more talk of a bubble: 23 Percent of buyers last year were second homes

Wanna buy this house? Send your resume. | csmonitor.com
easy money will dry up sometime. Investing in a second home right now seems like a bad idea.

Christopher Thornberg, a senior economist with the University of California at Los Angeles Anderson Forecast. "The problem is there is all of this money floating around and something has to break.''

Mr. Thornberg's prognosis: "The whole US is in a bubble right now. And it could go on for another year.''

Or burst in the next six months, according to Harvey Dent Jr., author of "The Next Great Bubble Boom." He bases his prediction on a recent estimate from the National Association of Realtors that 23 percent of last year's home sales were second homes purchased by investors.

That made sense when real estate proved a better investment than poor performing stocks. But as interest rates rise, Mr. Dent says, they will push investors out of real estate and back into stocks or bonds. "That's why I'm renting an apartment in Miami Beach," Dent says. "I don't want to get stuck owning some overvalued piece of property."