Reades suggested a topic about the role of the internet and the housing bubble. "While reading yesterday’s 'The Rest Of The Worst Is Yet To Come' post, something occurred to me. People in Des Moines, Iowa are aware of what is going on in the major real estate markets at either end of the country in a way they never were before, and it’s affecting their market in real time. Why? The Internet, baby!"

"Twenty years ago, how many people in Des Moines, Iowa would even be aware of the real estate market in Florida or San Diego? What time lag would it take for information about a boom or bust to travel thousands of miles and affect a critical mass of people in another, largely unrelated market?"

"Maybe the untold story behind this whole thing is the impact of the Internet. Just as the Internet allowed folks the ability to research home prices and then buy them at long-distances with great confidence in what they 'knew' about the national market, so will the Internet spread the bad news now that the mania is turning to fear. Fear is contagious, and the Internet is a wonderful spreader of viruses."

A reply, "I don’t believe that the internet is speeding up information transfer, on the contrary. Please explain to me why people in Europe are totally unaware of the housing bubble troubles in the US. We do have internet here as well."

"I can assure you there is NO stories about the US housing bubble in Netherlands, either on the TV news or in the newspapers; nothing at all for at least the last year or so. And of course there are NO stories about the EU housing bubble either. If people don’t look for something they will not find it."

"People are not interested in housing bubble stories, they believe all the rosy crap that the official news outlets (which are just as corrupt as those in the US) feed them. The 1635 tulip bubble in the Netherlands collapsed (minus 90%) within a week. That was long before the internet and the telephone. It’s all about psychology, not about technology."

Another said, "I’ve been following the Seattle bubble closely, and what many market watchers there believe is that because Boeing was hit incredibly hard by 9/11, the Seattle real estate market had a significant lag behind many others. However, I’ve been wondering if the Seattle market won’t turn down faster, more in line with LA and MA and FL once news becomes more prevalent on a national level."

"What happens when Time Magazine sports a cover with an illustration of an imploding bubble?"

One pointed this out, "Well The Economist, which is European if not continental, had the collapse of the American RE bubble as a cover story last year."

One saw the internet as a factor all along, "I think the Internet was what helped equity locusts buy in Oregon and Arizona. In turn, that helped turn the bubble into a national phenomenon, or at least to extend it into areas that would not have seen such appreciation before the Internet."

The Associated Press. "Call it a million-dollar impulse purchase. Ahmed Goheer was checking e-mail before bed this month when he read a message saying a Web site was selling luxury apartments in this boomtown."

"So Goheer, a vice president at a Dubai investment bank, clicked. On the site, two apartments in a nearly finished high-rise caught his eye. Goheer looked over the floor plans and did some calculations. Still in his pajamas, the Pakistani banker jumped in his Range Rover and drove past the tower under construction, just to make sure it existed. Then he returned to his computer and clicked 'buy now.' In an instant, Goheer agreed to spend just more than $1 million for two apartments."

"On the same site, Goheer arranged for a loan from local mortgage company, which took his personal information and gave him provisional approval. Goheer sealed the deal just after midnight by leaving a $2,700 deposit with his credit card."

"'There was no sense waiting. I bought it that night,' Goheer said."

"Selling property online might not make sense in markets where a buyer wants to see the neighborhood and inspect the house. But in Dubai's high-octane market, apartments are often sold from architect's renderings in neighborhoods that won't exist for years."

"'There's nothing physical to show them anyway,' said Omar Hijazi, who oversees Simsari."

"As of this week, Simsari, which is still in pre-launch mode, had sold four properties and was finalizing 20 more where mortgages had been approved online, Hijazi said. For those who insist on seeing the construction site, Simsari offers satellite imagery that gives views of neighboring homes and their backyard swimming pools."

"Whether it's smart to spend $500,000 on an apartment in Dubai, rather than in, say, London or New York, is another matter. Steve Brice, head of research at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai, said the local market is overheated and nearing the peak of a boom that started in 2002 when foreigners were given permission to buy."

"Skyrocketing prices that doubled over three years have slowed. Apartment prices jumped 10 percent in 2005 and home prices jumped 30 percent, Brice said. He believes housing prices will stabilize or start falling by summer, when dozens of 30- and 40-story apartment towers in the Dubai Marina neighborhood will be complete."

"'At some point soon we're going to see the scales tip in favor of excess supply,' Brice said. 'If you're prepared to buy and hold for the long haul, it's not a bad purchase.'"