Checking in with bubble guru Robert Shiller

Seems Mr. Shiller, like Michael Jackson "gets it" when it comes to Bubbles.

Bottom line, he got the .com bust right, he got the housing bubble bust right, and he'll get the next bubble right too. It's not rocket science, it's just the way it is.

Robert Shiller, the Prophet of House Prices

If a prophet is only as good as his last prophecy, then you'd be wise to listen to Robert Shiller. On "Nightline," Shiller offered his considerable analysis of the current real estate market ... and he doesn't bring good news.

It was back in the heady stock market days of 1996 that Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University, gave voice to his first prophecy. He warned that the stock market was overheating and that investment had risen to what he described as irrational levels. The stock market crash that followed was no surprise to Shiller and proved that he had called it right.

Now he's warning that a similar collapse may soon apply to the real estate market. And there's evidence that he may be right here, too.

Shiller said that the same psychology that applies to stock market investors now drives the real estate boom. He called it irrational exuberance, coincidentally the title of his 2000 book about the stock market.

He argues that many first-time buyers pay inflated prices simply because they fear they'll be left behind.