If BusinessWeek.com had run this story two years ago, it would have shown how much home people could buy for $1 million. At the time, thanks to easy credit and lax regulations, people who under normal circumstances could never have afforded a $1 million home were lining up to buy one — complete with Sub-Zero fridge, pool, two-car garage and media room. Today, of course, many of those same people wish they had been less reckless with their spending. So, in our new, more humbled economy, a home with a price tag of $500,000 is the new $1 million: the stuff of fantasy but, maybe, just maybe, something that is actually within the realm of the possible. And, for the most part, these are very nice homes — as they should be. Maybe not as fancy or tricked-out as the McMansions of yore, but these days we are all setting our expectations a little lower.
By Prashant Gopal, BusinessWeek.com
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