bobemm | Sorry Olive, you'll have to start bobbing your own hair

I know it's tacky to talk about money, but - some people down the street who have been trying to sell their house for a long time just dropped the asking price to $75k. The house is bigger and nicer than mine, so IMHO this effectively makes my house worth less than $75k. And I owe waaaay more than that on it, so at least on paper this puts me in an ugly spot.

This makes me sort of bitter since I was always told that real estate was a particularly safe investment. I've also been a real good boy wrt retirement savings and such, which have also been shrinking as I continue to pour money into them. So I feel like I've been doing what I'm supposed to do to be responsible, but I'd have been better off paying rent and stuffing the remaining cash under the mattress.

I know the Great Depression started with a bang, but would it be possible for the next one to start with a slow, quiet "ohhhhhhh dammmitttttt"?

Here is the most disturbing part of it - in the midst of thinking about all of this, I still find myself relatively calm and content. Crazy!