CNNMoney.com
Companies Economy International Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading Winners/Losers/Actives Bonds Currencies Commodities World Markets Money Magazine Real Estate Taxes Jobs Ask the Expert Money 101 Autos Mutual Funds The Help Desk Loan Center Best Places to Live Ask the Expert Ultimate Guide to Retirement Retirement Calculators Best Funds Best Places to Retire Fortune Brainstorm Tech Apple 2.0 Blog Big Tech Blog Sectors and Stocks Tech Talk Resource Guide Small Business Makeovers Questions & Answers Small Business Video 100 Best Places to Launch FSB 100 Fortune Small Business Fortune 500 Brainstorm Tech Investing Management C-Suite Rankings Main Create Portfolio Edit Portfolio Create Alerts Edit Alerts
8 of 65
BACKNEXT
Tomas Billitti: Seeing the silver lining
Tomas Billitti: Seeing the silver lining
Tomas with his girlfriend, Lani
• Issue #1: America's Money
• Share your story
IT project manager, 31, Aliso Viejo, Calif.

My girlfriend and I have solid incomes and large savings and 401(k)s with zero debt. But with the real estate prices rising beyond reach here in Southern California in the last several years, I wondered how I would be able to afford to buy our first house.

In some ways I am glad the real estate market is crumbling because now real estate is more affordable and it has become a buyers market. We do feel the pains of rising gas prices, bills, etc., but we don't live beyond our means and keep on target with our financial goals.

If anything we are looking for good opportunities in a down market. We don't expect to be victims of downsizing anytime soon, but we are well prepared if it should happen.

NEXT: Marc Albert: Down, but not out
Last updated November 15 2009: 6:21 AM ET
Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
More Galleries
8 weird ways to save the Earth
8 weird ways to save the Earth
Geoengineering, or deliberately tinkering with the earth's climate, could help if global warming proves disastrous for mankind, but the ideas are untested and the risks unknown. More
Most (and least) affordable cities to buy a house
Most (and least) affordable cities to buy a house
Here are the 5 metro areas where the average American family can afford to purchase a median-priced home -- and the 5 where they can't. More
Heroes of the Economy: Where are they now?
Heroes of the Economy: Where are they now?
In March, CNNMoney profiled people making personal sacrifices to help others during the recession. Did their efforts pay off? CNNMoney checks in. More

Special Offer
© 2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Live Quotes automatically refresh, but individual equities are delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET.
* : Time reflects local markets trading time. † - Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. Disclaimer
Copyright © 2009 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc.
Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use.
Intraday data is at least 20-minutes delayed. All times are ET.
Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data.
Fundamental data provided by Morningstar, Inc..
SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc..
Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC.