Readers suggested lesser known housing markets as a bubble topic. "Possibility that the areas that will suffer the most during the pop are the areas everyone thinks there are no bubbles. In the U.S., areas like the rust belt and portions of the Midwest where fundamentals (jobs, population & real wages declining) dictate prices should have been declining, have been appreciating at a good clip due to outside speculators seeing their 'cheap' real estate as a gold mine."

"When the speculators have to dump these lower priced properties to service their debt on the more prized/higher priced (read: bubbly) investment properties, it is going to crush those markets."

Another said, "I get very amused listening to the BS about Texas being 'undervalued.' That’s quite interesting considering the unbelieveably high foreclosure rate. We’ll see how 'undervalued' it is when the rdistress sales start en masse."

And another, "Those who think that there’s been no bubble in areas where prices haven’t risen much seem never to have considered the possibility that sans bubble they’d have fallen."

From Fort Wayne Indiana, "To look at all the formerly vacant fields around Fort Wayne sprouting new houses, it seems unlikely that the area’s home construction companies would be going through a bit of a rough patch. But that’s the word from Fort Wayne home builders."

"'They left four or five homes undone,' Dave Fuller, commissioner of the Allen County Building Department says. 'Everybody we’ve talked to has been unsuccessful reaching them.' Last week, a number listed for the company in Lafayette had been disconnected, and no forwarding number had been left. Fuller says unfinished homes apparently were owned by the builder, not individual buyers."

"Excess inventory with some builders is worrisome, (builder) Lonnie Norris says. 'I went on the MLS, and you see this guy or that guy who has 40 homes sitting, and that’s scary,' he says. 'It’s a little scary from a spec point of view.'"

The Toledo Blade. "The din of construction hammers faded and thousands of homes went unsold in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan in the first half of 2006. 'It's tough,' said real estate broker Jim Loss. 'It's all about price now,' he added. 'You have a small number of buyers and they have a lot to choose from.'"

"After buying the four-bedroom house two years ago for $170,000, Jim Soden invested $25,000 in improvements including landscaping and granite countertops. He said he will take a loss if he receives his asking price. 'This market is bad,' said Soden."

The Journal Sentinel in Wisconsin. "Something popped right over Geoff Hogan's longtime Oconomowoc home recently. He suspects it was a housing bubble. Maybe it was just a mini-bubble that burst in Hogan's long-booming Waukesha County suburb of 13,000, but it has been dramatic. House hunters disappeared and the streets were peppered with 'for sale' signs."

"'There are 200 homes for sale here now - 200! Waukesha County has 3,000 for sale. Somebody asks, 'Can you show me some homes?' and they get a list big enough to choke a horse,' Hogan said. He and his wife had already downsized to a second house, (and) knew what they had to do. They reduced their price. Asking price for the Hogan family homestead, a 3,500-square-foot ranch on 4.5 acres, is now $789,000, down from $899,000."

"'Our market has never suffered the highs and lows that the coasts suffer. We may flatten out for a while, but that's all,' industry veteran Kathy Mitchell said. 'The problem is, sellers are still expecting everything to happen quickly. If it doesn't happen in the first 30 days, they reduce the price. Well, buyers are watching for that.'"

"Some builders are saddled with 'spec homes,' built on speculation of buyer interest that hasn't materialized. They're now advertising freebies to lure shoppers. 'The middle tier, the $400,000 to $700,000 range, is spotty,' said (bulders) association president Pete Feichtmeier. 'There's been a lot of product in that tier, an oversupply to some degree.'"

The Idaho Statesman. "So far this year, 19.5 percent of home loans in the area were taken out by outside investors. Investors accounted for 21 percent of all home loans in 2005; up from 11.4 percent in 2004 and 8 percent in 2003. 'Mainly, it hit in the entry level housing market, and it really kicked in May of last year, and exploded to the end of 2005,' said local Realtor and developer Chris Findlay."

"Findlay said the market for investors looking to 'flip' properties is cooling off as prices level. 'There is going to be a little softness. But we are not going to have this giant bubble. That's not going to happen, real estate doesn't work that way,' Findlay said. 'The Boise market is still one of the best markets in the United States.'"