The Virginia Pilot has this report on that housing bubble. "Years of hefty returns and attractive offers made real estate in South Hampton Roads a seller's market, but the latest market data show the pendulum swinging back toward buyers. Properties are staying on the market longer, and more buyers want home inspections and help with closing costs."

"'The market has cooled off quite a bit,' said agent Jim Willis in Virginia Beach."

"Across the region, the median sale price was $229,900. That's $32,150 more than a year ago. Median prices also rose compared with January's levels in some locales. But those gains were far less dramatic, 2.7 percent in Norfolk, 4.6 percent in Virginia Beach and 3.7 percent in Suffolk, while prices were flat in Portsmouth and fell by $9,900, or 3.7 percent, in Chesapeake."

"In Virginia Beach, which provided 38 percent of the area's sales in February, the average market time more than doubled, to 46 days from 22 a year ago. In Portsmouth and Suffolk, properties lingered on the market for two months or more on average."

"Buyers' agents are taking notice, and enjoying it. 'We had the best February for buyers than we've had in four years, said Maggi Davis, broker-owner in Virginia Beach."

"Willis said buyers are less willing now to waive home inspections in order to seal a deal. Plus, sellers are beginning to offer more closing-cost assistance in order to attract buyers."

"January and February are typically slow months in real estate, with sales and prices heating up in the spring months. February's lengthened market times and less enthusiastic buyers, however, could mean something more than a seasonal hiccup, Willis said."

"'I think it's going to pick back up, but the indicators I've had is that it won't be the appreciation and the feeding frenzy that it has been for the last three years,' he said. 'It's legitimately more of a buyer's market than it has been.'"