The Idaho Statesman reports on the continued speculation in housing. "The number of landowners with proposed planned communities in the works south and southeast of Boise has nearly doubled in the past few months as word spreads that this area is Ada County's next hot spot for growth."

"Landowners and developers are working on 11 planned communities covering about 23,000 acres south of Boise. Land prices have doubled in the past year or two."

"I've done more business there in 2006 than in the last five years,' said broker Jerry Van Engen. The area has been stagnant for years, 'until we ran out of dirt in the west,' said Van Engen."

"Buyers are both local and out of state, and Boise's boomtown buzz is still going strong. Van Engen's office gets about a call a day from someone outside the area who heard about Boise and 'wants to get in on it,' he said."

And Investment News has some financial advisors who think it's a bad idea. "For years, advisers have warned their clients not to rely on the equity in their homes to make up the bulk of their retirement portfolio."

"Many have not heeded those warnings. Investors with investible assets of between $100,000 and $1 million have 37% of their total assets tied up in real estate, 23% in principal residences and 14% in investments, according to a recently conducted survey."

"Now, in the face of a widely anticipated real estate collapse in some regions of the country, advisers have no choice but to craft strategies to help their clients cope if home values crash."

"'There's no question [a downturn] is going to hurt people's retirement," said Neil Hackman, an adviser (at) a Stamford, Conn. firm with $180 million in assets. 'People are banking on the equity of their home. If that $1.6 million home goes down to $1.1 million, then they're in trouble.'"

"Those boomers who are counting on snagging quick cash from their homes anytime soon could end up in trouble, said George Walper. He said that the key is to try to wait out any real estate problems."

"But that may take patience on the investor's part. 'We think the U.S. real estate is dead money for the next 17 years,' Mr. Hackman said."