In my last blog I mentioned the fact that here in the Antelope Valley, we have an abundance of massive homes hitting the foreclosure market.  These homes are generally around the 2,500-3,500 sq. ft. range.  Once the pride and joy of the valley, these homes are now silent reminders of the past age of the castle homes...

   You see, once upon a time, there were wonderful wizards who spent their time granting wishes.  For the sake of our story, we will call them"wizards" rather than "lenders."  These wizards realized that they could make a lot of money by helping the local townsmen in their quest for vanity and fame.  Up until this point, the townsmen had been content to live in modest dwellings--dwellings that were sized just right for their family's needs.  No one quite knows what happened, but after a while, things began to change for the town's inhabitants.  Suddenly, one by one the people began to come to the conclusion that a family of 3 could not live in anything less than a six bedroom castle.  After all, how could they bear to live with themselves when the Jones's just bought a 4,000 sq. ft. castle for their family of 2?  It was too horrible to be imagined.

   In an attempt to restore their feelings of self confidence, our heroes paid a visit to the local wizard.  The wizard's gilded tongue worked its magic on the family and without a thought in their minds, they signed the magic scroll and purchased their million dollar castle with no money down.  Our heroes left the wizard's office with their hearts full of joy.  Little did they know that the castle that they just purchased would eventually lead to their doom. 

   As the months advances, the family realized that their home was worth much more now than it was when they purchased it.  This fact came to them none too late!  For the Jones's had just refinanced their home with the wizard to purchase a beautiful new recreational carriage.  Green with envy, our family visits the wizard once again.  This time, the wizard tells them how easy it is to take their new found money, money that magically appeared in their new castle somehow, and use it to buy all of the toys that their little hearts desired.  And so, without a thought in their heads again, they signed a new magic scroll and their toys were delivered the next day.

   Unfortunately, the next day, things took a turn for the worse.  You see, the village idiot began to sow tales of doom in the town.  For the sake of our story, we will call him the "village idiot" rather than the "media."  No one quite knows why the townsmen began to listen to the village idiot.  He was not qualified to make predictions about the town's economy, but some say that if he failed to sensationalize every little thing and avoid sharing good news, then no one would ever listen to him again.  And so, by the act of one village idiot, the entire kingdom would befall hard times.  Sadly, history would show that whenever the town befell hard times, the townsmen would pay more and more attention to the village idiot.

   Suddenly, no one wanted to buy castles anymore.  In fact, those who purchased them during the times of plenty could hardly find someone who would take them for a fraction of their original cost!  As the times grew worse, the town began to blame the wizards who made it so easy for them to compensate for their lack of confidence by buying castles.  The wizard's magic was short lived, or so it would seem, for the magically low payments that the townsmen were paying to live in their castles soon tripled.  Thus began the dark ages of real estate.  These once prideful castle owners were now in the sad position of renting modest homes from those who resisted the urge to gratify their egos.  And, although many would still say that the wizards were the ones to blame, most of the townsmen secretly knew that they should have read the magic scrolls before they signed them.  So let this be a lesson to all of those who would commit to something that is unclear.  Beware!  Lest the same fate befall you too...

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