Are Real Estate Prices Ready to Fall?

The 13 Riskiest Housing Markets

By Dave Lindorff

If your hometown is on this list, the value of your house may be in jeopardy.

The real estate bug bit Karen Brodie a few years ago. She left her desk job as an accountant with Fidelity Investments in 2001 and teamed up with a cousin to buy a single-family house in the Boston suburb of Dorchester for $98,000. After spending $50,000 to upgrade the house, the pair sold it a year later for $278,000. Now Brodie and her cousin have expanded their operation to include two pricier three-unit buildings in Dorchester and two three-family units in Rhode Island. With the Dorchester properties now up for sale, the pair could turn a profit of between $500,000 and $800,000 in little more than a year.

Across the country, thousands of people like Karen Brodie are chucking their day jobs to become real estate investors. And why not? The nation is experiencing a boom in property values that has seen the median price of an existing home rise 10% in the past year; 37 areas saw prices jump by at least 15%. Thanks to leverage, which lets you buy a property for a fraction of its cost, you can double your money in a flash. More