Bloomberg has this out on a new study. "Fewer than 15 percent of Americans surveyed in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll expect home prices in their neighborhood to fall during the next six months. More than twice that, 36 percent, see prices rising during that time. The majority of those polled, almost seven in 10, expect the value of their homes to appreciate by 5 percent to 30 percent during the next three years."

"Affluent investors are again more optimistic, with almost eight in 10 predicting such price gains. 'Real estate is always a good investment because land is finite,' says Richard Hoffman, a psychologist in Tampa, Florida, who owns two condominiums and an office in addition to his home."

"More than 40 percent of the affluent investors in the poll own a second home or an investment property, compared with more than a quarter of investors making $100,000 or less annually."

"More than one quarter of those who have adjustable-rate mortgages say they aren't sure they'll be able to make their monthly payments if their interest rate goes up. These loans have been particularly popular in California and other states with high housing costs. The yield on the U.S. Treasury's 10-year note, which serves as a benchmark for 30-year mortgage rates, rose to the highest in more than a year on March 6 on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates to rein in the economy."

"Of those who have adjustable-rate loans, the poll found that 21% said they were 'not too confident' about making their payments if they adjusted higher. Five percent said they were 'not at all confident.' The rest were 'very confident' or 'somewhat confident.'"

"Lillie Oliverof Alvertville, Ala., said she got an adjustable-rate loan a few years ago when she refinanced her house to pay for improvements. But her loan rate recently jumped a full percentage point, and it could adjust again in six months, she said. 'I'm at the point right now where I can barely make the payments,' Oliver said. 'If everything keeps going higher, like groceries and everything, I don't know how I am going to make it.'"

"Jackie Arnold, 41, and her husband used an adjustable-rate loan to buy a home in suburban Atlanta 18 months ago. Now, as interest rates rise, she's worried that the loan may have been a mistake. 'Our dilemma is, do we sit on the [loan] that we have and wait … or do we refinance now and pay considerably more right away?' Arnold said. 'We are caught between a rock and a hard place.'"

"Some consumer advocates say home buyers haven't been fully aware of the risks involved with adjustable-rate mortgages. Homeowners with 'substantial income or assets could well weather the storm of higher payments on these loans,' said Stephen Brobeck, head of the Consumer Federation of America. 'But we know that a fairly high percentage of people who have taken out these exotic loans aren't in that situation.'"

And CNN had this, "Individual investors are moving back into stocks at the fastest pace in years. Uh oh. as history makes clear, by the time individual investors are jumping in, that's the time the bull market is pretty much over. Individual investors are often the last hurrah, when most of the advance has already happened. For one recent example see the end of the Internet bubble, circa 2000. As Barry Ritholtz wrote, 'This is how sucker rallies draw people in. Once the most naive and least informed buy in, who else is left to drive prices higher?'"