I've been checking apartment listings for the last two days. It's kind of fun to see what's out there, since I haven't apartment hunted in 7 years. I'm probably going to end up paying more than I want to for a bigger place, but I'm okay with that. It's not like I can't afford it, because I can, I just won't be able to save as much money as I want to. Once I pay off the car, which is in a couple of years, I'll have more financial breathing room. I an always move again if I want. I really don't see San Francisco rental prices going up anytime soon.

The experts are predicting that the housing market is going to come down. From the wordings of rental ads, and all the bargains that are being offered, landlords are starting to get desperate. I think in a month or two, they'll get even more desperate and rental prices will come down. I've already seen rentals for 2000/2001 prices. The real estate market is always two years behind the financial markets, so rents should really be coming down by the first quarter of 2003. I don't think the economy is going to improve anytime soon, at least not in the SF Bay Area. Sad for ssome people, but great for apartment hunters like me.