Jonathan Dalton, a real estate agent for Century 21 Arizona Foothills in the Phoenix area, opened a virtual floodgate to an unending real estate bubble debate when he wrote a post at his real estate blog on Nov. 10 titled, “Popping the Bubble.”

Though definitions can differ, a housing bubble is generally considered to be a state in which real estate prices are unsustainably high and out of step with economic underlying fundamentals such as income.

Name: Patrick Veling

Work: Real estate industry analyst and consultant, founder and president of Data Strategies Inc., Brea, Calif. Veling reads several bubble-related blogs and participates in the bubble discussion.

Q: What makes you a real estate bubble believer, a bubble debunker, or bubble neutral?

A: I am bubble neutral because there are too many social and economic variables in the housing market. Supply is easy to quantify but the demand component is not. Demand rises and falls with prospects for appreciation or depreciation, mortgage rates, societal and demographic shifts. People have lost money in the recent run-up and will make money in the worst of markets.

Name: Patrick Killelea

Occupation: Engineer/programmer

Blog site: http://patrick.net/wp/

Audience: About 5,000 readers per day

Q: What makes you a real estate bubble believer, a bubble debunker, or bubble neutral?

A: Owners and real estate businesses have a large vested interest in downplaying the bubble, no matter how real. Most renters are neutral, since they would probably rent anyway and don’t really win or lose regardless of what happens to owners. But there is a small contingent of renters-by-choice who are adamant bubble believers and have made a big bet on it by renting. I’m one of them.

Name: John McLeod

Work experience: Information technology

Blog site: Co-blogger at HousingDoom.com, “Housing Doom Housing Bubble Blog: The housing bubble has burst — what happens next?”

Audience: About 2,000 visitors per day.

Q: What makes you a real estate bubble believer, a bubble debunker, or bubble neutral?

A: Bubble believers are heavily weighted to short-sellers, renters, etc., while bubble denial is common in Realtors, builders and research institutes studying the market and being paid by these.

The spectacular profitability of many financial institutions in the period 2001-05 is what makes me a bubble believer.

Jane Eurek of Belvidere is a Realtor with Dickerson & Nieman Realtors
in Belvidere. She attended the National Association of Realtors Convention in New Orleans. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush spoke at a general assembly. Agents attended break-outs and educational seminars. Agents from around the country helped rebuild the city by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, a local library and other causes.

What do you do?

For 20 years, I’ve facilitated the home buying and selling process.

What message did you get from the presidents?

They told stories from the past and shared jokes and camaraderie. It was very relaxed.