Several readers suggested a discussion of the housing bubble and 'flyover country.' "How about a topic about large cities in flyover country that are NOT part of the bubble? Where you can still (today) get the dream home for under $300K. I’m thinking say Columbus,OH, Memphis, Fort Worth, Houston, Albequerque(?), Pittsburg, Richmond, Charleston, etc. Plenty of places other than DC/SF/NYC with all the quality of life you could want."

"I moved from DC. When my previous employer asked me what it would take to make me stay I said, 'Double my pay or pay off my mortgage.' They declined (obviously) and I moved. Kept the same pay, dropped the state and local taxes (even my real estate taxes dropped (rate up, how much I pay way down)), commute went from 1 hour to 15 minutes and got a much better house."

"Most big companies do not adjust pay scales for differences in cost-of-living (at least not enough). I pay my engineers the same reguardless of them living in LA, Fort Worth, or Atlanta. My last company payed their people almost the same (within 5%) no matter if you lived in San Antonio or DC. You don’t have to take a pay cut, or much of one, that’s a myth."

"'Plus I get to go to my kids soccer games, swimming lessons, and put them to bed. Something I missed a lot of working in DC, spent that time stuck in traffic. Can’t trade that time for money. "

One replied, "Agreed. A quality of life decision vs. staying in the rat race. Does the Cost of Living adjustment b/w cities justify the monthly mortgage payments? Are you a richer person on 50k/yr in MI than you are as a 100k/yr person in San Fran?"

Another said, "I live in NJ. My brother pays $11,000/yr. in property taxes alone. I think it’s time to leave, even if the home prices do go down."

From Boston, "Good to hear. My wife and I are considering a move from Boston to near her family in MI. I don’t know if I want to wait 2+ years for things to bottom out here…" From California. "I doubt there is any place in the US that is not part of the bubble. And as goes California so goes the nation."

From Ohio, "Ohio IS bubble central. They have done nothing but build new homes over the past several years. My family in Ohio actually believes there is a bubble, unlike most people I know in CA. I keep a close watch on Ohio because I want to move back there (Oakwood in the Dayton area specifically). I’m waiting for this GM thing to play out though. I have an agent in Columbus (my other area of interest) who calls me constantly with 'investment opportunities.'"

Another agreed, "Ohio is also one of the most lax states when it comes to lending regulations, and leads the nation (I believe) in foreclosures at the present time (due to lax regulations and job losses in manufacturing)."

A reply, "I don’t think you’ll find 2+2 condos, like the one up the street from me, on the market for $1.3 million in Ohio. Your family in Ohio doesn’t know how good they have it."

From Tennessee, "I live in Memphis, and there is a housing 'bubble' on the outskirts; places like Germantown and Southaven (technically in MS) where houses are going for a million change, but these are huge houses, usually on a good bit of land. I still think that there isn’t enough granite countertop in the world that would make living in houses that all look alike worth it, but then I’m one of those 'crazy' people who believe that a house is a shelter, not an investment." "

'We just purchased a house for 96K, 4bd/2bh, 2300sqft, on 1.68 acres of land, less than 20 minutes away from downtown and from both of our jobs. *smiles* we took out a 100% loan, but it was a fixed 30 yr, despite my friends and coworkers advice to take an an I/O Arm. I politely told them they were out of their damn minds, but I don’t think my message really got across."