Anecdotal Evidence of the Crash

Spoke on the phone at work yesterday with a guy from Santa Barbara who was a major player in the real estate/lending scene back when I was doing loans there (mid-80s). Dude kinda ruled the town when it came to putting giant deals together and making hard money loans to people at 12-and-14% interest. Now? Twenty years later, when he should be enjoying his retirement? He's "lost it all." Called our office because there's a condo in SLO that's in foreclosure that he trying like hell to hang on to. Sad.