The end of the bubble - when some spoilsport whispers "pyramid scheme".

HP didn't cause the end of the bubble, but the critical mass that HP was part of did for sure.

Awareness, combined with desire to get out before the crash, is what causes the end of all bubbles. This one included. And now the mad dash to get out is underway (see Phoenix listings for an example). And think, we're just getting started.

It's a long, long, long way down.

If No One Whispered 'Housing Bubble,' There'd Be No Worry

A pyramid scheme, with each new round of players making earlier rounds richer, is a foolproof way to make money — until it isn't.

What is the breaking point? Probably about the time some spoilsport whispers "pyramid scheme," and there's a mad dash for the exits.

Echoes of housing prices? Not exactly, because you can't flee the housing market without living on the street. Still, an almost pyramid-like frenzy has engulfed some areas in recent years, with buyers paying ever-loftier prices for homes, convinced that within months they will find someone who will pay even more for them.

If there are whispers of a "housing bubble" — ominous words that could make check-writing hands distinctly shaky — most people still haven't heard them. As recently as a year ago, according to a survey by the Gallup Organization, just 23 percent of Americans were even moderately familiar with the term. In the latest survey, that jumped to 40 percent.

And 24 percent now say that a bubble is likely within a year — though, naturally, only 7 percent expect it in their own backyard