I can’t stop thinking real estate. I know that it can be considered to be a volatile market at this time, with the predicted interest rate hikes coming up, but it doesn’t phase me. I know that I can still be successful if sticking to markets that I feel can’t go anywhere but up.

For example, the Jersey shore. They aren’t building any more coastal land. While Wildwood did once go through a phase where the property values tanked, they are in a surging market currently. The value of House One already doubled after we bought it in September 2001. And there’s no where left to build on the Jersey coast. My feelings are strong that the coast is not going anywhere, and that no one is building more of it. And with the northern shore points overdeveloped, the trickle-down effect on the southern shore points is more that apparent when suffocated with constant development.

[This leads me to ask why the area between Wildwood Crest and Cape May is not developed. I assume it's too marshy, but I don't know. It is about a mile strip of road that has nothing on the left driving southward, but restaurants and a marina on the right. Why is the left not built up?]

And House Two, in West Chester, PA, is in the same situation. There is a high demand for people to move into the Borough. There seems to be a high demand, at least in this southeastern PA area, for moving back into the city – for having amenities in walking distance. It makes sense, if you think about it, that as the baby boomers age there will be a resurgence of city-dwellings.

And now I am looking up houses in Philly. Judy and I will be moving into Philly in a year or so, if all goes as planned. So today I hopped on Realtor.com to see what’s available in the city. I love to have everything so close, but I still want to have a yard. So a townhouse may not fit. I dream of having a Gaitley-style basketball court in my backyard, with lights and everything

[Gaitley-style = n. ridiculously awesome court with full glass backboards, playground quality rubber-like painted courts with stadium lighting ]

. I only need room in the yard for a half-court, but this is something I really want. And I know houses exist like this in Philly – the problem may be finding one. So the hunt is on…