<i>“Totally worth it if have patience. Prices in the Bay Area are outrageous; however, they’ve always been higher than most cities / areas in the US.”</i>
i like this reply from Yahoo Answers and one i would totally agree with. The bay area will ALWAYS be hot until it slips into the Pacific ocean (which is coming one day, its right on a major fault line).
the advice i would give ANYONE is that you need to RESEARCH BIG TIME especially understand how the mortgage fall out affects the area.