We decided to rent a place in Denver for the next year. From our talks with the local realtors there, it sounds like the housing market will continue down for at least the next twelve months, and home prices should fall to something more realistic than they still are today, as those who are or will soon be on the market sit through the dryspell of lending and get a little antsy next fall.

Then, I will either buy some land and build my fortress, or find someone else's fortress and get it for a more reasonable price. My pay didn't get adjusted from Florida, and my rent will be the same, but the house I moved into is bigger and better than what I had in Florida, so already I am getting more for my money. In the meantime, I can continue to replenish my funds that were exhausted this year (unplanned family expenses cleaned me out worse than the wall street fiasco ever could've). So I figure in a year I should have enough cash on hand to make a good down payment or buy a fair chunk of undeveloped property.