per year many will not be able to sell the property for a profit for even a few years when one considers the cost of a realtor and closing costs.
are you in Palo Alto perchance?