Looking for a downtown condo

Everyone has a real estate story - including Lisa Napoli, a reporter for public radio's "Marketplace" program, who writes of her adventures in this week's Downtown News. After finally selling her NY apartment, she's gotten all kinds of advice on what to do in L.A. ("Don't buy just yet, honey, the market's gonna tank," said a bank teller). It's still a little early for the fire sales - even with a recent drop in sales, downtown prices remain high.

Forget the lofts. They're outrageous. And many of them aren't really lofts, anyway, just flimsy, overpriced facsimiles. Forget Bunker Hill condos. The monthly fees are a whole mortgage unto themselves. Forget Elysian Park or Echo Park; I'm at least two years late for that. Besides, what I could afford in no way matches the amenities, quality and location of the apartment I now rent.

Turns out I moved Downtown just in time for its renaissance, which means it's just a bit too late to actually afford to buy a place to live. Suddenly, I realized I am a statistic: Someone who had nicely cashed out of a housing market on one coast, albeit unwillingly, but can't quite cash in to the market on the opposite coast. Without adding four hours a day to my commute.

Finally, at a party given at the home of a friend of mine who bought in Echo Park before prices got really outrageous, I met someone whose advice I bought into. "Wait till all those people with Mickey Mouse loans start to foreclose," he said. "Give it six months. Just watch."