I am gloating, and I make no apologies for it.From 2006-2009...

I am gloating, and I make no apologies for it.

From 2006-2009 lots of people I know (in real life, although here as well) would go on and on about how I was on crack for renting, I will be priced out forever, property always goes up, you can't save money fast enough to keep up to price rises so you should jump in, Australia is different etc etc etc etc.

I would tell anyone who listened that when people are saying "this time is different" you have to be careful, and that was said in every bubble in history. I would ask them to think about the implications of extrapolating the growth rates underway for another 5-10 years. But they would laugh, saying I just didn't understand Australia. My girlfriend was getting emotionally blackmailed by her entire family and friends that she had to buy (luckily my family is in North America, so after about 2007 wouldn't have done that!)

Well, now they are seeing it happen in Perth. I have many personal stories of this phenomenon, people trying to sell, struggling to make payments. I don't say anything to them as that is too mean, but I don't mind gloating on an anonymous forum like this, I am happy to admit.

Does anyone here feel bad for the people who lost their shirts in the Dutch Tulip Mania, or the South Seas Bubble? Bubbles pop, people get burned. It's life.